I live in Ponchatoula. I lose a few things every year, but then I stretch the zone as well. Most of my tropicals are planted in the front of my house away from any north wind. My Plumeria and Mandevilla spent the winter on the front porch with no ill effects. Some things froze back to the ground, but since the ground didn't freeze, they come back. I planted my first Meyers Lemon this year, and I'm prepared to wrap it if I need to. I used to live in Buras, which is well south of New Orleans, and I can grow the same things here that I grew there.

I have the same problem in Baton Rouge.

Hi neighbor. Diamondhead here. Just accross the Honey Island Swamp.

My understanding. This area (Esp, Pass Christian and the Bay.)used to be a 9. Then after a number of cold winters was bumped into an 8. Then back into a 9 or in my case 8/9 after a number of warm winters. It's been a while since we've had a winter into the teens.

I suspect if we have a number of cold winters we'll be bumped back to an 8.

Regardless, we're on the border of an 8/9.

I assume, you're also like us. The closer you are to water. (The bay and sound in our case. Or the Lake in your's.)The less cold. And of course. Being between the bay and the sound like Pass Christian or Bay St Louis. Even warmer still.

I think we got down to 23 or 24 one or two mornings in january. Froze the pond. Otherwise we could grow more tropicals.

Even the Florida citrus growers get burned every so often. This is the nature of gardening, it is very dependent on the weather. So there will be plants that you can grow without worry, but then there will be plants that will grow for 10 or 20 years, and then freeze in a 13 degree rare cold snap. I've experienced all of this, having lived in the St. Bernard area for 49 yrs. Even if a freeze did not get my Meyer lemon, Katrina did. Enjoy it all while you can, test the limits, but I hate to tell you, if you garden long enough, you will experience sad losses.
When I came to north MS, and just started putting in gardens here, there came a cold freeze in early April (last year) which gardeners are still talking about and worrying about. That was a helluva welcome to Mississippi!

Same thing in Covington. I consider myself to be a zone 9 wannabe! I have three "conditions" and respective sets of plants that I look at in the winter.

First is when the temps get down to the low 20s a couple times and that's all she wrote if I don't have stuff in my "warm house" (I appropriate my daughter's play set, cover it in visquine, and put a couple 100 W bulbs in).

Second is the set of plants that freeze to the ground but come back from the roots in the spring.

Third is the plants that get bit by frost even if the temps are above freezing. This got about five of my plumeria last fall when an early frost hit!

DaveandLaura, I would love if you would share the list of your plants on the "3 lists". I went to the Fall Garden show at the N.O. City Park Botanical garden many years ago, and Dan Gill (a garden radio host and Cooperative Extension agent here) gave a talk about using more tropicals in the landscape and passed out a comprehensive list of plants that would surive at 20-25, 25-30, above 30; also listed plants that would return even after freezing.

Even if we aren't truly tropical, there are so many tropicals we can grow in the ground that come right back and grow to near mature sizes in a season. I'll list some of the tropicals I have that always work for me:

Parkinsonia tree - blooms every year, never touched by cold
Kumquat - never touched by cold
Agapanthus - never touched
Fatsia - mine are over 7 feet tall and never touched
Pink, yellow, orange, and white shrimp plants - some years no damage, if there is damage, always return and flower
Bananas - leaves freeze, but trunks survive and sprout back very early, always have at least on flowering stem
Lady Palm - suprisingly, only very slight leaf damage, been in ground for 5 years
Washingtonia robusta - never touched
Rosa Montana (Antigonon leptopus) - freezes down but returns
Thunbergia grandiflora - freezes but returns
Impatiens - had one little lavendar flowered one right against the house that didn't freeze for 3 straight years
Crybaby tree (Erythrina cristagalli)- some stem tip damage, always grows back to in excess of 10 feet and blooms
Thryallis (Galphimia glauca) - leaves change to a reddish purple color, sometimes slight tip damage
Cape Honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis) - Stems freeze down to about 2 feet from the ground, but comes back
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Brunfelsia pauciflora 'magnifica') - some leaf drop, no stem damage
Giant elephant ear (Alocasia) - some of the top leaves freeze, the lower leaves are untouched, already 4 feet tall again
Split-leaf Philodendron (Philodendron selloum) - slight leaf browning, no lose of any leaves in years, reaches the roof, plant is already 10 feet tall with a 15 foot spread

This year I am trying some new things: Ensete ventricosum - the red leaved Abyssinian banana; Calliandra haemocetephala - the pink powder puff; Calliandra surinamensis - Surinam powder puff; Mascagnia macroptera - butterfly vine

Also - I have had tremendous success with a Callistemon (bottle brush). It is not the standard citrinus species, it is a somewhat weeping species with soft, light green leaves. Almost has a weeping willow effect. Grows tremendously quickly, has beautiful peeling bark. It is sold in several smaller nurseries in the area, but it is never labeled. Can anybody help identify. The lady I bought it from said it was a rare variety that could take below 0F temps. Covered in spring with red flowers, has several smaller bloom cycles later in the year.

Jockewing...

Good helpful list.

I've also grown Selloum Phillodendrum in Ocean Springs for almost forty years with little damage. I'm wondering if they'll make it in my new location, Vancleave, twenty miles inland.

I'm also growing lady palm in OS for four years with just some leaf burn.

14 years ago? I wonder if it's changed fill me in