I take it as a challenge this year. The Mango gets covered,and I might use some 10' wooden tree stakes to put blankets over my Ensente ventricosum maurlii (banana) to keep it green-red all winter. Never did that before,but then again a warm November and a 70f Dec 1st is newish. Tropical's are still in soft growth. Cover and they will be fine.

here is an update before the first frost-

King palm:

Coco:
Been taking the coco outside whenever its been sunny and temps been at least 65f. Not really liking the brown spots on the second to last frond. But other than that it looks good. Just watered today. Last time until Jan.

Other things:

About to get some nice size oranges!

Had no clue figs produced 2x a year? The wind stripped almost all the leaves except the ones down low.

Fall color

Banana's:
Amazed at how big these guys are now.

@ Stanofh- Yeah thats true. Gonna be a good test for tender plants. Hopefully all goes well.

Good looking plants . The King is doing great..fronds are getting larger and larger.

Your plants look good, especially like those bananas. The eastern half of the country has been dealing with the cold for over a month now, so it's about time you guys share some of that warmth LOL. Good luck with the cold.

Yes, we had Winter set in early. Now the flip, been quite mild here now (50's, above freezing at night).

Looks bad for the West, I only have Sabal minors, Trachys, and Needles here in the ground. Others all protected.

I'm definitely not looking forward to this cold wave. It's going to get cold quick, starting tonight and will last for a while. We don't get frosts here near the coast, but still night time temps in the 40s are heinous for tropicals. November in L.A was beautiful and warm, apparently December is going to be quite the opposite. Hopefully January is warm and mild, with lots of rain.

Thanks!

So far we dodged frost last night! Still z10a lol But tonight thats all gonna change. Hopefully it drops down no further than high 20f's. Hmmm its already cold.

- US_Marine

I feel for you guys! I live in southern Florida and thanksgiving morning we got down to the low 40s. Since then it's been highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s and it looks like its going to stay that way for a while. Thank God!
I wish you guys the best of luck.
Kevin

Awesome pics! Those bananas are my favorite, but everything looks great!
I hope you avoid the worst of the cold! We had some pretty early cold here (got down to 21F already), but at least we are having some mild weather this week 57F right now which I'll definitely take for the first week of December. We'll have highs only in the 30s next week though so we'll be back to below average temps.
-Alex

temps have gotten down around 15 here..right now it is snowing like crazy 2 inchs already and temps around 30..the arctic blast is in full swing

Wow I couldn't imagine living in an area that gets that cold. Hows everything going out that way? Even during events like this our day time temps never fail to break above freezing.We may have dropped below 25f. And the next few nights are supposed to have hard freezes.

Heres the damage report so far:

Tall banana's fried. Less damaged as you get closer to a wall/canopy.The one in the best location is partially damaged-between 30-45% overall damage with a few undamaged leaves. Banana's in warmer locations are probably undamaged to slightly damaged. I'll check on them after this event to see how they faired.

Dwarf banana's 40ish% damaged with a few undamaged leaves.- under cardboard box somewhat under thin sheets over King palm.

King palm as far as I can see undamaged. Leaning away from wall and slighly protected by over hang. Also under thin sheets.Temp at base of king palm 28f.

Damage pics:

Micro-climate-

lol. I'm going to start growing canopy.... My yard is pretty open and located next to a low spot. The valley may get cold but I'm convinced zone 10a gardens are possible here and canopy is the key. The pics above show just that as temps could not have been lower than 30f due to lack of damage and spotting in locations. As well as the fact that I can see majesty's, king palms and some fishtails that have survived for many years here. Although I'll admit I've never seen any of them survive more than a few years out in the open. If they can survive that long and have space to get as big as they have it makes me wonder what else can be grown here. And with summer heat it could be interesting.

We got down to the low 20s in Fresno and the damage is also hit & miss.I have damaged bougainvilleas and majesty palms, but an aloe vanbalenii is still in bloom and so is a tropical hibiscus near the house.

it was 10F here this morning..horrible winter so far

Wait, winter has not even begun yet!

Another winter storm about to hit. They are covering all bases with predictions of everything from rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow. Lots of Gulf moisture getting involved with this one, which may 'bomb out' once it meets up with the Gulf steam. Not bad cold after, so things will start to melt by day after the event. Hate it when days stay below freezing, and the snow gets dirtier and icier.

I don't have many species of palms..but the sum total of damage is one partially burned King palm frond of the two I have,and my Howeas look the same as before the freezing temps hit. But,they always can wait until spring to brown and fronds will then die off. Howeas are tricky like that.
The Chameodorea's all did fine. Costa ricana,sefritzii and metalica.

It looks like temps will be above average for the next few days-temps approaching 70f. Hopefully we don't see any more cold but I'm sure there will be at least one more light freeze before spring.

As long as temps are reaching mid-high 60f's I'll be taking the coconut out to get some sun/warmth. Took the cover off the King palm and its just fine. However, I was surprised the avocado was damaged but its alright. Won't be able to tell it was damaged by the end of next summer.

Hopefully temps for you guys out East warm up as well. So tired of this cold already. Who's ready for spring? lol

- US_Marine