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I see a few questions about how is it getting so cold in FL right now considering that areas much farther north of here have snow on the ground and are warmer ? There's a few things that must be considered to answer that question : 1: Strong cold air advection. That cyclone that just slammed the coast from DC to Boston advected a lot of cold air from the north straight south. The cold air advection wasn't as intense as what you got a couple weeks ago, but it was still strong. 2: Extremely Dry Air. The air at the surface and at every level above the surface over areas of Florida are extremely dry right now. This allows the air to cool down significantly. It also allows the daytime high to be warm. 3: The air is also very stable and stratified (thermally in the vertical) over Florida right now. This prevents any mixing at night. The coldest air will sink down to the surface. 4: The vertical column of air from the surface all the way to the boundary with space (say 10mb) is exhibiting an extremely Radiationally "Clear Window". Radiational cooling all through the atmosphere is maximized right now helping to further cool the air column. This Radiationally clear window is there because the air is extremely dry at all levels, no clouds, calm winds, no mixing. That Dry air above got pulled in from the west / central portion of the interior continent, particularly at the low levels. The deeper moisture got dragged up from the south (well east of Florida) on the eastern side of the storm in a warm / moist conveyor belt and dumped it's precip. along the coast in the form of snow and rain. So why was it warmer in areas that just got snow ? Those areas are all the complete opposite of what Florida got. They have a high level of moisture in the lowest levels of the atmosphere. Still some clouds. The air is mixing well at the low levels. Those areas are actually seeing more warm air advection compared to Florida. That snow was extremely moist an quite warm. They will cool down more as the low moves further away. Under a "Radiatively Clear", barotropic atmosphere (post cold advection) .... the 2nd morning after, the lowest temperature of the day will always occur right at sunrise and last up to an hour afterwards until that incoming shortwave radiation from the sun can warm the surface and mixing occurs via shallow convection. This is all just physics. Physics and weather have no regards to the calendar, ever. -Matt

I have always been a zone pusher, even when I lived in DC and always will. I'm thankful I live in one of the best microclimates in Orlando so that helps to an extent. It also may tempt me to push harder. Lol. So many people moved here from Puerto Rico and the Carribbean the last 5 years. They tell me coconuts are cheap and it reminds them of home. So I don't know if they think like we do as palm enthusiasts. It's just do it. I do think some will go with more hardy options just because it is work to remove and replace like you said. I had one night below 34F this winter and it just happened to be 25F. My luck. Most years we worry about that 30-32 range.

Port Richey, in Jasmine Lakes. We were extremely fortunate with the wind direction remaining slightly west of north during this event. Our low minimum was 28.0°F for 3 to 5 hrs (guessing on duration. I still need to check our weather station data). Veitchia Arecina, planted December 2021, this year, I was having a bad Lupus Flare and was curious about the cold tolerance. Completely unprotected through the 3 nights of freezing and 3 to 5 nights close to freezing. My Beccariophoenix Alf. was also unprotected with the 28.0°F. Alexander Palm, toasted, but alive and the new spear has grown about 6 inches. Foxtail, foliage crisp, new spear green and also has grown a few inches. Dichrostachys "Kalahari Christmas Tree", surprisingly was defoliated but will recover. Pretty sure the wind was the main culprit. Not to mention it too was uncovered. My Coconut Palm and 2 small Teddy Bear Palms were my main concern. One Teddy Bear, oddly enough the one I boxed and blanketed, defoliated, but the green spear has grown slightly. The other was on the southern side of my husband's big work truck, which must have helped protect the foliage. I wrapped the base up to halfway its height. The end of the big frond eventually did brown mostly, but not as much as I anticipated. As for my Coconut Palm, the C9 lights actually burned each frond and they fell over *smh* but, the temperature stayed about 70°F with the cover. I was hospitalized for a few days after the freeze and left the lights on to keep it cozy. The spear has actually grown about 3inches since. The photo driving down Jasmine Blvd (heading east towards Little rd - I was not driving) is of Royals, Coconut and Caryota. A bit crispy, but nothing like the carnage to our east

Agree with this.. In a place where there are plenty of really cool ..and tropical looking natives / regionally native stuff to play with, Never understood why -anyone- there, esp anywhere outside the northern most part of the state would plant Ligustrum, ( Puke ) any of the non -native Viburnum sps. ( pass ) ..and / or trees like Crepe Myrtles ( more Puke, lol ) More than enough native look alikes to fill the big leaves shrub / small tree, etc category niche in a landscape.. Having evolved under Florida conditions, ..and alongside all the critters that might bother them, they would be my first choices rather than the puke - inducing options that didn't evolve there. Live Oaks / tropical -ish Pines i'd see in people's yards are ok, though i'd pass on planting any, esp south of roughly Tampa.. That said, Live Oak are great " Orchid Apartments ". Regarding this thought, After all the chatter and first hand experience dealing with post -damage after both the 09 - 10 and less?? severe cold event in 10 -11, i thought about how tender stuff ..both native and introduced, would respond, let alone what kind of lasting imprint that would have on people i'd worked with / our clients, and everyone i'd see at plant sales between and after both years.. ...Would all the Sea Grape, Gumbo Limbo, Royal Poinciana, Plumeria, Hibiscus, Heliconia, Bromeliads, and Orchids, and stuff like Dwf. Poinciana, Solandra, and Brazilian Cloak now vanish from landscapes, forever? While some stuff kicked the bucket, as expected, ..most stuff came roaring back once things got back to normal. BTW, having to drag the root ball of a dead, 18ft tall, triple Adonida across a soggy lawn is not fun, lol. Roaming between booths at x and y plant sales after each cold spell, didn't seem that people were now shying away from the same tender stuff. Vendors still had plenty of stuff to offer too. This time around, it will be interesting to see how folks yards / both manicured & natural landscapes look in June or July. Saw a recent article discussing how, while this cold spell seems to have killed plenty of them, don't expect the Iguana invasion there to disappear. If anything, newer generations of Iguana could inherit genes that make them better adapted to these freak cold events. Not too surprised myself since there have been iNat observations of " feral / wild " juvenile Green Iggys in S. Cal in recent years.

He sent this screenshot of his trailer. Looks like that will fit them no problem. 👍

I actually found a taker!!! A legit Palm reseller here in San Diego wants them. He took a look at them last week, and is coming Thursday to haul ‘em away! I shouldn’t be so sentimental, but it feels great to know they’ll be saved. 🥹 Better yet, the root ball will be removed, so adding their (more exotic) replacements will be a little easier. Yay! 🎉

Today I noticed how conveniently located my coconuts are on this tree.

Currently at Hollywood Studios, this park isn’t too reliant on tropicals, appears most things will survive for the most part. I don’t have the heart to go over to Animal Kingdom which is deep in the dead zone. I’ll make it over there in March.

LOL Made the mistake 30 years ago of planting an African Tulip tree. Spreads seeds by the MILLIONS and they pop up ALL OVER THE PLACE. Problem is the wife LOVES the flowers and won't let me cut it down.

That' awesome. What a great resource to have. Thank you for sharing

Bump. Any Filifera growers in North Florida nowadays?

Konstantinos and just my opinion, the phoenix expert is you

I believe too much moisture causes the seed to rot on the inside. As long as your seeds were stored well 6 months I would think should be not be an issue, but I'd plant them soon. I do have a good amount of Butia seed that have been in this bag for a couple years now. I had way too many one year and tried to sell some seed. Cracked a few today. The kernals are not dry and you can squeeze oil from them. You can see in the picture below an embryo as well. Certainly now the million dollar question...will these sprout? Guess I will plant them and find out. Note Butia tend to like bottom heat to aid in germination. I germinate mine in tubs with a moist medium on heat mats.

I am of the school (newly oriented) "Plant the right stuff and you won't have to worry too much". For me, the stress is too much. I put a lot of money and effort into our yard and we loved it. Most of our northern guests liked it OK but they would have been just as happy with a few sabals, ligustrums and Quercus virginiana. Add in a few potted tropicals and flowers and voila! We know the difference (which is important, mind you) but most people don't care. I am not suggesting this is a solution for everyone. At this point in my life I am not of a mind to try and recreate the tropics in my backyard. It worked well for 10 years and was just reaching it's finest point, but in 10 more years I know it will be beyond what I can do. It's a sobering point, and one I need to accept. Younger people should absolutely roll the dice if that makes them happy and it may work for another 20 years or more. Richer people can do as they please, but I have more money than time, and I don't have a lot of money! So, having said all that, it appears much of my landscape has refused to succumb, as of yet, and fall in with my new found enlightenment so we will see... The NWS just raised my forecast low tonight from 36°F to 39°F although they kept the Frost Advisory. Counting down to the end of this outrage. Good afternoon and good luck to all!

Shade grown Phoenix palms are often softer leafed and stiffen up when planted in full sun.

After several revisions, I’m excited to share my ongoing PDF guide to cold hardy palms. This has been a long-term project and will continue to evolve as I learn more and gather new experiences. Feel free to share it anywhere by posting the link to the document — that will always point to the latest version for when I update. I am still working on some more pages in time. I truly appreciate all the support, knowledge, and friendships from this forum over the years. My goal has always been simple, help others enjoy and succeed in this hobby as much as I have. Hopefully this information will especially help others new to the hobby. While the design is AI assisted, all photos and text dictation are from my experiences. While I am aware there are a few errors still, let me know what you think TNTropics Cold Hardy Palm Guide https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w9-43MjGhgyQyqgVeQoWXU69GvRGLpdU/view?usp=sharing

Weird winter here too. All of January was sunny and quite warm, mid-60s and up and zero rain. Then we hit 36 degrees with rain and hail last week, and that storm apparently turned into the blizzard that just ruined the Northeast. The palms are fine but the Epidendrum orchids got pockmarked by the hail.

That and the trough - deflecting Bermuda High seeming to be quite weak / shifty this year ..A point i forgot to add earlier.. While there may -some- deg. of troughiness across the east during these amplified, " ridge in the west / trough in the east " setups, we've both seen years where ridging, that might have a bigger center somewhere over the west, extends far enough to the southeast, to a point somewhere over the Bahamas / south of there and essentially helps deflect any deep diving troughs away from FL. This just doesn't seem to be one of those years, unfortunately.. We've gotten close, but no " official " 90s here just yet. That changes by tomorrow or Thursday though.. Neighborhood - level readings?, yep, been a few 90 / 90+ readings scattered about so far. Under this pattern, can believe parts of Montana seeing 70 or 80F readings too. Of course up there, it can go from 45 or 55 to -15 ..or -45 in less than 24 hours. Talk about a tough place to grow much of anything, lol. While the last series of systems did drop enough snow boost totals in some areas, Sierras esp, definitely a down year for snow across the west, across the board. Warmer storms dropping rain in some of the same areas over -at least- the next few days will eat some of that snowfall though. Longer term? less of it, ...more often than more of it.. is just a fact of life folks are going to have to get used to. Smart folks will adjust. Others? ..they're free to move elsewhere, where ever they assume pastures are greener, so to say.. Plant the right stuff and you won't have to worry too much. PLENTY of interesting things to chose from, that give you the tropical look, but aren't living / leaf -bearing data centers ..which definitely have no place being built out here. A subject for another time / place. Anyhow..

Two lots over caught my eye today.

Than you can buy at a very low price from Kalamata in flake form this stuff. 15 gr diluted in 10 lt water make wonders.

Another bad night on the Isabelle Canal - didn't reach 35F, closer to 40F - still bad news.

Stake them now and leave stakes until they stabilize. I lost one just fixing to trunk to Hurricane Irma (cat 3/4) in 2017. The winds ripped the palm right off its growing plate - instant death. Very top heavy palm and I won't plant it again

Agree it's the combo of a ridge and Greenland blocking acting like a funnel. The high has moved and even SW of the 4 corners. I read just as much frustration from those out west because of lack of snowfall. I understand it's been a bad year for skiing. Montana has been 80s and Phoenix has been into low 90s I think.

I just gave away a butia, and am coming to terms with cutting a second one down - this one doesn't have as easy access for stomping around and digging, so chainsaw is the only option. It's the only way to make space for more exciting palms. Hopefully yours find takers!

I usually have fresh seed in late summer (Aug/Sept).