Why I got hammered

[osideterry]

I'm not going to post photos of my sick collection of toasted palms. Plenty like them on this site. What's been bugging me is how I got hit so much harder than other yards in my own neighborhood.

I decided to hit the topos, and then made this lil' show-and-tell map. The San Luis Rey River is at 90ft above sea level at it's closest point to my house. I filled in all land below 100ft above seal level in blue. My yard is the red dot near the  center of the map. Imagine a river of cold air coming out of that narrow channel to the northeast, and then spreading west and south.

After winter lows of 28F, 28F and now 26F, I'm conceding to Zone 9B.

(By the way, my map is also a useful tool in case a 100ft tidal wave hits the Oceanside Pier. Looks Like I'm in the clear!)

[Shon]

I know how you feel Terry 300 yards west of my house had a little damage. My front yard looks like somebody took a blowtorch. These last couple days have been horrible. Going back and forth on what to do whether to keep planting what I have been or scale way back and just plant really cold hardy stuff. I am going to treat this freeze as a isolated event. I mean I have had a nice set up for three years and I am not going to move anytime soon. The only solace I have right now is to be able to redesign my yard this spring. But that usally goes away when I pull up each day to my black and brown palm garden. Stay strong and think about how nice your yard will look at the end of summer.

                            Shon

[osideterry]

I figure some of mine are goners, while others just need time to get a new head of leaves. I wrapped all trunks in burlap. My biggest regret is that I was following advice to underwater my palms for the winter, since most don't like having cold, wet feet. One part of my yard was more hydrated, and everything looks much better. 2 months of Santa Anas has been brutal, and the freeze just topped it off.

I'll save what I can, but I'm not buying any new palms unless they are rated to 25F or lower.