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I sprayed the new product that everyone's been talking about, Freeze-Pruf, thoroughly all over and under my marginal palms and ornamentals a couple of days before last night's freeze with high hopes of 5 to 9 degrees increased cold hardiness that the product's makers claim. Boy, was I disappointed. My low was 28.6 in the coldest part of my yard. I sprayed the product on hundreds of plants. Results...none. My bananas melted, the heliconias bronzed, cannas no more, fuschias fizzled, and my Roystonea borinquena which has endured year after year frosts with no damage has little brownish speckles all over its lower fronds now. The product almost seems to have made my plants MORE sensitive to the cold. Happily, the vast majority of my yard looks normal after last night's freeze but that's because 28.6F is not cold enough to do harm to it for the most part. Bananas and heliconias grow back quickly in the spring. Has anyone else tried the product with any success?

Sadly, none of what Dave Francko states are possible reasons for the product failure in my case. I followed the instructions very carefully and applied the product on the tops and bottoms of all leaves and stems at an appropriate temperature (52F) two days before the freeze on exceptionally healthy plants. The temperature dropped to 27.5F by 6AM but hadn't gone below 32F until after 1AM. The most interesting observation that I made was with a completely untreated heliconia very near a thoroughly treated one. The untreated one was completely exposed and the treated one had 50% canopy (eaves of roof). The treated one had slightly more damage (75% of leaf area of exposed leaves) than the untreated one nearby (50% leaf burn). As I mentioned in my original post, my five year old (12 foot tall) Roystonea borinquena has endured every winter since I planted it as a liner without any protection and without any damage including a low of 26.5F in 2007. This recent freeze of 27.5F left it with approximately 40% leaf burn despite being Freeze-Pruf "protected". Go figure. I spent $99.00 on two gallons, bought a new $150.00 sprayer just for this purpose, and spent a two days spraying plants to no avail. I would have been much better off using that time simply draping sheets over those sensitive plants and uncovering them the next morning. That method actually works quite well for me and it's only necessary once every few winters.

Wow Keith, You sure have beautiful Butias growing down there. I suppose they might be a different strain from the ones growing in N. Florida and S. Georgia, but your climate might be just suited for them. You get cold snaps in the winter but also many warm toastey days and they grow year round. Could be your soil too. Whatever, they look beautiful. And yes, I'm still swooning over the droopy one. What a beauty. In the inland areas in N. Calif where we have hot summers, Butias grow relatively fast, but they are fairly rare and not many are seen. I think it's because nurserys don't carry them and not many people know what they are. Butias even grow in San Francisco, but very slowly, and its really chilly over there. Dick

Al, Thanks for posting a picture of your B. archeri. I had mentioned yours in another thread, and was wondering if anyone had one near or at blooming size. Yours is the largest I've seen in cultivation. Do you have a rough estimate how old it might be? Ed, I'm green with envy over your B. eriospatha. That's a very nice shot showing the tomentose spathes. I thought I had a B. eriospatha but it turned out to be something else. Dick

Al, Thanks for posting a picture of your B. archeri. I had mentioned yours in another thread, and was wondering if anyone had one near or at blooming size. Yours is the largest I've seen in cultivation. Do you have a rough estimate how old it might be? Dick

Here is a nice one on isola madre,lago maggiore. That is an island with a beautiful botanical garden on the lake of lugano at the border of switzerland to italy. Marcel

... and some Butia (yatay?) growing in Tauranga