The freezing temperatures killed a lot of my plants.....
 

I am sad and angry with myself.
Alot of my tropical plants died due to the freezing temperatures that we had.
If only I had brought them all in to the house...they would all be alive.
how stupid of me.........:(

I started cleaning up the carnage and it is so depressing, plants that I have had for years are gone....

Dear Beth,

Ohh. That's a shame -- to see the plants that you cared for so long.
You DID take care of them mostly. You just missed out on that recent cold front. It's not your fault.

Did any survive? Can some be helped?

M.

I have heard that they may still be alive just wait and see, so that is what I have done cut them back and will wait and see.
I jsut discovered some more plants in the front of the house lilly of the nile, these were in the ground and had been huge now they are just all died back but these should come back I think, see if I can find a picture of them.
bizi

The upper green part might have gotten frozen and looks dead, but maybe the roots will bounce back in the spring.
It depends on the tenderness of the plant too.

these are lilly of the nile plants, mine are in the ground.
 

I wonder if all of my amyryllus bulbs will come back? I have dozens of those.....some of them seem mushy...not a good sign....
sigh

Oh Beth, I am so sorry you lost all your plants, it's got to be hard to see so much death of foilage. I hope that some of them pull thrrough, I know we got hit hard with hard freezes here and our pepper plants died along with our basil, but if we'd have brought them in the kid would have been all over them, so that's not an option. :(

Dear Beth
 

it is very sad... i am sorry this has happened... but please try not to blame yourself, honestly. you sound like a really good plant-mommy.

You know, had you brought them in, when it was already pretty cold out, because of the expected severe weather, some might have suffered and even died from shock... because indoors is always much warmer, especially nights, and usually the humidity differs too.

We have more of a seasonal change here, and my mom does bring plants in, but she has to do so when it is still not very cold out... sometimes it has gotten cold too suddenly and then it is too late. you could not have foreseen how cold it got and the necessity to bring them in. also some plants don't take kindly to being moved, period and you just never know how they will react to that stress.

like others have said, some may still have healthy roots - cutting the plant back is good if the foliage is dead. my mom usually cuts back into the wood progressively until she sees lymph inside (green or white... not hollow or brown).

oh... should you end up with a sudden cold emergency like this again - you might try buying a large see-through plastic tarp, and cover your outdoor plants with it. it will protect them to a large degree but they won't undergo the shock of moving indoors.

i hope many of the plants recover for you. :o

(((HUGS)))

~ waves ~

thank you....some of them will come back, like the shamrocks which I have had the longest 13 years. yes this will be a good year for gardening stores......bizi:)
I was so depressed about them yesterday...but feel more accepting today.