Happy New Year! I hope you had a fabulous holiday season with family and friends. January’s gardening weather will be typical in that this month Florida usually receives its first of several major freezes. What won’t be typical is that meteorologists are predicting a Polar Blast coming down as far South as Lake Okeechobee mid-January. Chances of snow in the Panhandle and Jacksonville areas are likely. The coldest winter temperature record for Florida was in 1899 with the chilly low of - 2 degrees.
Tropical plants will be damaged. You can ease the damage by using frost cloth on your clusia, crotons, gardenias, hibiscus, ixora, plumbago, poinsettias, blue daze, Hawaiian tis, bananas, and other popular ornamentals.
What plants will be okay during a freeze? Any winter annuals, like alyssum, pansies, stock, delphiniums, hollyhocks, hostas, foxgloves, ornamental cabbage, kale, and sweet peas. Shrubs that can take a freeze include azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas, jasmines, roses, sweetshrub, anise, ligustrum, viburnum, and podocarpus.
Palms that survive freezes are Bismarck, Cabbage, Pindo, Washingtonia, Chinese Fan, Windmill, and Phoenix varieties.
Citrus trees that withstand freezing temperatures like lemon, lime, kumquats, tangerines, some grapefruit, and navel varieties.
To ensure that your plants are ready for a freeze, if you do not receive any rainfall this week, irrigate your landscape with one” of water before and after a freeze. Do not turn your irrigation on at night during the freeze. Do not attempt to keep your plants frozen. This was an old-time practice with citrus growers and it’s not effective for residential landscapes.
After your freeze, hold off on any pruning for a few weeks. Remember that we have a few more months of winter and could still get a few more freezes. Any pruning you do will spur the plant to produce new leaves which would further damage the plant, causing it to die.
Continue to water normally 1x a week and your landscape will recover by Springtime.
Did you know that America had its own royal mansions and majestic botanical gardens? Check out our Art in Bloom Garden Tour to the Newport Flower Show and grand formal gardens and mansion landscapes, June 19th - June 25th. It’s a wonderful journey back to the Gilded Era that I have enjoyed many times. To find out more, check out the details.
Do you know what to do in your landscape this month? Check out what to plant, what actions need to be taken in your landscape in January.
My design tips this month are especially important for all our new residents to Florida. This is the best time of year to start designing your landscape and I have the important aspects to note this time of year.
How did Lizzie and Gerald do over the holidays? I think he looks like he stuffed himself! Check out Lizzie’s Garden Adventures.
My Plant of the Month is one of Christmas’s most misunderstood plants! Have you had a cyclamen die on you? Maybe you gave up too soon.
I am looking forward to a great year of designing landscapes, working in my garden, and getting a new fence up. What are you planning for your landscape this year? Let me know by calling me on Better Lawns and Gardens Saturday mornings 7am - 9am, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Here’s to 2025 and helping gardens thrive!
