A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 California's Cold weather is kiiling my plants!!

Help!!I have several plants that are dying from the cold weather-they have been outside! Can I save these?
1)Dracaena marginata: it was full & beautiful..now the leaves are limpy & yellow & falls off when touched?
2)Dwarf Black tree Fern "Silver Lady" & another fern..Icut off most of the dead dried leaves.
3)Dwarf banana tree: turned all black..cut off the leaves & only the trunks are left..will it grow back..
I'd appreciate any help!!

the draceana might survive if the roots didn't get frozen. just ignore the falling leaves and pretend it is still green, only water it just a bit less. if it starts to sprout new leaves, you will know it made it. give it a couple of weeks though.

don't know anything about the tree fern.

the dwarf banana has the same information as the draceana

Best of luck to you....I lost a very loved Wandering Jew years ago to an unexpected freeze....I hope you have a better outcome than I did.

We sure did have our self a freeze here in California! It was horrible at that! and it killed many trees that were already starting to bloom!

See, we had mild temps. for a while then suddenly it got so cold so quickly!!
So it went from spring to WINTER!

I agree with Jiffymouse, there is a very good chance that the dwarf banana will grow back.

WOW!! i am still trying to come to reality with the freeze in southern California... any ways check the stalk of your Marginata, if its squishy its dead they do not tolerate temps below the 40's... the Banana if the main short them (the round "stump" with the papery old leaves) if it was potted under the soil and is still "hard" like an apple and not squishy its ok... but it maybe dead especially if its froze... i lost my banana here in 40 degree nights after the freeze hit Texas... i dont know how cold tree ferns can tolerate... best of luck!!!

I am still determining the losses from our freezing weather. The banana will probably make it. And maybe the fern will come back. I'm waiting to see acout my draceana, too.

That is a lot of loss, especially for California. I hope you all can save everything!

I sure hope you can save a lot Tina!
Hows everything down there?

Well up here things are back to normal, but the signs are still being shown all around town here in Stockton (central valley).

I see so many plants everywhere that are dead and yellowish.
It's very sad how even a covering to the plants did not even help!!
It was so cold for too long, it worries me because I'm hoping my Geraniums are going to be able to come back. They were my hardest hit.
My calla lilies are starting to show signs of life once again.

This is how my plants looked like during the hard freeze.



In this image to the right my Geranium plant is turning red and the stems are getting squishy and brownish & black....