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One local landscape company (TruGreen) provided some tips on how to care for your frost-bitten plants.  These tips may help you with your landscaping, or you can ask your own landscaper or visit a local nursery for assistance. 

 

Clearly, many tropical plants (like ixoras, hibiscus, croton, philoendrons, bougainvillea, palms, etc.) are showing immediate signs of damage with brown leaves and drooping branches.  While we are most likely past any more hard freezes for our area, severe cold is still possible over the next few weeks.  For now, you should only prune obviously dead branches and leaves and wait until mid-March to do any severe pruning.  On palm branches, if there is any green at all, leave the branch until it turns completely brown. 

 

It is possible that some plants may appear fine now and into spring, but once the hot weather returns, the plant could suddenly die from damage it sustained during the freeze.  Fertilize your plants and flowers as recommended, trim off any damaged tissue you notice, and watch for  signs of distress.  Some plants may still die even with these steps. 

 

Lawns are also showing signs of cold weather damage.  Talk to a professional lawn care person to determine whether you have damage from freezing temps, previous bug damage, or excess weeds that have crowded out the St. Augustine grass in your lawn.  Folded blades are signs of a healthy lawn that is distressed; runners or stems with no blades are usually a sign of bug damage.