• You like to live dangerously
• You like heartbreak
• You don't mind spending freezing wet nights covering plants, digging them up, or rigging up temporary greenhouse-like structures
• You want something in your garden that is not in every other garden in the neighborhood
• You want the feeling of a tropical island in your backyard
• It's the cool thing to do

• You forget, get caught out of town, get lazy, or trust someone else to do it. (I have been victim to each of these at some point)
• The plants gets too big to cover (I have only been this fortunate once)
• Mother Nature decides it time to clean up and send one of those once a decade Artic blast comes through that cleans out all of these alien plants.  Sooner or later this will happen and there is little protecting against it.  You can try, but 20 and 30 year old Palms in New Orleans have succumbed to these freezes.  Usually happens right around Christmas/New Years Day.  Upper 70s one day, the 3 days in the low teens or single digits.  Plants never knew what hit them.  All that's left is mush and yep, your broken heart.   (Last one to come through was in the late 80s, so we are due any year now) Now I am not trying to discourage you, just setting in a little reality.  This is where the true diehards are separated from the trend followers.  Most folks can't take the pain and vow to only plant hardy plants from that point forward, but take heart, my last tip might give you some piece of mind.

1. Harden the plant for the winter and build some type of freeze-protection.

        Begin fertilizing with a high potassium fertilizer from mid-summer on

        Use a root stimulator product regularly such as SuperThrive or Schultz Root Stimulator

        Use a potassium foliar spray 24- 48 hours ahead of the freeze such as Dyna-Gro Pro-Tek

        Use an anti-transpirant spray such as WiltPruf

2. Make the most of the microclimate for the night of the freeze.

        Water all plants the night before the freeze

        Cover the entire plants with mulch or leaves

        Soil bank the main trunk as high as practical

        Depending on the plant turn on your sprinklers as a last resort

        Build a mini greenhouse or cover.  Do not use plastic alone unless you want a dead plant.*

        If the freeze is bad enough and the plant small enough, dig it up and pot it for the winter.

3. Take care of post-freeze trauma.

        Prune away decaying plant matter immediately

        Prune away non-decaying plant matter you suspect is damaged at the proper time for the plant

4. Always have a clone in the ready room*"