"Daniel Hanna" wrote:
Hold on a second... it even freezes in FLORIDA? Is there some part of
the US that doesn't freeze in winter outside of Hawaii?

Most of Florida will have at least one freeze in a typical winter. Most
of the Florida Keys are frost-free, and frost is very rare indeed along
the coasts in the southern end of the peninsula, say from about Stuart
south on the east coast and maybe Fort Myers south on the west. Go a
few miles inland, though, and most of that southern tip of Florida will
occasionally get frost. Yep, that means almost all the Everglades. Not
usual, but not that rare either. The further south and the nearer the coast
of the peninsula you get, the less likely frost is. Disney World gets frost
every winter, far as I know.

My neck of the woods is pretty much the center of the peninsula, about
where the peninsula starts being a peninsula. The maps say I'm a few
miles from where zone 9 starts. My land (36 acres) is on a slight rise,
and most of it is a clearing, formerly farmland, and rather exposed. I
get ten to twenty frosts in a typical winter. I had one yesterday morning,
I'll have one tomorrow morning, and I'll have another the morning after
that. It'll perhaps hit 25 F during one of them, with freezing temperatures
probably lasting at most three hours. The record low for the area is 9 F,
in I think 1985, when it barely got above freezing for a WEEK. (I wasn't
here then.) In a normal winter, not even the most tender roses are
really at risk of severe damage or death.

I think that the California coast south of Los Angeles is pretty much frost
free -- Californians will be able to tell you better.

The real pain about much of Florida is that it will be quite warm for
several weeks in winter, and then one day brings plunging temperatures
and high winds and a clearing sky, and temperatures well below
freezing by dawn. Plants get fooled into blossom or growth, then
zapped with cold. Tender new growth on roses can be killed.

Mark.