Freeze-Frazzled Brevard County Gardeners Seek Hardier Plants

Gardeners already are ripping out sensitive tropicals and shopping for cold-hardy plants as we bid goodbye to two winters of freezes.

"Last year they would have planted some stuff back," said Mark Hatch of South Brevard Nursery. "This year, they're like: 'Forget it. I want cold hardy.' So the only problem is that our colorful plants are usually tropical or seasonal flowers — not everything, but most of them — so when you're replanting and you want to go all cold-hardy or low-maintenance, most of those plants are green."

South Brevard Nursery, on Minton Road in Melbourne, recommends a compromise.

"What we usually tell people is to put in 60 to 70 percent of their anchor plants as cold-hardy plantings, and then just spot in the tropicals or the seasonal color," Hatch said.

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