[DanielAvery]

It was a bit of an adjustment when I moved here and saw all these plants I considered "houseplants only" in Georgia being used as roadside landscaping and planted in people's yards.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by assassin349

When I was on vacation this past summer and driving from Miami to Melbourne, I noticed on the way there that as I was leaving Miami, there were more and more temperate plants and subtropical palms as I went up north, especially in the West Palm Beach area. Why is this? Does the 70 mile distance make that big of a difference in terms of cold snaps?

Makes a big diff. The coconut line used to be south St Pete in 1980 and now they are growing in Pasco county. But even down there they got snow and cold when we had real winters in the 70's and 80's. Used to see burned coconuts all the way to Ft Meyers in the 80's super freezes. They will be growing in north FL outside of 70 years.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

what kills them is not the cold up there....when they get that tall...lightning takes them out

Greening sickness took every tree in my hood starting in 2005. None will grow here.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by Arcenal813

Yes.

Same happens if you go from Sarasota to Fort Myers and Naples.

Yep. I live in Punta Gorda. For example the coconut palm trees around here and places like Englewood Beach and Venice Beach are not as tall as the same trees in Ft. Myers or Naples. Naples has a much more tropical look that Venice for example

On the west coast Tampa Bay seems to be the dividing line. Anything south of Tampa Bay like Bradenton on south looks more tropical than Tampa. Venice on the Gulf looks a bit more Tropical than Punta Gorda due to being on the Gulf. Ft. Myers you really notice it more though. Naples is more tropical looking than Punta Gorda. Also seems more humid in Naples always too compared to my location in Charlotte County.

[silverct9a]

Maybe I don’t the understand the question, but I travel from West Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale every other day and to Miami at least once a week. I don’t notice any significant drop off in tropical look or feel in the South Florida counties.

In fact, I don’t really notice a drop off until you go north of Martin County.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by silverct9a

Maybe I don’t the understand the question, but I travel from West Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale every other day and to Miami at least once a week. I don’t notice any significant drop off in tropical look or feel in the South Florida counties.

In fact, I don’t really notice a drop off until you go north of Martin County.

It has warmed up so much in the winters since 1990 that all that stuff is growing way more north.

[FL_Expert]

The general answer here is you’re dealing with places that (almost) never freeze like Miami versus places that occasionally freeze like Tampa and Orlando. It makes all the difference.

Originally Posted by AntonioR

Florida is in a transition zone between the tropics and the sub-tropics. The further north you go, the less tropical it gets.

The areas of Florida I'm more familiar with is the Orlando area and beach areas like Cocoa Beach and that vicinity. I have also been to Miami and Palm Beach, but no question Orlando wins as the place I have been to the most in the state. The first time I went to Miami was a last minute trip by land from Orlando. Things that jumped to me regarding vegetation is how coconut palms and royal palms are lacking in Orlando while they are everywhere in Miami. You also see many in the Palm Beach area.

Nowadays there are many fox tail palms in the Orlando area which gives the vicinity a touch of a more tropical look, but those palms appeared about two decades ago. The times I have been to the Orlando area before literally there were none. I think the hardiness of the fox tail palm has more to do with its appearance and popularity in the Orlando area than actual warming.

With that said, while there are no mature coconut palms in the Orlando area, now you will see a royal palm here or there while I don't remember seeing them when I first started to visit the Orlando area. With those palms specifically, it could be due to the warming effect.

There are a handful of mature coconuts, not many though.

Originally Posted by silverct9a

Maybe I don’t the understand the question, but I travel from West Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale every other day and to Miami at least once a week. I don’t notice any significant drop off in tropical look or feel in the South Florida counties.

In fact, I don’t really notice a drop off until you go north of Martin County.

I agree, there’s not a big difference from Miami to West Palm.

Originally Posted by LKJ1988

It has warmed up so much in the winters since 1990 that all that stuff is growing way more north.

South Florida still didn’t get cold enough to kill that much in the 1980s. Most tender stuff north of Stuart was wiped out though.

[AntonioR]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

Royals were native almost all the way up the St Johns to Jacksonville.... In 1774 William Bartram, described Royal Palms near Astor, Florida

in the 1500's - 1800's citrus grew in So Carolina

it's gotten colder

I don't doubt. People often think climate change is static or completely man-made or exist for a certain period and the disappear. Reality is that climate change ¡s constant and not always in the warming direction.

There is something else that needs to be taken into account and that is if an area suffered massive deforestation and how it was reforested. Nowhere in Florida has a history (beyond recent times) of widespread deforestation. In Dominican Republic deforestation wasn't an issue until the 20th century and mostly during the later half of the century. In the last few decades forest dover has grown, but that is dud to intentional reforestation plans by the government and private sector. That is one of the reasons there are many native palms still existing in many areas (beyond built up areas).

In neighboring Puerto Rico the island is now greatly forested, but during the second half of thr 19th century and much i¡of the 20th deforestation was so intense it was the most man-made barren island in the Caribbean. The US government along with Puerto Rico's government implemented a reforestation plan which has been very successful. However, the reforested areas (which is most of the island) wasn't done to restore its previous natural look, but rather to have the area reforested as fast as possible to prevent the hard rains from washing to see the top soil. The result is that the scenery now seen in rural and out of the way areas of Puerto Rico look less tropical than not just in neighboring Dominican Republic, but also in Cuba. The original scenery in Puerto Rico was very similar to those places and this you notice in books about Puerto Rico from the 17th and 18th century where often a rural scenery is described that not quite reflects how many of those same areas look today. For example, it was common to see immense quantity of royal palm trees in most of its mountains, yet now most of its mountains are forested but they don't have the royal palm proliferation they originally had.

The built up areas of Florida I don't think look as they originally did plant wise. Now they have many introduced palm species and of other trees that naturally didn't exist in Florida. For example, a very popular palm tree in the Orlando area is the cocos palm (not coconut). That palm is native to a part of Brazil. Nowhere in Florida did that palm grew naturally, though now I think there are cocos palms all over the state (I'm not sure about Northern Florida, but I have never been up there, not even to the panhandle.) One of the first palms anyone will see as they exit the Orlando International Airport are dates and Washingtonian palms. Dates aren't native to Florida (all of the Americas to be exact) and Washingtonian are native to the USA, but not the Florida area.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

I don't doubt. People often think climate change is static or completely man-made or exist for a certain period and the disappear. Reality is that climate change ¡s constant and not always in the warming direction.

There is something else that needs to be taken into account and that is if an area suffered massive deforestation and how it was reforested. Nowhere in Florida has a history (beyond recent times) of widespread deforestation. In Dominican Republic deforestation wasn't an issue until the 20th century and mostly during the later half of the century. In the last few decades forest dover has grown, but that is dud to intentional reforestation plans by the government and private sector. That is one of the reasons there are many native palms still existing in many areas (beyond built up areas).

In neighboring Puerto Rico the island is now greatly forested, but during the second half of thr 19th century and much i¡of the 20th deforestation was so intense it was the most man-made barren island in the Caribbean. The US government along with Puerto Rico's government implemented a reforestation plan which has been very successful. However, the reforested areas (which is most of the island) wasn't done to restore its previous natural look, but rather to have the area reforested as fast as possible to prevent the hard rains from washing to see the top soil. The result is that the scenery now seen in rural and out of the way areas of Puerto Rico look less tropical than not just in neighboring Dominican Republic, but also in Cuba. The original scenery in Puerto Rico was very similar to those places and this you notice in books about Puerto Rico from the 17th and 18th century where often a rural scenery is described that not quite reflects how many of those same areas look today. For example, it was common to see immense quantity of royal palm trees in most of its mountains, yet now most of its mountains are forested but they don't have the royal palm proliferation they originally had.

The built up areas of Florida I don't think look as they originally did plant wise. Now they have many introduced palm species and of other trees that naturally didn't exist in Florida. For example, a very popular palm tree in the Orlando area is the cocos palm (not coconut). That palm is native to a part of Brazil. Nowhere in Florida did that palm grew naturally, though now I think there are cocos palms all over the state (I'm not sure about Northern Florida, but I have never been up there, not even to the panhandle.) One of the first palms anyone will see as they exit the Orlando International Airport are dates and Washingtonian palms. Dates aren't native to Florida (all of the Americas to be exact) and Washingtonian are native to the USA, but not the Florida area.

No coconuts in north FL yet. But they will be there out past 70 years at the rate of heating we are seeing.

[Corrie22]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

I don't doubt. People often think climate change is static or completely man-made or exist for a certain period and the disappear. Reality is that climate change ¡s constant and not always in the warming direction..

nothing is a better example of that than Florida's citrus industry....that keeps moving south

warm long enough to grow mature trees....then a hard freeze kills them all

wash rinse repeat