?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s the worst freeze I?EUR??,,????'???ve ever seen,?EUR??,,????'?? said Mike Anselmo of Evergreen Nursery in Oceanside, Calif. (near San Diego). ?EUR??,,????'??Parts of our ornamental banana plants look like somebody took a blowtorch to them. Cold melts them?EUR??,,????'??+that?EUR??,,????'???s the best way to put it.?EUR??,,????'??

Anselmo told LandscapeOnline.com that the nursery?EUR??,,????'???s alocasia (elephant?EUR??,,????'???s ear), hibiscus and ficus trees were also badly hit by the Arctic weather.

Despite the battered appearance, ?EUR??,,????'??all of this will come back, we?EUR??,,????'???re not going to lose anything,?EUR??,,????'?? he said.

Other nurseries may not be so lucky, said Robert Falconer, executive vice president of the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers.

"It depends on where they are, but I've heard that in some places the woody evergreen species could be a total loss," he told LandscapeOnline.com. "It won't be until March that we'll know for sure though."

As of Jan. 18, the National Weather Service had reported at-or-below-freezing temperatures for 12 straight days at Fresno, located in California?EUR??,,????'???s agriculture heartland. Similar temperatures (in the mid and upper 20s F.) were hitting parts of the Los Angeles Basin, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties and elsewhere. On Jan. 17 it snowed in Malibu, Calif.

Property owners were shocked at the cold in locations where gardeners and contractors usually enjoy year-round green. From blackened Bougainvillea to iced impatiens, the bitter chill decimated landscaping across the region, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

?EUR??,,????'??Our hibiscus, mine?EUR??,,????'???s awful, and my Mexican sage just looks terrible, and my trumpet plants took it, too,?EUR??,,????'?? Riverside resident Terry Wold told the paper.

?EUR??,,????'??People have turned to wanting to use more tropicals than they probably should and many of the tropicals that people like to plant around their pools have been hard hit.?EUR??,,????'??

Although impatiens and begonias are likely dead from the cold, most bougainvilleas, hibiscus, lantanas and other woody shrubs will grow back, despite their dismal appearance, Tim Traver of Parkview Nursery in Riverside told the Press-Telegram.

Residents with blackened plants should water them once a week or so but otherwise leave them alone until about mid-February when the threat of another frost is reduced, he said.

As bad as the plants look, Traver urged homeowners not to prune branches ruined by the frost. The damaged foliage will protect the rest of the plant in case of another freeze, he said.

The freeze will doubtlessly hit consumers at the checkout line. It could affect some plant prices, although it?EUR??,,????'???s too soon to tell how much.

When a three-day freeze in December 1998 destroyed 85 percent of California?EUR??,,????'???s citrus crop, the loss was valued at $700 million, California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura said.

?EUR??,,????'??This is one of those freezes that, unfortunately, we?EUR??,,????'???ll all remember,?EUR??,,????'?? Kawamura said.

Sources: San Diego (Calif.) Union Tribune, Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise, Associated Press.