President’s Corner – March 2026 – Our Poor Landscaping: The Big February Freeze

If your yard or neighborhood landscaping looks a little rough right now, you are not imagining it. In early February, Viera experienced one of the coldest weather events we have seen in decades. Temperatures dropped into the 20s for multiple nights, creating rare hard freeze conditions for Central Florida. Many of our plants and palms simply are not built for that kind of cold.

The result? Scorched leaves, browned foliage, and plants that may look like they didn’t survive. But before anyone reaches for the pruning shears, the most important thing to remember is this: Patience is key. Our landscape professionals are actively assessing the situation, and in many cases the true impact of the freeze will not be fully known for several months.

A Rare Cold Snap for Central Florida
The February freeze that impacted Viera was not typical winter weather for our area. Central Florida’s climate is generally considered subtropical, which means most winters stay comfortably above freezing. When temperatures drop into the 20s for several nights in a row, as they did this February, it creates conditions that many of our tropical and semi-tropical plants simply are not built to withstand. Florida landscapes are designed to survive hurricanes, blazing summer heat, and months of humidity. A deep freeze, however, is one of the few weather events that can truly surprise them.

Why the Damage Happens
Cold temperatures can affect plants in different ways.
Some plants experience surface damage, where leaves burn but the root system and stems remain healthy. These plants often recover once warmer temperatures return.
Palms can experience something more serious called internal trunk damage. When a palm trunk freezes, the tissue inside can begin to decay as temperatures warm again. This can prevent nutrients from traveling from the roots to the top of the palm, eventually causing the tree to decline. Smaller palms such as Foxtail palms, Christmas palms, Pygmy date palms, and Roebellini palms are especially sensitive to cold and may show signs of stress earlier than larger palms. Larger palms may not show signs of damage until May or even June, so continued monitoring will be important.

What Plants Were Most Affected
Across Viera, landscapers are seeing cold damage on several common landscape plants, including:

• Arboricola
• Green Island Ficus
• Ixora
• Firebush
• Hibiscus
• Copper Leaf
• Clusia
• Blue Daze
• Crotons

Some trees and palms may also show stress, including:

• Royal palms
• Bottle palms
• Alexander palms
• Pygmy date palms
• Tabebuia trees

While some plants may ultimately need replacement, many others may still recover with time.

What Residents Should (and Should NOT) Do
If your landscaping looks damaged, here are a few important tips from our landscape professionals:
• Do not prune immediately – Damaged leaves and stems may look unsightly, but they actually help protect the plant from additional stress. Removing them too soon can make recovery harder.
• Give plants time to show new growth – It can take several weeks or even months for plants to push out new growth after a freeze.
• Use the “scratch test” – A simple way to check if a plant is still alive is to lightly scratch the bark.

o Green underneath: the plant still has life and may recover
o Brown or black: the plant may not survive

• Understand that recovery takes time

Some landscapes may look worse before they look better. In many cases, full recovery could take six months to a year.

What the Landscape Teams Are Doing
Our landscape teams have already begun assessing common areas throughout Viera. In some areas, shrubs will be cut back to where healthy tissue remains, which may mean different heights depending on the condition of each plant. This is a normal part of helping plants recover. For certain palm species, crews are also applying copper-based fungicide treatments in the crown of the tree to help prevent fungal infections that can occur after cold damage. Prior to the freeze, crews also completed mulching in most common areas. That mulch layer helped protect plant roots by acting as an insulating blanket during the cold temperatures.

A Note for HOA-Maintained Neighborhoods
For residents in HOA-maintained communities, landscape teams are currently assessing plants, trees, and turf before making any replacement decisions. Because it can take time for freeze damage to fully appear, replacement work orders may be temporarily placed on hold while crews determine whether plants will recover.
Over the coming weeks, you may see shrubs being cut back or selectively pruned as crews evaluate where healthy growth remains. Some areas may recover quickly, while others may require replacement later in the season. Nurseries throughout Florida were also affected by the freeze, so replacement materials may take time to become available and it will also take some time for pricing to stabilize.

Architectural Review Committee (ARC) Approval
Normally, landscaping does require Architectural Review Committee (ARC) approval. However, for freeze-damaged and dead plants, if you are just replacing what died, do not submit an ARC application. You have approval to replace dead plants. Now, if you are using this opportunity to change your landscaping (add or subtract), you do need to submit an ARC application.

What to Expect Over the Next Six Months
Landscape recovery after a hard freeze does not happen overnight. In fact, the next several months will likely bring noticeable changes as plants either rebound or reveal deeper damage. Here is what residents may see over time:

Now – Early Spring
Many plants will still look brown or scorched. Landscape crews will begin carefully cutting back shrubs and plants to determine where healthy tissue remains. In some areas, plants may be reduced significantly in size as dead material is removed.

Spring Growth Season
As temperatures warm, plants that survived the freeze will begin pushing out new growth. This is when we will start to see which plants are recovering and which may need replacement. Some areas may begin to green up quickly, while others will take longer.

Late Spring – Early Summer
Larger palms may begin showing signs of stress or recovery during this time. Because of their size, damage to large palms often takes months to appear. Crews will continue monitoring palms and applying treatments where necessary.

Summer
By summer, we will have a much clearer picture of which plants have recovered and which need replacement. Some areas may still look uneven as landscapes rebuild and new plants are installed.

The important thing to remember is that landscape recovery is a process, not a single event. What may look concerning today could simply be part of the normal recovery cycle following a rare freeze.

The Bottom Line
While the freeze created visible damage across our landscapes, it does not mean everything is lost. Many plants will recover as temperatures warm and the spring growing season begins. With careful monitoring, proper pruning, and a little patience, much of our landscaping will rebound. Nature has an amazing ability to bounce back, and so will Viera’s landscapes.

However, let’s be real for a second. A lot of landscaping will be lost to the freeze. We are already starting to see early replacement estimates and it isn’t pretty. CVCA and your neighborhood HOAs will be struggling to decide what gets replaced and when material gets replaced and how it will be funded. Some tough discussions and decisions will have to be made in the coming weeks. Have some grace and patience with your HOA – they will make the best decision they can and you might not agree with the outcome. Replacement material cost throughout Viera will not be in the thousands, it will be in the millions. The process will not be quick, easy, or cheap. But, I thank you in advance for your patience as our teams work through the recovery process across the community.

So, until next time, remember, “The journey may be fraught with challenges, yet it continues, for even the smallest leaf must embrace destiny…Persistence is the key.” – Virginia Alison

Eva M. Rey, President
Central Viera Community Association, Inc.