I inherited some nice big potted plants about a month ago and although this is my second winter on this property, I seriously underestimated the destructive force of a hard freeze. Apparently my property is at the bottom of a little basin and cold air pools here: it got down to 17 degrees two nights ago. Now my sago palm, ponytail palm, and plumeria are badly damaged.

How can I help them? Do I remove the dead/damaged leaves, or leave them on until spring? Is there any hope for the plumeria if the growth tip is dead? It is a recently rooted cutting with about 6 inches of new growth to the stem. All the leaves were killed, and it looks like all the green part of the stem may have been damaged. Should I prune it back to the original cutting in the spring and hope it will re-grow?

Thanks for any help you can give me, I'm heart-sick. Also trying to figure out what to do for these plants for future freezes, as they are too big to bring in the house (except the plumeria, that I'll bring inside from now on.)

--Maureen