Where have all the flowers gone?

Bottle brush Some plants survived the initial frost but were then hit by an unusually strong northeasterly breeze Photograph: Alamy

Succulent agaves and aeoniums that got wet before the frost are mush. Tree ferns usually have green fronds all winter but have been blackened Photograph: Keiji Iwai/Getty Images

At the National Trust gardens in Trelissick in Cornwall, a 10ft-tall Canary Island date palm has most probably been lost Photograph: Alamy

Colourful gazanias and lampranthus left outside all year in Cornwall, have also gone to the big patio planter in the sky Photograph: NTPL/Stephen Robson

Jan Hoyland, head gardener at Trengwainton in Cornwall, has noticed that plants that are normally tough have been suffering. "Hebes can usually cope with anything, but here they have got used to soft living and have been knocked right back." Photograph: Alamy

Large stands of the Japanese hardy banana tree have collapsed on themselves. They should live to waft another day, but it will take a good few years before the cut the impressive subtropical dash they previously did Photograph: NTPL/Stephen Robson

John Lanyon, garden manager of NT gardens Trelissick and Glendurgan in Cornwall, has noticed many Mediterranean plants giving up the ghost. "They have clung on through the last two wet summers, hating the condition and for many cistus and rosemary plants this seems to have been the final straw." Photograph: Janine Hosegood/Getty Images/Red Cover RM

Cistus: another Mediterranean plant that has died Photograph: Dave Zubraski/Getty Images/GAP Photos RM