In 1989, when the majority of our home landscape had turned to mush after a deep freeze, I swore off tropical plants! But the past twenty years of temperate winters have made me a little bit lax when it comes to the cold-hardiness of plants I purchase.
Don't get me wrong, I am not swearing off tropicals, but I do hope to remember to balance my cold-tender plant material with lots of hardy material! What do you think about a 2/3 cold hardy to 1/3 tropical ratio? Too much tropical? What do you think, Meems? We're in similar zones. The variegated shell ginger, Apina, faces the north so we totally expected some damage. But it looks like we will be trimming it all the way down to the ground this spring! One cool thing is that there is a ginger aroma in the air around these plants this afternoon. But, I hope this doesn't mean that there has been damage to the ginger rizomes. I'm counting on it coming back from the roots this spring!One pleasant surprise was the cardboard palm, Zamia furfuracea. This volunteer is surrounded by mushy oyster plant and a now completely defoliated Angel's Trumpet. 
Only time will tell what has been burned back and what has been killed off. Here's to spring gardening!
