Don’t Give Up on Those Winter Damage Plants Yet!

The recent blast of cold that barreled through our country last week caused lots of plant damage. It was unavoidable. The temperature dropped from the 50’s to -3° F in a matter of a few hours. That is a very significant temperature drop that wreaked havoc on our gardens. But don’t look at your brown and black leaf damage and give up on your plants yet! The winter damaged plants may be just fine. Or maybe not. The problem is we don’t know yet what the extent of the winter storm damage is.

Broad Leaf Evergreens were Hit the Hardest

In our garden the most damage occurred on the broad leaf evergreens. These are plants like holly, camellia, hellebore, and dwarf English laurel. The broad evergreen leaves took a full blast from the cold and the wind. Many of these plants have proteins that act as antifreeze. If given a gradually cold change these plants can adapt and suffer little to no damage. Unfortunately when the temperature drops 50+ degrees in such a short period of time these proteins do not have time to react. Consequently we’re left with brown, splotchy, and dead leaves.

Our deciduous trees may have been damaged as well. Even though they are dormant the cold may have done a good bit of damage to the interior of the plant. You may see some dead branches and even stems. Plants that aren’t native to the area can be more sensitive and are not as well adapted as the native ones. Crape myrtles and Japanese maples are two that could be a little “iffy” this spring. Normally they are damaged during the growing season when the sap is flowing and a hard freeze happens. The sap freezes and breaks open the bark through the cambian layer. It’s not the same situation today but still something to pay attention to when they begin growing this spring.

The Good News…

The good news is many of the damaged plants are tough. Holly shrubs can come back from an extremely hard pruning and so can the laurels. I suspect that if the plant was healthy to begin with that it will suffer some dead foliage and branches but the overall plant will recover. It may mean that we need to do some corrective pruning, but not yet. Not until the Spring temperatures are starting to rise and the dangers of these types of cold snaps is lessened. I would recommend waiting until March and you start to see live growth coming back before making any decisions.

What Should You Do?

It may come to pass that your plant will pass on to the great compost bin in the sky. We won’t know until spring if the plant is “not dead yet” or dead as a doornail so don’t take any drastic steps to remove your cold damaged plants unless you want an excuse to tell your spouse that you need to buy new plants. (In which case I will disavow any knowledge of the previous sentence.) Given time and care your plants could recover so let them be and see how they do. My advice: be patient!

Once our gardens begin to grow again in the spring you can prune out the dead and dying growth. Cut branches back to where the growth is alive and allow the plants to refresh their foliage. Make sure you keep the plants watered during dry spells this coming year and give it a nice layer of compost and mulch to help it out. The plants that won’t come back are probably ones that went through drought periods last year and may already have one foot in the compost bin.

Just don’t rip out your favorite camellia or grandma’s holly bush until you KNOW FOR SURE it’s a goner. You may just see your favorite shrubs make a come back!