We can’t put out a statement saying, “Anyone in this zip code…. will need to replace all plants.” Or vice versa, “Anyone in this zip code… all your plants will be fine.” Both those statements would be untrue. See those two pictures of the same variety of salvia planted in two different areas of my yard. The second one has new growth, totally unscathed by the freeze, and the first one looks dead top to bottom. Will it come back from the roots once the weather warms completely? I’ll have to let you know. Every year it has so far, but this year was like no other.
The extent of freeze damage has many variables. Some variables that would make freeze damage more prevalent are:
- Was your plant recently planted?
- Did you prune before the freeze and already have new growth?
- Were your plants tropical to subtropical?
- Were your plants succulents?
- Did your fruit trees already have flowers. (Your tree could be fine, but you might not get fruit this year.)
- Did you forget to take all precautions to protect plants with frost cloth, blankets, heating lamps, etc….
- Did you remember to tell your plants you loved them and you wanted to see them on the other side of this freeze?
Seriously though, we know it’s hard when you lose your beloved plants, and we’re Texans…we are ready for our spring gardening season! Our best advice with this recent freeze is to use these guidelines, and that’s all they are, to assess freeze damage in your plants and to help figure out what to do next.
What to do with your plants after the freeze.
Freeze damage usually makes plant material look dark, with a water soaked appearance. The black color of the plant material turns to brown and then dries. Gross! Now what?
Native plants and zone 8 perennials and shrubs might start generating new growth within the next few weeks if the weather continues to warm.
Plants that love the hot weather (think Pride of Barbados, Duranta, FireCracker Fern, etc…) will take much longer to reach out from their roots.
This will be one of the harder things to do because we’re going from day temperatures of 19° to 70 in a matter of days. It blows our minds and we want to be planting. If you have plants you love in your landscape, wait, and give them time to come back.
2. Wait! Don’t be so hasty to prune freeze damaged plants.
Yes, freeze damaged plants are UGLY, but if you can stand the ugly for a little while longer, it can help protect the rest of the plant is there is another….I don’t want to say it….late freeze! Sorry, but the truth is weather is unpredictable, and the groundhog did say 6 more weeks of winter.
You can clearly see the freeze damage in the first close up picture of plumbago. Can you see the healthy plant material underneath the freeze damage in the second picture? Waiting to prune until warmer weather when new growth starts to develop also helps you know where you should make your cuts when it is time to prune.
When you do prune in a few weeks, make selective cuts. Start at the farthest part of branches, limbs and stems, and make gradual cuts until you hit fresh plant material.
* While you are being patient with your plants, please also be patient with us. Both locations, 5 plus acres, also went through the freeze with you. While a huge effort went in to protect our plant material, we lost some too. Deliveries are on the way, but everyone’s schedules are mixed up. We are working diligently to get you plant material as quickly as possible to replace your losses from the freeze.
3. Wait a few days after the freeze to assess plants.
Assess if a plant has been freeze damaged by using a knife or your fingernail to gently scrape back bark on a branch. Check for healthy plant tissue that will look light cream to green in color. Then go back to guideline #2 and Wait.
4. Wait to fertilize, but offer normal amounts of water (don’t go overboard).
You don’t need to fertilize and push new growth just yet. Let’s make sure we are out of the woods with the cold snaps. Water, however, can help plants recover. Check the soil around your damaged plants like you normally would. (Stick in finger 2 inches to feel for moisture.) If dry, water normally. Don’t think that dumping a ton of water on your plants is servicing them. No need to overwater, just resume a regular water schedule.
5. Wait and decide if you even want the freeze damaged plant.
No need to run out to the nursery to buy another plant to replace the exact species if you don’t really think you like it much. Not to be heartless, but there were a couple of plants in my landscape that I was happy to say, “Good Riddance!” They were plants that caused me angst on a regular basis, so when the freeze took them on and won, I didn’t care. (You might be able to see in the pics below why I didn’t shed any tears for the freeze damaged fig ivy that was overstaying its welcome.)
If you know you don’t care much about the plant, it’s damaged anyways and you just don’t want to wait to get rid of it, THEN you can yank it out. You only need to fight the wait for those plants you truly love. Maybe you can replace the jilted plant with a beautiful native that is more apt to beat the weather odds anyways.
1. Research New Plants.
Take a look at our Plant Finder tool that is located on our Learning Center page. While the plants listed in the plantfinder tool are not necessarily indicitive of what we have in stock at the current time, they are plants we generally carry or have carried before.
Our Plant Finder tool is great for researching plants you are thinking of incorporating into your landscape. It’s a great way to make a wish list that you can then cross reference with our plants at Rainbow Gardens.
Maybe one of your freeze damaged plants had been around for years and you never got around feeding the soil. Don’t pull out a plant and plop a new one in its place before making sure the soil is healthy and ready to offer your new plant an amazing home.
3. Take a moment to mourn your plants if you need to, then take a deep breath and think warm thoughts of spring. It is still coming.
If you do need to replace some of your plants, know that we are here for you. It’s also a great time to plant in early spring. We’ll keep offering up tips to help you through this; right now, try and be patient with your plants and wait. Before you know it, it will be the heat that we battle instead of the cold! Best of luck!
~The Happy Gardener, Lisa Mulroy
I planted two apple trees and a peach a week before the freeze, also three Xylosa bushes. They look awful. Is there a chance they might survive being new plantings? Thank you
Hi Susan,
It will all depend on how you protected them. Were they watered well before the freeze? Did you mulch them, including piling mulch up against the trunk for the duration of the freeze? Hopefully you read the blog you posted on with our tips to look for fresh plant material on the limbs and branches. If your fruit trees had flowers before the freeze, it’s possible you might not get fruit this year, but that the trees themselves could survive if you protected them. It’s a bit of a waiting game right now. Give them a few weeks to a month to really be able to see the extent of the damage. Keep them normally watered for the time being.
My tangerine tree is 10 years old and over 8 tall. So it is too big for me to cover. Now the top branches and leaves are brown and side branches are losing leaves. How do I save it?
Betty,
Wait for a month or possibly longer to be able to see the extent of the damage. Then, when your citrus starts to leaf out and show new growth, you will be able to clearly see where to prune to. Only prune back to the new, green growth….but wait… give your citrus time to regenerate. Losing the leaves is normal in this case of severe weather. Water normally and don’t fertilize yet. We aren’t out of the woods yet, as we could see another freeze (not to the extent that we just had, but we can still get bit). Hope this helps….
I have always trimmed my Blenda Dream rose in February. With this freeze, I am not sure what to do. It is 20 years old. I also have an old rose that is about 5 years old. Any guidance you can give me will be greatly appreciated I look forward to getting back to your Thousand Oaks location and refilling my pots.
You can trim back your roses in a week or so to make sure we are out of the woods for anymore late freezes. Some people have opted to prune now and just know that if we get a late freeze, you will need to make extra sure the roses are completely protected, or new growth will suffer. Water normally now, and mid March you can start your fertilizing program. Please see our youtube channel where we recently posted some videos on rose pruning and care.
My citrus trees were covered and protected but got hit anyway!
How long should I wait to prune back”burnt” growth?
Hi Kat,
You aren’t going to like hearing this, but I wouldn’t touch your citrus trees for at least a month, maybe longer. This way you will really be able to see the extent of the damage. Wait, wait, wait. Give you citrus time to rejuvenate themselves. You are waiting for your citrus to start to leaf out some to show you new growth, and then prune back to that point. Until then, water normally, don’t fertilize.
What should we do with our sago palms, almost every other house has a sago palm or two and the palms are all brown?
Hi Tammee,
Our best advise is to wait out the brown for awhile and allow some time to clearly see the damage. If you can’t stand the brown, you can remove the damaged fronds of the palm, but do not ever cut into the center of the plant. Like, don’t just hack off the top. All new growth on palms originate from the that center so you need to leave that intact when you are pruning. Remove outer fronds that are obviously lifeless, and then, wait….for warm weather to rejuvenate your sago. The wait may be longer than normal, but probably in a few (3) weeks or so you should start seeing new growth if it is going to happen. Remember that we could still have another freeze, so anything cut back will need extra care and protection if so.
Thank you for the information and encouragement, will watch, wait, then be sure to replace anything I need from Rainbow.
Thank you, Jo!
It’s the hardest thing for us gardeners to when spring is knocking at the door. We also have a spring clean up blog for when the wait is over and we can get busy again. Thank you so much for reading and good luck!
Is there any hope for my Aloe Vera plants that look like jelly?How about my Boston Fern? 😢Thanks
Hi Kathy,
Aloe vera are not one of our best cold hardy plants, however, it might come back depending on the age of it and how it was protected. As far as the jelly-like, mushy leaves, cut those off now. The mushy plant material can invite fungal disease. trim off all those parts and…..wait. We don’t advise pulling out anything yet, it’s still too early to tell. If you can’t stand the look of the dead fronds of your Boston fern, you can trim back the outer layers a little to clean it up some, BUT, we could still get a freeze, and you’ll need to cover and protect again. New fronds could start peaking out of the center in a few weeks, but we’ll have to wait and see. I leave mine alone until I can clearly see the damage.Those dried outer fronds could still add a layer of protection to the new growth if we do in fact get another freeze.
I planted Cannas and mums last spring. They are damage due to the freeze. Can they survive a freeze? How do I improve Their chances?
It depends on the efforts your took to protect them and the severity of the damage they endured, which you might not know for a couple of weeks. If the tissue of your cannas is oozy or slimy (mush) trim that part of now. This plant material can develop fungal issues. You’ll need to wait to to see if they come back once the weather warms up. Mums will generally come back, If you can clearly see the difference between the damaged area and healthy material, gently work your way from the top of the plant and prune down until you reach a healthy part of the limb (lt. cream to green material). Just know that it’s possible we could still get another freeze and these plants will need to be protected again. Waiting a couple of weeks to be able to clearly see freeze damage is advised. (Except for the mushy parts if any on your canna.)
First, THANK YOU for allowing us to ask questions! I have/had 2 Cactus Opuntia Purple bought at your nursery in September 2020. They were turning purple and starting to get those cute little buds. I see their ‘ears’ as I call them, have fallen over; no longer upright, but still attached to the main stem, and they are soft to the touch. I have let them lay as I pray they might recover. Are they finished, should I pull out the entire cactus and replace?
It might come back depending on how it was protected. As far as the jelly-like, mushy leaves, cut those off now. The mushy plant material can invite fungal disease. trim off all those outside parts and…..wait and see in a few weeks what the base of the plant looks like. It the main stem becomes mushy, it most likely will need to be replaced.
This is not directly related to the freeze issue- but 20 some years ago, in the spring, the new leaves of many live oaks where I worked were eaten up by webworms by 50%- to 75%. It looked really bad. But before too long, the trees leafed out again. It’s great to see how plants can often endure damage like that, or freezing.
Absolutely! Plants can be extremely resilient. P.s. see our blog on webworms for some tips to keep them from completely defoliating your tree again. Thanks for reading!
Will my Cactus Opuntia Purple purchased last September come back? Both have ‘ears’ fallen over but still attached to main base. THANK YOU!
They might come back depending on how it was protected. As far as the jelly-like, mushy leaves, cut those off now. The mushy plant material can invite fungal disease. trim off all those outside parts and…..wait and see in a few weeks what the base of the plant looks like. It the main stem becomes mushy, it most likely will need to be replaced.
I planted some prickly pear about 6 months ago, all the “leaves” are sagging and yellow and when I push on the “trunk”it’s mush. I I know they’re usually pretty resilient but can’t help but feel like they’re gonners. Especially since across the street, theirs is just dropping the leaves off.
Cut all parts that are mushy. You may need to cut down to the ground. Yes, they are pretty resilient plants, but the duration of the storm was that to cause extensive damage. They may need to be replaced, but we still advise to leave the base in the ground for a few weeks (but cut off the mush) to see what happens.
What about a my beautiful and very large yellow butterfly vine? It’s completely brown. How to I best care for it?
Same way as advised for most plants. You will soon be able to see a clear difference where the brown material meets green if your vine will survive. In a couple weeks, you can begin to trim back beginning from the most distal ends until you meet healthy, new growth. If you don’t find any, you might need to replace. For the time being, just water normally until warm weather shows new growth or not.
I did prune before the freeze as I had plenty of new growth on my Pink Skullcaps, Dwarf Ruellia, and Mexican Butterfly Weed. I’m fairly certain the Butterfuly will come through, but the Ruellia and Skullcaps I question. I know when we planted last year the Ruellia we were told we can’t kill them, I wonder now? What should I do, sit back and wait a few weeks as you have written about above? Or, am I doomed and need to replant?
Not doomed, but you do need to wait and see, or you may end up pulling out plants that were just waiting for warm weather to regenerate. The duration of the low temperatures from the storm was so unique that many plants that are normally hardy and “unkillable” will meet their demise. Remove any slimy or mushy foliage from dwarf ruellia so that fungus isn’t developed, and wait. Your plants come back from their rhizomes, and roots so warm weather could possibly bring them back up. You’ll be able to see damage clearer in a couple of weeks and will see more obviously where to prune.
I had just trimmed my older rose bushes (all but one was over 10 years old) the week before the freeze. They all look pretty bad and some have black stems already. How long should I wait to see if they will pull through.
Roses take off pretty fast once warm weather begins to be present more consistently. A few weeks should show more clearly where the damage ends and new growth starts. Then, you can prune back the dead material to the healthy material and start your fertilizing program. Wait for the warmth, wait for your roses to have a shot at rejuvenating.