Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Wait and See

We had a pretty mild winter in the Philadelphia area this year. No measurable snow fell, and temperatures were tolerable most of the time. Except for one little flash freeze in December. A flash freeze occurs when temperatures drop drastically in a short period of time. On December 23, 2022, the temperature in the Philadelphia area dropped 40 degrees in a 24-hour period giving plants (and people) no time to adjust.

According to the Grumpy Gardener, when broadleaf evergreens are subjected to a flash freeze, they don’t have enough time to withdraw water from their leaves. Ice crystals form inside the leaves, burst the cells, and kill the foliage. In my own garden I noticed significant die-back on Sweetbox (Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis) and Skip Laurels (Prunus laurocerasus ‘Schipkaensis’). I’ve also seen more dead wood in Hydrangeas than in past years with lots of dried-up buds. My friends and co-workers will tell you that I’m a bit impatient in the garden. I want things to look good all the time. When I asked nursery professionals what I should do to address the damage I was witnessing, I was advised to ‘wait and see.’

What? Wait? Do nothing? That’s not me. But I tried to take the advice of professionals and in some cases I succeeded. I did nothing to my Skip Laurels. I decided they will recover. And even if they don’t, I know that it’s possible to cut a Skip Laurel to the ground and have it regrow from the base. I learned this the hard way when storm damage caused me to take this approach.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

My friend got me these cocktail napkins. Need I say more?

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Sweetbox with flash freeze damage

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Damaged Skip Laurel

 

I was tempted to take action right away with suffering plants but instead I waited. I looked for other signs of life in the garden. I enjoyed seeing many other plants burst into bloom like Epimediums and Veronica Georgia Blue. But after distracting myself long enough, I started doing some tests to determine if my plants had survived. I scratched the branches of any dead-looking plants to see if I uncovered green. If I saw green, I knew the plant had life in it. If I saw brown instead, I knew the branch was dead. Another test I tried was to bend a stem. If it was pliable, I knew it was alive and likely to survive.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

I loved seeing the Epimediums burst open with flowers

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

The cheery blooms of Veronica distracted me from burned leaves on other plants.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

The scratch test proved this branch was dead.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Thankful to see green on this Hydrangea stem.

After doing my scratch and bend tests, I started my official cleanup. I cut brown Sarcococca stems to the ground hoping for a flush of new growth at the base. They may not look great this year, but my fingers are crossed that by next year they will fully recover. At least they look better to me. I’m not looking at dead foliage – just gaps in foliage, which I find tolerable and more in keeping with my ‘neat and tidy’ aesthetic. I took a similar approach with my Hydrangeas, pruning branches back to the first set of leaves and cutting out the dead wood.

You might be more patient than I am. Maybe you are comfortable waiting a long time to see what happens. Or maybe once you’ve inspected your plants, you immediately develop a plan of attack. I recommend you do whatever works best for you. Scratch, bend, prune or just wait and see.

 

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Blasted by Mother Nature

Spring is both exciting and terrifying. Exciting because new life is emerging from the ground on a daily basis. Terrifying because Mother Nature can be brutal in the spring. In the Mid-Atlantic this year Mother Nature was particularly unkind. Just when certain plants were starting to shine, she delivered a cold snap. Not just a little threat of frost, but rather three solid days of sub-zero temperatures.

Since this sustained freeze was quite unusual, I spent some time evaluating the results. I noticed that plants responded differently to Mother Nature’s attack. Some surrendered. Some rallied. Others played it smart and stayed dormant.

Surrender

Early blooming trees like magnolias and cherries gave up the fight, turning brown overnight. Instead of enjoying a prolonged bloom time, we were forced to embrace the present moment and the fleeting beauty of these flowering trees. Unprotected tropical plants were toast too, giving up the fight for good. In my garden the fern-leaf Corydalis turned black and never recovered – see you next year Corydalis.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

A weeping cherry bloomed for a day before Mother Nature froze the flowers

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

This magnolia looked great one day and had brown blossoms the next due to extreme cold

 

Rally

My hellebores and daffodils collapsed under the cold, and I stressed over their future state since I have large stands of them. But miraculously, when the cold subsided, they perked back up and showed no evidence of any hardship. Plants in certain microclimates also fared pretty well. The Edgeworthia chrysantha in my garden continued to bloom for weeks after the cold snap since it was well protected by an evergreen hedge and positioned to absorb warmth from my brick home.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Hellebores collapsed in the severe cold

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Once the sunshine and warmth returned, the hellebores fully recovered

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Daffodils rebounded quickly from the freeze

Protection

Many people wonder what they can do to help protect their plants if a cold blast is heading their way. For frost warnings it’s a good idea to put tender perennials or annuals in the garage or basement if available. For plants that might be pushing your hardiness zone or plants in containers that you haven’t put in the ground yet, consider a frost blanket, burlap or even a bedsheet. Nurseries often turn irrigation systems on just before a freeze to encourage a coating of ice on leaves. While this method might seem counterintuitive, a coating of ice (or snow) actually helps to insulate and protect a plant’s buds and emerging leaves.

Too often its impractical to protect all the precious plants in our gardens. We just have to ‘wait and see.’ This ‘wait and see’ mentality isn’t new to us. We plant in the fall and wait to see what happens in the spring. We install a new plant in our landscape and wait to see how it performs. We plant. We wait. We see. We repeat. We are gardeners. and we are a resilient bunch. Go ahead Mother Nature. Attack us. You won’t cause us to lose hope. There’s always the next season or tomorrow’s bloom.