Rx for Cold-Damaged Plants

The question on most people's minds is what to do to help their plants recover from cold injury. One of the first things you may think of is taking out the pruning shears and cutting away the dead or dying leaves and branches. Well, this really isn't such a good idea. With most ornamental plants you can't tell how much damage has been done until the plant starts new growth in the spring. By pruning now, you may cut off live wood that doesn't have to be lost. Also, the leaves and branches, which have already been killed by the cold, can help protect the parts of your plant that haven't been damaged. If you cut this away, later freezes will do more damage than would have been done if the dead parts had been left on the plant. If you are determined to prune now for some reason, remember to cover whatever remains of your plant to protect it during the cold weather ahead.

Some of the more tender landscape plants such as poinsettia, banana, and bird of paradise may have been killed back to the ground. But these plants may surprise you by sending up new shoots from the roots next spring. So don't give up on them until warm weather arrives.

Damage to azaleas may be to flower buds and stems. You'll notice the bud damage for sure at blooming time when your plant produces few or no flowers. The stem damage will show up later in the spring and early summer when some of the branches die. Dead branches should be pruned out as they occur and remember to always cut back to living wood.

Camellia damage will probably be confined to flower buds and leaf burn. Cold damaged flower buds will either drop from the plant or only partially open showing a brown center. Leaf damage on camellias will not be to long lasting, as new leaves will come out in spring and the old, damaged ones will drop from the plant.

Whatever you do, remember that even if you've already had some cold damaged to your landscape plantings; this is not the time to relax your cold protection measures. Try not to encourage any new growth on your plants at this point and keep then as warm as possible the next time the weatherman predicts freezing temperatures.

And finally, if you lose one or two plants, just see it as an opportunity to add something new to your landscape. With thousands of plants to choose from and mild weather all year round, most years, who could complain?