Ask George!
What do I do with the frozen plants in my yard?
This year’s record-setting cold weather – following last year’s near-record lows – is making a lot of us reconsider our landscapes. Plants like ixora, hibiscus and some palms may be so damaged after two really cold years that you might want to consider replacing them. Lawns also may be damaged by cold, particularly if you’re growing the more tender varieties of St. Augustine in shady locations.
Here are some tips gleaned from the University of Florida’s website as well as our own experiences over the past few years:
GENERAL LANDSCAPING
No matter how horrible it looks, try to resist pruning until the danger of more severe cold has passed. Waiting to prune dead leaves and branches gives the remaining plant a layer of insulation, and pruning stimulates new tender growth that will be even more tender than what’s already frozen.
Another reason to wait is that damage may be even worse than it looks right now. It takes about a month for the full extent of damage to show – you may notice stems cracking and bark peeling away as further indications of cold damage. Once danger of frost has passed, remove all dead leaves and branches to help prevent disease. Some plants may need to be cut back to the ground although they may recover rapidly if they had a well-established root system.
Beds of flowering annuals like impatiens, salvia or zinnas that have been damaged can be replaced immediately with hardy winter-blooming flowers like pansies, Johnny-jump-ups, delphinium, dianthus, dusty miller, ornamental cabbage or kale, petunias, Shasta daisies and snapdragons. They'll die out when it gets hot but they tolerate cold temperatures well.
PALMS
Cold weather not only destroys visible plant tissue, it may severely reduce a tree’s ability to conduct water in its trunk. That means that even if a palm – particularly foxtails, fishtail, coconut, areca royal and pigmy date – appears to have survived the cold snap, it may die from secondary bacterial infections. Cold-damaged leaves should be removed although fronds with just a few spots from the cold should be left on the tree so it has enough green material to ensure adequate photosynthesis during the recovery period.
Immediately after pruning, palms should be sprayed with a copper-based fungicide,with the treatment repeated 10 days later. Monthly applications of soluble nutrients applied directly to the leaves may help it recover.
Palms with cold damage should be monitored carefully for the next year. Damage to embryonic leaves may cause deformed or brown fronds to appear up to a year later.
If your palms are severely damaged, we recommend replacing them with sabal, paurotis, pindo, European or Chinese fans, queen or Canary Island dates for both their beauty and their cold tolerance.
We can help determine the level of damage, prune as necessary and then make the scheduled treatments – or replace your palms with hardier species.
TURF
Damage is more likely to occur in areas with poor drainage, shade, excessive applications of nitrogen in the fall or where the turf has been mowed too low. Additionally, Floratam, Floralawn and Floratine are most susceptible to cold damage while Bitterblue, Seville, Raleigh and Jade are generally more cold-tolerant. Zoysia is a very cold-tolerant grass that’s also more forgiving than St. Augustine during extended drought, although it does require some special attention.
Some lawns also show brown spots where weeds have taken over. This is a good time of year to mark those locations and plan on resodding when the weather gets warmer. Left alone, these weeds are likely to go to seed and spread throughout the lawn, choking out the more attractive turfgrass. This is particularly true for crabgrass and Bermuda, both of which are extremely difficult to control once they get a foothold in your lawn.
WE CAN HELP!
This year’s record-setting cold weather – following last year’s near-record lows – is making a lot of us reconsider our landscapes. Plants like ixora, hibiscus and some palms may be so damaged after two really cold years that you might want to consider replacing them. Lawns also may be damaged by cold, particularly if you’re growing the more tender varieties of St. Augustine in shady locations.
Here are some tips gleaned from the University of Florida’s website as well as our own experiences over the past few years:
GENERAL LANDSCAPING
Wait until mid-February to pull out your shovel and clippers, but start making plans to renovate your landscape now. Survey the plants to see what looks good and what doesn’t. Sometimes you’ll find multiple micro-climates in the same neighborhood or even the same yard. A hibiscus or croton planted close to the south wall of your home may be fine – the same specimen in a more open location may be damaged every time temperatures drop.
No matter how horrible it looks, try to resist pruning until the danger of more severe cold has passed. Waiting to prune dead leaves and branches gives the remaining plant a layer of insulation, and pruning stimulates new tender growth that will be even more tender than what’s already frozen.
Another reason to wait is that damage may be even worse than it looks right now. It takes about a month for the full extent of damage to show – you may notice stems cracking and bark peeling away as further indications of cold damage. Once danger of frost has passed, remove all dead leaves and branches to help prevent disease. Some plants may need to be cut back to the ground although they may recover rapidly if they had a well-established root system.
Beds of flowering annuals like impatiens, salvia or zinnas that have been damaged can be replaced immediately with hardy winter-blooming flowers like pansies, Johnny-jump-ups, delphinium, dianthus, dusty miller, ornamental cabbage or kale, petunias, Shasta daisies and snapdragons. They'll die out when it gets hot but they tolerate cold temperatures well.
If you’re thinking about renovating your landscape, look around your neighborhood at what looks good now. Arrow’s Total Landscape Care division can help you design and then plant a new landscape using cold-tolerant plants that look great even in the worst of weather.
PALMS
Cold-damaged palms need attention immediately. Hopefully they went into winter with optimum levels of nutrients delivered through our specialized palm care program because UF research shows that well-nourished palms are more likely to survive extended periods of cold.
Cold weather not only destroys visible plant tissue, it may severely reduce a tree’s ability to conduct water in its trunk. That means that even if a palm – particularly foxtails, fishtail, coconut, areca royal and pigmy date – appears to have survived the cold snap, it may die from secondary bacterial infections. Cold-damaged leaves should be removed although fronds with just a few spots from the cold should be left on the tree so it has enough green material to ensure adequate photosynthesis during the recovery period.
Immediately after pruning, palms should be sprayed with a copper-based fungicide,with the treatment repeated 10 days later. Monthly applications of soluble nutrients applied directly to the leaves may help it recover.
Palms with cold damage should be monitored carefully for the next year. Damage to embryonic leaves may cause deformed or brown fronds to appear up to a year later.
If your palms are severely damaged, we recommend replacing them with sabal, paurotis, pindo, European or Chinese fans, queen or Canary Island dates for both their beauty and their cold tolerance.
We can help determine the level of damage, prune as necessary and then make the scheduled treatments – or replace your palms with hardier species.
TURF
Like landscape plants, avoid cutting brown leaf blades until mid-February when the danger of frost has largely passed. The dead blades can provide insulation to protect low-growing rhizomes from future cold. St. Augustine grass, which is the most widely grown in Southwest Florida residential communities, generally exhibits poor cold tolerance but cultural factors play an important role in its survival.
Damage is more likely to occur in areas with poor drainage, shade, excessive applications of nitrogen in the fall or where the turf has been mowed too low. Additionally, Floratam, Floralawn and Floratine are most susceptible to cold damage while Bitterblue, Seville, Raleigh and Jade are generally more cold-tolerant. Zoysia is a very cold-tolerant grass that’s also more forgiving than St. Augustine during extended drought, although it does require some special attention.
Some lawns also show brown spots where weeds have taken over. This is a good time of year to mark those locations and plan on resodding when the weather gets warmer. Left alone, these weeds are likely to go to seed and spread throughout the lawn, choking out the more attractive turfgrass. This is particularly true for crabgrass and Bermuda, both of which are extremely difficult to control once they get a foothold in your lawn.
WE CAN HELP!
While most of our customers recognize our expertise in lawn care, Arrow also offers a Total Landscape Care (TLC) program that can completely renovate your landscape, from expert design to installation and custom services to keep your landscape looking its best in every kind of weather. Mention this column for a 10% discount up to $200 through March 1.
