01/19/2024
After a freeze in central Texas, what to do and how to assess cold-damaged landscape plants.
🌱 Once the temperature is above freezing, check soil moisture and water plants that are dry.
🌱If plants have been covered, remove the covering once temperature will stay above freezing.
Will plants recover from freeze damage?
Only time will tell but it can take weeks for the full extent of damage to be evident.
What about pruning after a freeze?
🌱This is a time to be patient and do not go straight for your pruners. For winter damaged shrubs and trees, you can wait until late winter in central Texas to cut away dead material.
What about pruning herbaceous perennials after a freeze?
🌱Again, it is best to wait. Why? The dead foliage and stems will protect and insulate the plant if there is another freeze.
What about succulents that are cold damaged with soft, mushy foliage?
🌱 Go ahead and Clean it off and wait to see if it regrows from roots.
A few of the more cold sensitive landscape plants that may be cold-damaged: rosemary, Indian hawthorne, bottlebrush, pittosporum, foxtail fern, viburnum, agave, star jasmine, fig ivy.