03/16/2021
Garden Tip: INDIAN HAWTHORNS Because I had 4 questions here yesterday, 5 on the phone, 4 emailed from friends and 3 in Zoom meetings, I decided this might make a good topic.
"What's up with Indian hawthorns that look like the ones in this photo?"
Sadly, they're mostly toast. At least the ones I've seen around DFW have been. My friend Steven Chamblee told me that in Longview, where they had 10 inches of snow, there's a clear line of green where the snow protected their foliage. Brown above and green below. But growth that was exposed to temperatures down into the low single digits and even below zero has probably been lost.
Can they be saved? If your plants don't look as bad as these in McKinney, and if they're budding out with new shoots, yes. But if they're mangled and half-dead, you have to decide whether it will be worth the wait for them to regrow.
Bend the twigs and branches. If they snap and are dried and brown inside, they're gone. Take them out and replace them with dwarf hollies (dwarfs Burford, Chinese, yaupon, Carissa), dwarf (non-fruiting, non-invasive!) nandinas, Tam junipers, dwarf abelias or other suitable plant.
To be candid, I would not replace them with more Indian hawthorns. Granted, we may not have another cold spell like this year's for 50 more winters, but Entomosporium fungal leaf spot threatens them anyway. And don't replant with dwarf pittosporums. They're even more winter-tender.
Your local independent retail garden center will likely have a Texas Certified Nursery Professional on staff to help you choose plants that are specifically well suited to your locale.
Please do not post questions unrelated to this Garden Tip here. Please know that I normally don't try to answer them in this thread, as others won't see my reply. That's how I end up with the same question several times in a day. Thanks!!!
