Hey folks! I am on the Southeast side of Houston, and I was wondering how the rest of you Houstonians fared this last crazy winter. I have a large collection of tropical plants that I did not take inside or cover at all this past winter, and I am wondering if they are going to come back.
Here are the things I have that so far aren't showing any signs of life. I don't want to give up on them too soon, so if any of you have these plants let me know what yours are doing so I can gauge if its time to dig my babies up or give them more time. Thanks!
Bird of paradise
Mandevilla
Plumeria
Brugmansia
Coral tree (jatropha)
Datura inoxa
Iochroma
Croton
Hibiscus
Rubber tree
Schefflera
Pride of Barbados
Milk bush/pencil cactus (euphorbia tirucalli)
Cuban oregano
Candle Bush
Bush Alamanda
Desert Rose (adenium)
Help with my my "dead" plants (especially any Houston folks)
I can only speak for plumeria.
Check if the tips are hard. If they are, then check along the rest of the stem. If they are firm, you are good to go.
If they are squishy or soft, they are probably rotting and need to be cut ASAP. Cut until you see white wood in the cambium layer. The rot will travel if left unchecked and rot the plant down to the ground in most cases.
Occasionally you will get only tip rot and the plant will reject a piece of the tip that has rotted, it will then eventually grow new branches.
Here in Southwest Florida things are just starting to wake up after out unusually cold winter so I think you need to give it a bit more time.
I lost appr. 20 plumeria of an extensive (and expensive) collection this winter so I feel your pain.
Yes, it's difficult to tell, I think we have another month or two before we can tell for sure what's living or not.
Bird of paradise- I have a giant bird of paradise, leaves froze, but trunk is still firm and green at top
Erythrinia- shocked, but it's really coming back with vigor
Mandevilla- most of my vines perished except ones from this zone like cross vine
Plumeria- Some sections will recover, had some totally fried
Brugmansia- Ones in the ground are coming back like crazy right now, but potted ones are just showing signs of new stuff
Coral tree (jatropha)- croaked
Datura inoxa- croaked
Iochroma-croaked
Croton- outside ones croaked,
Hibiscus- They look croaked, but noticed yesterday one exhibiting new growth near the base
Rubber tree- croaked, but still hoping something might come up from roots
Schefflera- croaked
Pride of Barbados- croaked
Milk bush/pencil cactus (euphorbia tirucalli)- starting to recover
Candle Bush--sooooo croaked, but there are lots of seeds from this one
Vitex- one is waking up, the other more tropical Arabian Vitex...not sure yet
Flame tree- not sure yet
Jacaranda tree- not sure yet
I did some trimming last month, but left anything I had questions on, and cut anything that was brittle- still, I cut some shrimp plants that were actually still good, so give it a little more time..some of it is really tricky to tell.
Rj
Bird of paradise - Just now putting out a leaf
Mandevilla - no signs of life yet, but they are still green under the bark
Plumeria - no signs of life yet
Brugmansia - up about 6"
Coral tree (jatropha) - keep these in a pot inside - retained leaves
Datura inoxa - not up yet
Iochroma - just now leafing out
Croton - don't grow these
Hibiscus - just now leafing out
Rubber tree - don't grow
Schefflera - don't grow
Pride of Barbados - trunk is greening up - no leaves yet
Milk bush/pencil cactus (euphorbia tirucalli) - in the greenhouse
Cuban oregano - don't grow
Candle Bush - coming back from the roots, up about 3"
Bush Alamanda - no signs of life yet
Desert Rose (adenium) - kept in the greenhouse - lost a couple
I'm not in TX and all my plants that are on your list are in my greenhouse...but I will tell you on the hibiscus & allamanda to be patient before you pitch them (especially hibiscus). Although both of those are in my GH this winter, I did leave them outside a couple winters ago and we had temps down to 17-18 degrees for several nights in a row--thought they were dead but many months later (since I was lazy about cleaning up my dead plants) I found new growth on both of them. I think it was May or June though before I saw signs of life (allamanda came back to life a bit earlier than the hibiscus did).
I hate to hear that RJUDD! I think we may be in the same boat.
Thanks for the tip on the plumeria- I checked my 6 trees and they ALL have mushy ends. Yikes. Need to start cutting!
Thanks everyone! I'll update later with a report on what survived and what did not!
Stuff here is waking up from winter nap..will know how things fared here where I am.
Our climates are a lot alike, here's ehat is going on with mine of what we have in common:
Bird of Paradise (white and orange) mine froze badly but are all putting out new leaves
Plumeria--I left 2 potted ones on the porch where they USUALLY make it through, both froze I think they are dead
Brugmansia--mine freeze to the ground almost every year and always come back
Iochroma--usually comes back, but no action yet
Croton and Hibiscus--I never leave these out, they just won;t make it in a winter like we had this year
Rubber tree--my experimental one croaked bigtime this year, but I have had them come back from freezes before
Milk Bush--froze a few years ago, came back, now I protect it
I have a few things coming back now-
Beaumontia Grandiflora
Rangoon Creeper
turkmans cap clerodendrum
Tapioca
Hibiscus -all of them
1 rubber tree
Giant bird of Paradise
My tree fern (I wraped in outdoor seat cushions) -pictured
No sign of Iochroma coming back
I think my flamboyant trees are toast
and perhaps the tamrind..
This is what it looked like in Apr. 2009
Oooh I forgot about my tree fern. I think its gone...
By happy accident, this one is a C. Australis, and not a C. Cooperi, which is why it's still alive, much more cold tolerant. It was marked as C. Cooperi when I bought it. I doubt that I could find a C. Australis for sale anywhere around here.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58539/
Okay, I won't
Ahhh darn mine is for sure C. cooperi so it's probably done. I am still giving it a chance though!
I cut the banana trees back a bit more and some are growing now. The hibiscus, bush allamanda, and brugmansia have new growth from the base of the plants (not from any old branches).
Nothing yet from the rubber tree, milk bush, bird of paradise, coral bush, or pride of barbados. At least the bird of paradise's main trunk is still green.
I threw out the crotons, iochroma, candle bush, cuban oregano, desert rose, datura, and schefflera.
Oh I almost forgot about my staghorn fern - it has a new leaf starting to grow!!! YAY!!
I didn't mention the fiddle leaf fig either - I think it was dead so I pitched it.
I wouldn't pitch anything yet--a lot of times things will take a few months to start to show signs of new life. I never give up on cold damaged plants until May or June. You'd be surprised how many plants you think are completely dead but they eventually come back.
My Iochroma sprouted some small shoots over the past 2 days from the base.
One thing that surprised me by coming back already is my Kaffir Lime tree. I thought it was toast, but it has resprouted and not has little leaves.
And my Cuban oregano has volunteered from the roots under the soil ~ amazing!
Watch out on the lime--chances are it's grafted onto another rootstock, so if the new growth you're seeing is coming up from the base of the plant it's probably the rootstock not the tree you want. If this was a dwarf/patio size tree, chances are it is on Flying Dragon rootstock which is at least a zone or two hardier than the lime itself.
I had citruses that were totally unfazed and others that look so dead but I'm not giving up on them yet. I'm sweating bullets over my yellow bottlebrush tree. It is 3-4 years old and would probably bloom this year were it not for the colder than usual winter. I've been told it will come back but it looks baaaad.
I covered hibbies and other trops. they lost all their foliage but the hibbies have foliage coming up. My Andrew croton was also covered but that one is looking baaaaad. However, I'm not pitching it yet. It has been tempting though, as I saw a full, lush, pot of that croton for $10 at HD recently. I exercised supreme willpower, lol.
Oleanders. One didn't get a single brown leaf; other, dead. both outdoors.
Mourning the loss of my small hoya collection and some special orchid cacti. I forgot about them and after the first cold snap, I figured it was too late to protect them at that point. Those I'm really gonna miss....
I think I've lost my precious Mexicola avocado.
I do have quite a few bananas growing already including the variegated one. I can't even believe it made it through, although that one was a cushion wrap too.
Iochroma finally is coming back, Jacaranda tree coming back from the base.
1 rubber tree showing signs, but all the others looking dead still.
Re bottle brush- the regular ones died, but the weeping bottle brush wasn't phased at all, and is getting ready to bloom.
Oh Oh bad news about the lime! Just have to wait and see. If the leaves have that distinctive smell I guess I will know.
My Buddah's Hand Citrons and Key Lime also have live wood.
I can;t believe that my Calamondin trees (I have 3) made it through totally unfazed. They never even defoliated. That must be the hardiest citrus on the face of the earth.
Lots of stuff is coming back, but its stuff I expected to so far mainly...hedychiums, crinums and all sorts of elephant ears.
My Bauhinia mexicana is leafing back out, so is a Red Orchid tree (B. gallip...??? forgot the name). All by different bottlebrushes (yellow, red and purple) made it through. The only ones that look dead are the weeping ones.
goth, yellow about your yellow bottlebrush.
Which bottlebrush do you have? I have the C. pallidus, the C. pinifolius and the violet one called 'Eleanor', in addition to 2 standard red ones
I never looked before, but based on what I just googled, I think I may have pinifolius. I will take a pic of my crispy one tomorrow and maybe we can figure it out. I had a regular red one and it died suddenly after a number of years. Don't know why I haven't replaced--i love those plants.
Hmmmm my bottlebrush (red dwarf) came through with just some brown leaves. My gardenias and oleander never dropped a single leaf and still look great. Strange!
My lemonquat, kumquat, mexican lime, and blood orange (all in pots outside) came through great too, and only lost maybe a few leaves. My buddha's hand eventually lost most of its leaves throughout winter, but is growing vigorously now.
I'm wishing I hadn't pitched the iochroma and crotons!
iochromas have always died for me, that's why I don't even plant anymore, but they are supposed to recover. Maybe I didn't wait long enough, dunno. I had a special croton survive 2 winters, but not a third. I think it was Picasso's Paintbrush, (rita, is that the name?)
I store all my plumies but I keep one inground as an experiment and that little thing comes up every year, but it never grows more than 2 ft and has never bloomed. what good is a non-blooming plumie, huh?
One of the businesses in Richmond, an auto mechanic, had the most beautiful raised beds of yellow and red ixoras, about 50 ft long. It got everybody to stop by his business. Today: dead, dead, dead. He hasn't yanked them out, I guess he's hoping they come back and so do I.
rntx, you might grow c. Little John. Very pricey in my area and I also didn't notice much damage to those. I'm taking this is the one you'te talking about.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/72400/
My Ichroma is just now coming up from the roots.
I found my Thunbergia battescombii and Thunbergia coccinea yesterday coming back up, also Tricolor stromanthe.
goth, here is my yellow bottlebrush. What do you think it is? I'm still sweating bullets BIG TIME over this plant. I so don't want to lose it.
One person tells me it will come back, and another is telling me that since the trunk is split open (see pic), chances are it is kaput.
Yep, little john is the one I have!
Yours doesn't look like either of mine (pallidus or pinifolia). Both mine have leaves that are extremely narrow like pine needles.
Has anyone's Pride of Barbados or rubber tree come back yet? Those are the only ones I am still waiting on (the rest have either come back or I pitched them)
neither PoB or rubber tree have survived winters for me, let alone a harsh one like last one. Mine were planted in ground. Those who brought them in garage or indoors probably fared better, but not me.
mine either....
My POB is coming back at ground level. I saw it today while watering and it is about 5 inches tall.
My mother's huge one in a 5 gal pot is bloomed for me..I brought inside while cold and then when the weather would warm up..out back outside it went..It is blue and white color variety.She has had it for about 10 years before I got it. Now it is 15 years old.