I have noticed quite a bit of winter damage in the gardens.
Mostly with the Hydrangeas and a few Azaleas.
Any one found any damage and if so what? Any suggestions on what to do about the hydrangeas?
Thanks
2013-14 Winter damage?
All of my hydrangeas died back to the ground this winter. :( I'm very sad because I'm pretty sure all of the ones I have bloom on old wood. No flowers this year for me! I am going to prune back all of the dead branches and pray for a more mild winter next year.
My hydrangeas all died back to the ground, too. I think my Endless Summer will bloom on new growth, though. Unusual winter. Winter before was so mild some of my tender perennials survived--this year just the opposite.
I couldn't believe it so I had to wait to be sure before telling everyone but my Black and Blue salvia survived the winter!!!! I'm so happy!
wow, Typ, that is wonderful! :-)
Mine definitely did not! :-(
I was hoping with this rain that I might see some least buds, but not so. Tomorrow will be the day to cut back. I too am disappointed also that I won't have blooms. But maybe this is mother's natures way of cleaning out the old.
Our peanut butter plant/bush is a goner, most hydrangeas same as yours, Azaleas look awful, and worst of all my yew topiary may need parts cut back. There is some damage to some evergreens and our Leyland Cypress look rough and a couple will need staking. This winter had just too much ice and snow hanging for too long. We also lost some perennials, but not a lot, the snow cover protected many from temp. extremes. Surprisingly the lawns don't have a lot of damage. On the bright side, the harsh winter seems to have reduced the stink bug population. most I've been finding are dead.
This message was edited May 4, 2014 1:54 AM
Ric, my peanut butter bush/tree didn't make it either--so sorry, Sally :-( . Neither did my canna lily--sorry, SSG :-( --or my beautiful begonia Kaylen that I loved so much. Some other losses, too, but most came back.
I haven't seen our hardy begonia come to think about it. We have to pull our cannas, they wont survive a mild winter here. I've tried a few, even buried under compost. I may be able to "fix" my yews. From what I've seen, there are no splits or breaks, just bent. I may be able to pull some together, stake, and prop them back in place. Breaks over, so as Joni Mitchell would say, back to the garden.
SSG seems to be the only one whose cannas survive! Good luck with those yews Ric!
Well today was cut back time.
I did find some growth up about 3 to 4 inches on some stems. But most was to the base
The lace tops were not so bad. They just had to get cut back not cut down.
Looks better in the beds not seeing all that dead sticking up.
I started to cut back the hydrangeas last weekend but found that they were still green. I'm giving them a little longer, a guy can dream.
I've been wondering about cutting mine back too. It is unsightly but I know what you mean about not wanting to cut away stemsthat seem to still have green.
My callicarpa Americana and crape myrtle haven't leafed out yet...
Crape Myrtle are late wakeruppers. At least mine are.
The peanut butter shrub survived here. YAY!!! One azalea looks pretty rough and a couple didn't make it.
thanks, Jan. That's good to know about crape myrtle! :-)
My new young crepe myrtle is just starting to show.
I think we may have lost or severely set back our fence row of 9 Nandinas . I'm also not seeing any buds on our beloved 30 year old trumpet vine over our entryway.
The 2 azaleas I planted last fall I thought for sure were dead. Brown leaves falling off, stem brown, but when I cut a stem it was still green, so I left it alone to see what happened. Well low and behold it is putting out all new growth.
Same here Marie, but all of them have come back nicely. I think they might enjoy a good feed this year along with other TLC.
Ric, my ten foot tall Nandina dropped all of its leaves after last cold blast (the one that seemed to do all of the 'damage' ) It is just starting to put out some new growth now but looks pretty ugly while I wait. Must remember that stressed plants deserve the best most attentive care I can manage...guess I'm thinking about consistent watering (1 - 2 inches per week for starts) and not just relying on weather which is so inconsistent ie 6 inches in two days is not the same as 1 - 2 inches per week!
Haven't trimmed quite possibly dead branches on hydrangeas, JM's , abelias, etc. yet although my one JM that was a deer rub last fall hasn't been able to push out leaves above the wounds.
Two new last fall Forest Pansy Redbuds are way behind reg redbuds in my yard. Dogwoods all sem to have done well.
Our Callicarpa dichotoma 'Issai' is leafing now. I'm fairly convinced it's indestructible. I wonder what the difference is between that one and the Americana? Last fall I hacked it down to the ground because it kept growing too big for it's spot. I wanted to junk it but my wife likes it so this spring I yanked it out of the soil and dug a quick hole somewhere else to throw it in, not really caring if it made it. Sure enough, there are a bunch of sprouts coming out of the soil. Definitely plant abuse for sure.
Back to the subject at hand, I think we lost a lot of our rhodie blooms for this season. A lot of them are feeling hollow but there will be a few blooms anyway. Our Nellie Stevens hollies got burned out on the south side and have dropped most of their leaves on that side. The Giant Sequoia's leader got burned out and I trimmed it down to the next decent stem. I was really surprised but our Viburnum × rhytidophylloides 'Alleghany' retained about 30% of its leaves, which is way better than the 0 that it retained last winter. All our pyracantha lost their leaves too. I'm waiting to see how our Mahonia bealei do this season as all of the blooms got toasted and many leaves. I didn't lose any shrubs due to the winter but I lost a few perennials.
Seeing new buds on the Nandina out front, Haven't checked the ones in the back yet.
Seq I have both the c. Dichotoma and Americana. They are relatively new so i haven't had a season to observe their differences yet except the obvious that one is native and one is not. ;-) the dichotoma seems to like more sun than Americana.
The location I had mine in got full to dappled shade all day long and did great. I moved it to a location that gets way more sun so we'll see how it does. The internet seems to think it likes full/part sun so I'm thinking it will do fine. Perhaps it will be heavier with berries. I'll say one thing, those berries seed heavy in the garden and the seedlings are quick to put down good roots, which makes them hard to yank if you wait a while. It's a decent plant but the area it was in was just too small for it. I'd have to trim it back 2-3 times a season.
This is the Americana or the dichotoma that got too big? Mine are both still small and I may need to rethink placement based on your experience! How big are they now?
I only have the Dicotoma. Last year I kept it to about 3' high x 4' wide but I definitely had to keep it trimmed so it would stay that size. Where I have located it now, it can grow amuck and would actually look nice doing so. MOBOT says 4' tall x 5' spread max. I'd say it could do that in one season if left unpruned. I'm eager to see what it does this year since I chopped it down to the ground.
Thanks Seq. I currently have my dicotoma in a full sun spot. It sounds like I may need to give it more room to spread though! Right now it's rather close to one of my hibiscus.
Yeah might be a good idea. You can control the size to a degree if you cut it back hard in the fall.
We have/had a Callicarpa, I've seen no new growth yet and am unsure what type it is. I believe it came from Critter.
As if the winter damage wasn't bad enough, Holly found Woolly Adelgid on our only Hemlock.How it spread here I don't know. We have the only hemlock in a half mile that I know of.
This message was edited May 9, 2014 3:21 PM
Ric--I have had wooly adalgae on my 2 Hemlocks forever...
Sometimes I spray with Neem--and sometimes I forget. Mostly--not.
Since I cut these back to shape them almost every year--all over the outside--
maybe they are not so concentrated.
I seem to get them also on my big, white Azaleas--which are near the hemlocks.
So far this spring--I have not seen it on the Azaleas.
G.
our PB shrub made it, but we had lots of damage... our huge blue hydrangea has a just a little sign of life at the base, but all the branches look pretty darn dead. Several butterfly bushes look dead, even one that was 10 years old. Some bb have a little growth here and there hinting at signs of life. I pulled out one bb bush today that seemed all dead. ALL of our rosemary bit the dust. I dug and cut out most of the dead plants today. Our huge gorgeous Vitex looks completely dead too. So surprised since it is so large and established.
Our little stick of a fig tree of 5 or so years, that finally yielded us figs last year for the first and last time, died too. I'm just going to leave the dead tree there for another month just to be completely sure.
Today, we planted a Chicago fig. We also ordered a few cherry trees and planted them today. As for the hydrangeas, I don't think I'm trimming because I do see a few branches with greenish hints of life. But, if by the end of the summer the hydrangeas still look awful, I plan on cutting them back or replacing them.
our little dead fig on the left; new Blackgold Sweet Cherry semi-dwarf supreme on the right
I forgot to mention that our lacecap hydrangeas and oakleaf hydrangea fared just fine. They are all leafed out and the lacecaps have buds showing
That's too bad about your fig, wind, but nice that you found some enticing fruit trees to replace it.
The Australian cannas that I thought were goners are showing signs of life.
Salvia 'Black and Blue' has been showing the same amount of green (not much) for a few weeks now.
I saw my hardy Begonias for the first time today. I love those plants; I'm glad they made it.
A Rhododendron with lots of dead looking branches is pushing out some new growth. There's green when I do the scratch test, so I'm just leaving it alone for now. It needs to be pruned anyway, but I want to see the good half bloom first.
Any of you with Fig trees---they need winter protection. Like--wrap something
all around them and fill it with dry leaves or something. Sheets od Styrofoam,
old carpets, and the like.
My Spanish neighbor's husband (now gone) used to do this--even on his very big tree.
I believe you have to protect the lower part of the tree and the tops of the roots area.
Last winter was warm--so it made it through it--no protection--but it had very puny
crop of figs. less than I have ever seen.
This Fig is/was about 30+ years old.....
G.
G. our fig was pretty hardy and made it through 5+years without winter protection. I'm not sure what cultivar it was. The one we just got is a Chicago fig. Chicago figs are supposed to be hardy for zones 5-10 so we'll see. I'm not planning on covering it. My grandfather used to carpet cover his fig in NY. I have no idea what cultivar he had. I'm guessing that he severed the roots halfway and tipped the tree over... because my mom said she remembers the tree was laid flat and covered with carpets.