In case you were wondering . . . Mother Nature is in charge. Always!
This past winter was pretty brutal in many parts of the United States with temperatures dipping much lower than normal. Here in Ohio we typically see days in the single digits during January and February, but it’s usually only a few days, and at times it might get near zero. This winter was different!
We were routinely in the single digits and below zero for days at a time. Many days at ten below zero and a day or two at fifteen degrees below zero. Needless to say, many plants were damaged. The things that got hit the hardest were Boxwood, English Hollies, Japanese Hollies, Hydrangea and Japanese maples.
Here in the nursery I have hundreds and hundreds of Japanese maples and I am very happy to report that most made it through the winter completely unscathed. We had a few varieties that got hit pretty hard. Of those Butterfly, Orange Dream, Lions Head and Orida Nishiki suffered the most damage. Some were totally killed, many of the Orida Nishiki did not make it. But all in all I was amazed at the Bloodgood and Iniba Shidare Japanese maples. The are absolutely beautiful this spring.
How to Save a Winter Damaged Plant.
If you have plants that are winter damaged you should follow these simple steps.
1. Be patient. Don’t rush things, don’t try and rush your plants back to health.
2. Don’t write off a plant as a total loss right away. They are damaged, in pain, give them a chance to bounce back. It might be mid June before winter damaged plants start to show signs of life.
3. Do a scratch test. This is how you test to see if a plant, or a branch on a plant has died. Just scratch the bark of your plants with your finger nail. If the tissue below the bark is green and firm your plants are fine. If the tissue is brown and mushy that part of the plant is dead.
4. Eventually you’ll want to prune away any and all dead branches, but only after you are certain that those branches are dead.
5. Do not fertilize plants that are struggling or under stress. Just leave them be. The plants know what to do and they will, if you only leave them alone while they nurse themselves back to health.
I have a number of very mature Japanese maples in my landscape at home that have been winter damaged. Most are showing a small amount of new growth, but only 15 or 20 percent of what they should doing right now. I’m just going to wait them out. Experience tells me that once they get their feet back under them, they’ll take off and recover completely. It won’t be fast, but it’s worth waiting for.
I hope this helps. Post your questions or comments below.
Thanks for these great articles, Mike!!
Mike, i’m sure you’ve heard the ole saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” well i’d like to say you’ve taught this ole dog lots and lots of new tricks. i can do things with plants i never thought i’d ever know. i just wish i would have found you on the internet before my dad died (05), he loved messing with plants.
thank you soooo very much for all you’ve already taught me and what you’re gonna teach me in the future. God Bless you and yours and i hope you have an Excellent New Year.
Here in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, we had an awful winter (for this area), too. We normally don’t get below +10. Zero is rare, and usually only lasts a day or so. This year we got below zero, we had awful winds, and 76″ of snow, according to the official count at the airport. All three of my butterfly bushes are dead, except I just saw a new stem from the yellow one. but the biggest tragedy of all was my white butterfly bush, which was so big and so tall that I could stand on my over-the-basement front porch and watch a whole ecosystem of butterflies, moths, beetles, preying mantises and other bugs and insects as well as hummingbirds. Now the whole thing is gone — all 12 feet or so of it, and all the lovely blossoms that were so busy with tiny critters that it just buzzed and hummed all day. I’m not the only one, either. My friend Ellie lost hers, and several other people out in western PA lost theirs as well. I even waited until late June to chop down the white one, because I didm’t want to believe it was dead, but there was not a single leaf on it anywhere. 🙁 I also lost some roses, and a few perennials including a pretty lupine. Ironcally, my flowerbed looks the best it ever has. I wonder if the long, cool spring gave it a head start in some way? As every one else here is saying, it was a bummer of a winter.
Lynn
I have three Japanese maples on the north side of my house that were severely damaged. One was just planted last fall, and still has no leaves.
The other two have been in the ground for 12+ years. One has about half its normal growth. Some branches have no leaves, other branches have a reduced number of leaves. I pruned it, and it should be OK.
My formerly beautiful shishigashira (lion’s mane) is not looking good though. It has about 5% of its normal leaves at best. The branches with no leaves still feel flexible though. I have mulched it, but have not pruned it. I think that I’ll leave it alone and see how it looks next year. What do you think?
Mark,
About 50% of my Lion’s Head maple died this winter. We cut away the dead, I’m confident that it will bounce back in a year or so. It’s just the price we pay to enjoy such a beautiful tree.
I re-checked it, and most of the branches with no leaves were dead. So this lion’s mane got a major haircut.
Now it looks like a tree that only Charlie Brown could love. I suspect that in 3-4 years, it will look good again.
Do you have any suggestions for care in the meantime?
All I wanted to know was the Secret Potting Soil Recipe. I tried several ways to get it but all I got was videos on buying your cuttings. How can I get this information?
Jonetta
Jonetta,
It’s right here on my website for all to see; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/10/how-to-make-your-own-awesome-potting-soil/
Hi Mike So glad I found you Wow you give great down to earth advice No fooling around just the facts Love your web site and facebook page Thanks Mike for helping us all garden better and easier God Bless You and your family
Patty,
You’re welcome and thank you for the kind words. I don’t well with the facebook stuff, I rarely find time to post there. But here, I spend a lot more time here on the blog.
Thanks Mike, I was seriously going to dig up some plants I thought were dead, I’ll give them a chance. A much needed article.
Here in northern Michigan we had a brutal winter just like you. Some of my plants are just now poking thru the ground. I’m waiting it out just like you said. The rabbits got my two 5 foot tall burning bushes. There was a foot of snow at the bottom of the bush…..they ate about 2 feet up from that…..just scrapping the bark off completely around the branch. Here I am out there on a sunny cold day spraying pruning sealer spray on every piece of bare wood I could find. Thank goodness the rabbits didn’t get the base. I have some growth coming from the bottom. But just today….I noticed buds coming from the sprayed branches in the middle of the bushes. Hurrah…..they might make it. We’ll see. I’m not trimming them at all till I find out how much is dead. I don’t want to shock the bushes more than what they have been. I went to check on a coneflower that I didn’t think made it and gently pushing away the mulch and digging in the dirt a little…..there was greenery about to come thru the soil. And this is mid May!
So yes, be very patient this year….
yes, down here in Norton (ohio) was just as bitter cold, in fact we had frost Saturday night into Sunday morning!
Do you have any suggestions for my lavendar bushes? 1 has a sprout of green, but the other 3, well, they don’t have a thing, but they don’t “feel” smooshy . . . what say you?
Joanie,
The best thing to do is just give them time. Eventually you’ll know for sure what to prune and what to leave.
Well, we had a little cold weather in California, but nothing like that! My poor struggling avocado looks terrible but the younger one right next door looks great. I covered the lemon with floating row cover and we lost a few leaves, but nothing serious.
It is so dry here! The reservoirs are tiny mud puddles. Last Spring was dry and this Spring we had just a teaser of rain. Some late snow showers in the Sierras might save us. We get our drinking water from a valley near Yosemite.
My pentstamon is blooming like crazy, and the alstroemeria is getting ready to do the same. My tomatoes are well mulched with pine needles to hold the moisture in. I keep a bucket in my shower and use it for toilet flushing. I have plastic bottles at the kitchen sink that collect the cold water for house plants and seedlings. I am thinking about a Flash heater for the kitchen. Saves gallons every day.
Thanks for the note, I wish I had this early on. I have already cut back some of by plants and I should have held off.
Thanks for the advice and reassurance Mike. Our Hydrandreas are so far behind their normal Spring growth timline that we were worried we weren’t goung to see any blooms this year. All of the growth is sproating from the bottom of the plants and little to no growth on any of last years stems. I guess we will just have to be patient 🙂
You spelled Orida Nishishiki, but the correct name is “Orido Nishiki” .or “Oridono Nishiki”. Please correct. Mine too suffered in this past winter.
I live in Contra Costa County, CA. How to manage my rose plants and creepers-
they do not look healthy. The leaves of creepers shrivel up every now and then,
the rose bushes/plants also are not growing vibrant.Please guide me how I
nurse my these expensive plants. Thanks.
Pramila Lall
Pittsburg CA 94565
Thank you Mike for these encouraging words. I had no idea how hard some of my
newly planted evg were going to be hit. I should have wrapped them in burlap, but the Fall got away with me and then it was like -20, weeks with no electricity, winds to beat the band….chopping ice for the chickens.
I will wait. I see a little green growth mixed in with all that sad brown leaves. The
Arbs, and False Cypresses took it hard. I will let you know if these made it through.
Thanks for everything you do
Sheri
Thanks for the timely information. I spent the day looking dubiously at a number of my shrubs and plants that are looking sad indeed. I had hoped to take a bunch of cuttings, but want to see a lot more vigor and growth than I do now before I add to the shock. ere in Michigan, we’re rapidly approaching June and the night time temps are still dropping below freezing. Unbelievable. I have two problems I need help with, and these are probably Amber things. 1. I want to follow up on the enrollment in the growers’ network. No sign of the order has shown up in either email or my bank. Second. At the same time the order disappeared, I ran into a huge problem with my email files and a risk that I was unaware of. I’ve been receiving your emails, info and purchased systems over the last three years. They were al saved in a file folder in gmail. Last week I upgraded my pc,, , tablet and a new smart phone. Somewhere in the setup process, syncing occurred that I was unaware of, and the result is that I have now lost everything I have ever received from McGroarty. I’m devastated, and have no idea how to recover this. Google tells me it can’t be done. Is there any way I can access this information? I probably would still be blithely thinking it was all fine, but I tried to pull information up to show a friend why he should sign on, and it just was gone. Everything. Any ideas?
Your email came just at the right time my hydrangeas were not showing signs of life until this week. I see growth at their base. Do I snap off all of the above branches? Also a newly planted crape myrtle & an old crape myrtle are showing no life. Ill hold off doing anything. I live in south central PA
Adele, Just prune away anything on the hydrangeas that is not showing any growth at all by the end of May.
We also had an unusually cold and long winter here in the suburbs north of New York City. The piles of snow that cost us an arm and a leg to get plowed, however, I think protected most of our plants, which are finally leafing and flowering out. About two weeks late.
Perhaps protected, one petunia plant from last year apparently is growing again this year. It could be from a seed, but I don’t think so!
My Knock Out roses all seem to be lost/dead. Only a very small bit of green at the bottom. Any suggestions?
Anita,
Just cut off the dead and leave the green, they’ll come around.
Yes. Yes. Yes. All 4 of mine came back after pruning to theground.
Unfortunately I lost a small 10 year old Sweet Gum tree. Very sad.
We tried to come see if you were having a plant sale today but couldn’t find you 🙂
I have four fig trees. Only one small tree has leaves on it. I generally break a small limb and if I see green in the cambium layer, there is hope. My 20 year old tree demonstrates this….It has no leaves and normally it would be yielding 2 inch diameter figs 60 days from now…Likely no crop this year even if it lives..
I have three hollys that are in big trouble and not sure if I will have to replace them.
Thank you for this article but I am not sure that I will wait until July to decide to keep or trade them in.
Wisconsin took a beating.
My ginseng is way off schedule. She usually waits for leaves but has decided she can’t wait any longer so i had to put some cover over her.
The Garden sage is coming out and will be replaced. It usually shows me something green by now but now is really late this year.
here in Toronto, Canada, winter was also terrible.
two of my emerald cedars are showing yellow needles, as well as some junipers.
some places on the web indicate that it could be a honey fungus infestation.
i will follow your advice, and wait until mid – end June, and see if they recover.
thanks for your information and advice.
daniel.
How do you save Azaelias ?
If they are dead they can’t be saved, but if they are green at all cut away the dead and they’ll come back.
Thanks for the info. We got nailed pretty darn hard over here in the Erie area, and I’ve lost 4 rose bushes, and some plants.
Mostly our concern is for the huge-huge-huge grouping of ground ivy what we have on the two sloping hills in front of the house, which faces west. It’s all brown and dry. I haven’t tackled any in that area yet, because of the weather, but have raked and trimmed
some in the back area. Since my arthritis acts up like the weather, I haven’t tackled any big jobs just yet, so I was glad to read this
article. Thanks. Nancy W. Oh, I’m a friend of your daughter-in-laws Mom..Diana) .they all are such sweet people.
Nancy,
All I can say is wait and see if that Ivy makes a come back from the roots. If it does, it will repair itself. Some things are just lost, as sad as that is.
OOPS…should have known you’d have suggestions. My boxwoods/green mountain I believe, really took a beating. I cut them to the ground. They appear alive, but all leaves were yellow/gold all the way to the ground. Probably should have just stripped the leaves off and let it be. Any thoughts? Or are they toast?
Thanks, just what I needed to hear! My mimosa has just a faint glow of yellow when it’s usually leafing out by now! A couple of sprigs were green when I clipped them off, but I will heed your advice to let the tree heal on her own! Will reconsider my thought to add Miracle Gro, and add patience instead!
Thanks, Mike. I am relieved that I did exactly what you suggest. I didn’t know what to do, but that is what I did. I hope my j. maple comes back. I don’t know which one it was. I have lost so many j.maples due to late frosts. I lost Shaina, Kaku sango sp.?, red dragon, red emporer, to name a few. The weather here in St. Louis is so unpredictable we can no longer say our last frost date is April 19th. I haven’t counted on that for a few years now. My lion’s head and waterfall and orange dream came out of this awful winter unscathed. Oh, and Crimson Queen, of course. What a tough lady. I appreciate your experienced information and advice. The fact that you told which ones didn’t recover so fast is awesome and really honest, as I assume you’d like to sell them. That makes me trust your opinion completely. Colleen
We have a border of boxwood bushes on our patio that look dead from the harsh winter. We’re not sure to dig them out and start with something else . This happened a few years ago and we cut the dead off and they grew back very lush but this year it is very BAD! we’re tired of ugly! Recommendstions???
Marilyn,
Only you can decide. A taxus variety would hold up much better.