After the Freeze

 

It was really a tough winter, with the coldest, longest temps on record.  Every gardener did everything they could to cover their plants, and then just sat back and hoped.  And the first few plants popped their heads back up, and we all thought, "That's great... but is this it?  Has everything else died?"  But slowly and surely, small green sprouts would appear on brown branches.  Many plants lost all of their structure, and only came back from the roots.  My six foot tall pomegranate tree is now a foot tall sapling.  But overall, I'd have to say more came back then did not.  And, weeks later than expected, just this week I saw two small green leaves appear at the base of one of my pittosporum, my fire bush, and shockingly, my bottle brush.

So far, I have lost at least one established Esperanza and three newly planted ones, I have seen nothing from any of my Pride of Barbados.  My Little John Bottlebrush (the hardier of my bottlebrushes) did not appear, but the other bottlebrush did.  Most of my rosemary have 90% dead, with only the tips of a few branches having green on them. I lost two of my Mocha Mangaves, but the middle one is still alive.  And that Unknown Agave in the back side bed turned to mush...

Sadly, none of my established Turks Cap came back, while the small cuttings I had made did.  This freeze really seemed to harm the older larger plants more than the smaller newer ones.  I can only imagine this might be because the snow blanketed and insulated the smaller plants, but not the larger?  Not really sure.  

But overall, I'd have to say that I truly expected far more damage, and while this year will be a rebuilding year, with many plants not flowering, and needing to rebuild size, I am pretty pleased that I did not lose more!