You don’t usually hear from me on a Monday, least of all on a day that the nursery is closed for the holiday, but with the cold weather over the Christmas weekend, I figured you might want a few tips on what to do now that freezing temperatures are behind us. 

1. Have Patience – Wait to prune. This is probably the hardest part. With warm weather coming back for the new year, we know you want to get out and prune away. However, if we get cold again, those damaged portions will provide a little insulation for the parts of the plant that survived. So, wait. Usually by late February, you’ll be free to prune away.

2. The Scratch Test – Wondering if your plant survived? The scratch test is the way to find out. Lightly scratch the bark of a branch or stem with a sharp knife or your fingernail (just barely scratch the surface, no deep gouges). If what you uncover is brown, that branch or stem is likely dead. Keep checking further down the tree until you find green, and that’s where there is living tissue. When it is time, that will be where you prune back to.

3. Don’t Fertilize – Fertilizer may stimulate growth on plants, but if we get cold again that tender new growth will be extremely sensitive to the cold. Even cold hardy plants should not typically be fertilized this time of year. At the start of spring, give everything a good prune and a dose of fertilizer to stimulate a wonderful burst of new growth.

4. Plan your Spring Garden – As you drive around town, you may see a palm or shrub completely frost-burnt in one yard, but look perfectly green in another, even in houses on the same street. Surprisingly, the temperature around the area varies widely depending on a number of factors, including the direction a house faces and the number of trees. Take a look at your own garden and see which spots were warmest and which were coldest. Plan accordingly for the spring and you’ll be able to pick which plants are likely to perform best for each spot in your garden.

5. Damaged Palms – If your palm trees sustained cold damage, the same tip applies – have patience. When you do prune your palm trees, try to prune only damaged fronds off. Over-pruning a palm tree by removing all fronds can hurt its ability to gather nutrients and limit its chances of surviving. Leave as much green as possible, or if there aren’t any green fronds, prune about half of the damaged ones off and wait for a new frond to grow in the spring before pruning off the remainder of the old fronds.

6. Protect from Disease – While the freezing temperatures damage the plant, it is usually disease that actually causes them to die. To keep diseases at bay, spray damaged plants with a liquid copper fungicide. This will help the plants fight off disease until they can regain their strength.

We hope you had a great Christmas weekend. We’re taking today off as well to enjoy some family time and will be back tomorrow morning at 9am, hopefully to enjoy some slightly warmer weather.