Last Tuesday, when the thermometer finally crept above freezing, I unwrapped the
plants I’d covered and looked for signs of damage. Having been through this before I know not to let myself get to excited when things look fine, it can take days/weeks for damage to become apparent. For this month's Foliage Follow-up I'll take a walk around the garden and share the good, the bad, and the undecided. This post is rather lengthy, I find being able to look back at past storms an valuable tool, so these pictures are as much for me as anyone else.
First I thought I would point out we had snow on the ground for an entire week! (I can hear you laughing) Seriously though the snow I shoveled from the drive and sidewalk did take an entire week to melt!
Feijoa sellowiana (Pineapple Guava), planted last summer and wrapped for protection. Looks great...
Astelia nivicola 'Red Gem', protected and it looks to be fine. I lost several Astelia in our 2009 freeze and was told this one had great cold tolerance. Looks like it's a keeper!
Unlike this Astelia banksii...which was covered but appears to be toast.
Grevillea rivularis, covered and looking good. Not so for the melting Aloe saponaria in front of it, which was uncovered (because I just couldn't protect everything).
This is the most promising of the Echium wildpretii, it was covered.
Some of the Fatsia japonia foliage is burnt, the plant appears to be just fine though. This one is tough! (unprotected)
As some of you may remember the Edgeworthia flower buds were sporting socks for the freeze, I am cautiously optimistic they're going to be okay.
This just might be a huge heartbreaker...the Grevillea juniperina ‘Lava Cascade’ foliage is turning black and the same is happening on G. juniperina ‘Molonglo’...(they were unprotected, mainly because they were just too big). Combined I've got 6 plants which cover a good part of the front garden (they are low growing ground covers). I can't stand to think of loosing these!
The second Feijoa sellowiana, which is in a container. Protected and it too appears to be okay.
Here we have a real head-scratcher. These Cordyline australis are regrowth from the 2009 freeze, after that storm they died to the ground and have slowly grown back from the roots. I didn't bother to protect them because I fully expected them to die and frankly I'm not that obsessed with them any longer. But they look fine! I'll be watching them for signs of melting. Oh and speaking of melting look at the Manfreda ‘Macho Mocha’ at bottom center, looks to be toast, it's gonna be a soggy mess! (unprotected, too big, too fleshy, ran out of anything to cover with).
Echium wildpretii (protected), Dianella prunina Rainbow Twist (unprotected) and trailing rosemary (unprotected)...
The Puya coerulea is not looking so good. I tried to protect it with frost cloth but wasn't terribly successful. The Agave americana on the right was protected (and appears, at least, to be fine - time will tell) the small Agave ovatifolia on the lower left wasn't protected and appears okay for now. The green mass running around all these plants is Grevillea juniperina ‘Molonglo’ which, as I mentioned above, I am concerned about.
The puya...
Opuntia linguiformis (not protected) and Agave NOID (protected). Both appear to be fine...
Eryngium proteiflorum (unprotected, didn't occur to me), I just planted two of these late in the fall and will be upset if I loose them, they're both this shade of brown.
Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' (one of four that were all protected, plus several pups that were not), these all look great...
Although the center full of ice I discovered one afternoon has me worried...
Always perky (well, almost...more on that in the back garden) Agave bracteosa...(sort of protected, a towel at the last minute).
I have a vague memory of someone telling me Sophora prostrata 'Little Baby' (the light brown squiggles in front of the manzanita) was borderline hardy here, both of mine seem fine (unprotected).
A sad Echium wildpretii (protected)...
Here's my largest Agave americana, sporting it's ice collar (protected - before the ice showed up, unprotected then).
The leaves were frozen pretty solid when I uncovered this one. You can see the ice receding on the leaf...
Kinda pretty, although I still prefer to see the sun shining on it...
Puya chilensis on the left, this one shouldn't be as hardy as P. coerulea and it's only been in the ground for about 9 mos yet it looks better than the P. coerulea, I'll be watching. Agave americana var. protoamericana behind the Opuntia ellisiana and Callistemon viridiflorus 'Xera Compact' in front all unprotected and all look fine.
Okay these next two I'm really hesitant to talk about. Could it be? Could this phormium actually live? I don't know. It's not showing any signs of melting. I did protect it (one of only two phormiums I tried to save) and I'm already seeing others in my garden, and around town, that are collapsing. Perhaps being against the house helped? I am very hesitantly happy.
And Mr. Monster Acacia pravissima, what is your story? This red/yellow business is the only damage I can find so far, and I'm not sure it wasn't there before the freeze. Could it be that it's going to make it? There are two A. cultriformis nearby which are already crispy (none of them protected). Dunno...
The Fatsia polycarpa ‘Needhams’s Lace’ was looking very sad and deflated when I uncovered it but it's been perking up ever since. The new foliage at the top is black but the plant looks like it's going to make it.
Schefflera delavayi was wrapped up and it looks to be just fine...
The same for S. taiwaniana...
I covered both of my Pyrrosia sheareri, I'm not sure if the brown is cold damage or something else?
Of course I didn't even think of covering this Helleborus, no need (not sure which one it is), and look...buds!
Here's the other phormium I wrapped, P. 'Tom Thumb'...it looks good...
The sun wanted to highlight the spikes! I covered this entire area with frost cloth and burlap, the sticks you can see still in the ground were to support the covers. The last thing I want to do is damage a plant while trying to protect it...
That's Lila in the lower left, not afraid of the spikes. There are a few mushy arms in this area, mainly the variegated ones. Time will show if others are unhappy.
But wait! There was a big surprise in the mix. Look at the Phylica pubescens (below)...it's not keeled over dead! This is a zone 9 plant, it's foliage should look horrible about now (we got down to 12.7F with multiple days and nights below freezing). This darn thing is going to make me work even harder to protect it for the rest of the winter! (the green tape looking business at the top is actually part of another stick I used under the protection cloth)
Magnolia laevifolia, covered and looking fine. A lot of what I protected was based on the cold temperature combined with a prediction of drying burning winds. For the most part those winds were a non issue but I was worried about the havoc they could have played with the evergreens.
Banksia marginata (right), the jury is still out on this one. I just can't tell! It was wrapped and that's why it looks a little mangled.
Callistemon ‘Clemson’ has some pretty significant foliar damage, but it has every year when the temperatures dip. I didn't protect it so we'll see what shapes up long term. The limp blue foliage in the background is Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue', while the foliage is a disaster it should come back from the roots in the spring.
Are you still with me? Yikes, I uploaded a lot of photos! Here's another Astelia nivicola 'Red Gem' in front of a Trachycarpus fortunei - both protected (the trunk on the palm) and both appear in good shape. The big leaved plant on the right is my Charlie Brown Rhododendron sinogrande, it was wrapped and appears to be fine.
Toasty foliage on that Abutilon hybrid 'Fairy Coral Red' which was not protected.
Astelia chathamica, wrapped and maybe okay?
Now this is an unhappy phormium...(not protected)...
Ditto for this formerly purple cordyline...
Callistemon ‘Woodlander's Hardy Red’, Embothrium coccineum and Eriobotrya japonica all look good (unprotected)...
Dead oh so dead Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira' which I didn't bother to protect.
Pouting (unprotected) Sasa palmata f. nebulosa and a couple of Tetrapanax leaves hanging on by a thread. I wrapped most of my Tetrapanax trunks with pipe insulation, hoping that would allow me to keep the height and they'd leaf out from the top next spring. I did get a comment from a reader who'd used the insulation in the past and said it was a disaster "outer bark and cambium slimed instead of dried up hard" - I am happy to report that wasn't an issue for me.
I am beginning to think the Euphorbia stygiana might make it after all (unprotected and I'd written this one off). Some of the lower foliage is turning brown but the new growth areas look fine.
Looks like the Stachyurus salicifolius and buds (unprotected) are fine.
This is the Agave bracteosa I referred to earlier. It's unhappy and not due to the weather but the neighbor's cat who decided to lay on top of it. As you can imagine I think bad thoughts about that cat.
Aloe striatula which I only halfheartedly tried to cover while covering the nearby agaves, I figured it was a goner. So far, well, maybe not...
I'll end this post-freeze Foliage Follow-up with another agave shot, A. gentryi ‘Jaws’ with ice. Of all the non-variegated agaves he's looking the worst. His arms aren't as solid as they should be. Of course I tried to save him with covers, one more time I'll say "time will tell"...
Thank you for joining me for this extended garden tour. If you want more Foliage Follow-up visit Pam and her blog
Digging, she's the hostess for this monthly meme.
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