Monday, August 06, 2007

The Freeze Revisited







There were a number of plants I thought I lost last winter during colder than normal weather. But looking at things in August shows it wasn't as bad as it could have been! Many plants here often lose some leaves but recover fairly quickly in spring. Last winter many plants seemed dead down to the ground. However, by being patient and too busy to get to the dead stuff right away I have been pleasantly surprised and rewarded!
The ferns are not as lush as they have been but I think, barring any equivalent freeze this winter, they will be up to speed by next summer. Interestingly, the ferns I had gotten going in a wooden planter boxes died to the ground also, but they have made a better recovery than the ones in the ground.
The variegated lemon looked deader than a doornail but is making a slow recovery...no lemons but the leaves look promising.
The chocolate geranium still smells great but the new growth lacks the chocolate center mark...sad, but not enough to pull it out!
The solanum in the pot got cut to the soil...I then hesitated for a few weeks on how to remove the roots and put something else in without starting from scratch on the ivy and in that time the solanum must have gotten scared because it shot up to about two feet and is doing well.
All three plumbagos died to the ground but have made a good recovery...actually it's been a good thing since they were getting too big...one of them was hanging over the other side of a six foot fence and is now a more manageable three feet tall.
The lemon verbena was reduced to several two foot tall sticks but has made an amazing recovery and is now several feet taller than it had been before...almost as if the freeze was good for it!
Other than a few small plants the only thing that didn't pull through were the limonium...they never looked good after any winter and this one was too much for them. How did your winter worries end up?

1 comment:

Annie in Austin said...

The Duranta and Esperanza/Tecoma stayed dead. Like you, Leslie, I got a little impatient with a 'dead' dahlia, and planted a small piece of Texas star hibiscus in the supposedly blank spot ... they're blooming together now.

I'm glad your variegated lemon is okay -

Annie