Assessing the Damage

When we compare our winter to that of friends and relatives in other parts of the United States, we certainly can’t complain. Many states have really suffered with snow and ice storms and extremely cold weather, not to mention flooding and mudslides. In contrast, our February wasn’t too problematic, even if we did get some cold weather and hail storms.

I have addressed many questions about how the plants will survive, though. I couldn’t bring myself to go out and cover the perennials when I knew cold weather was coming, but a lot of my gardener friends did. And I wasn’t worried at all about the snow as it acted as an insulator when the temperatures dipped.

So here we are in March, and I was in my garden the other day assessing the damage of the cold in January and February. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Euphorbia is getting ready to bloom. The Hellebores looked awful just after the cold - wilted and sad- but in a few days they perked up and looked almost as good as they had before. This brought a smile to my face as I treasure plants that bloom early when nothing else does.

The snow drops weren’t put off by the weather, nor were the daffodils that had started to sprout leaves. I wasn’t worried about either of these plants because they actually do better when we have some cold temperatures to set them. They are used to the snow, too. I also am not worried about the Japanese maples and the roses as they were dormant for the bad weather.

I was, however, really concerned about my Daphne odora. These are quite fragile shrubs anyway, with a reputation of being fussy and unpredictable. Mine has never been what I would call “robust.” I have moved it several times, trying to find a spot where it would thrive but also where I could enjoy the sweet scent of its spring flowers. It was managing where it is now, but only just. The cold weather in January almost did her in, with the leaves turning brown on the edges and wilting as well. But there she was in early March with new growth on almost every branch. Time will tell if she continues to put out that new growth or if she will just give up and die. I will celebrate the former and mourn the latter, but I probably won’t bother to replace her.

My hardy fuchsias that have been here at the house for probably 30 years took the cold badly. I have not cut them back on purpose yet, thinking I didn’t need to be spurring on new growth until I was certain the bad weather was in the past. I normally prune them in late February or early March anyway. And they will no doubt be fine once I do cut them back later this month or in early April. But the year-round Anna’s hummingbirds have come to rely on those fuchsias for food, so I did set out some nectar for them to see them through until spring flowers start to bloom. Now, when I forget to top off the feeder, one of the males comes hovering at my window to remind me when its dinner time. This has been an unexpected benefit to the bad weather as I normally haven’t had to put out food for them because of the fuchsias that bloom until late February.

I also did not prune my roses as usual in mid to late February, again to keep from inciting new growth. I will prune them to knee height in a few days and they should be fine. By that time I know they will have started some spring growth and pruning will just move that along a little faster.

It will be interesting to me to see how the rest of the plants survived the weather this winter. I am thinking that the hosta will be okay as they were dormant, too. But it is also possible that their roots suffered from cold weather. Back east this wasn’t an issue, and I am expecting it not to be an issue here. But most of my hosta came from a Willamette Valley grower and they – the hosta, I mean - may not have had past experience with such cold weather.

I won’t start digging out dead things until I know they are really goners. This is relatively easy with woody shrubs as I can take a branch and scrape a little bark away. If it reveals green, then I leave it alone. If it is brown, I explore further by taking a cutting and looking for green in the cross section. No green at all means the branch is dead, and if that is the case with several more branches, well, out it comes.

But let's look at the bright side. Removal of a plant just means an opportunity for some serious plant shopping in May.