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Did my February post listing all the trees in the garden put a hex on them? This part of the privacy screen looked pretty good six weeks ago.
By the first of March tiny leaves and buds had appeared on Spiraea, Redbud, roses, Arizona Ash, Fig and dwarf Pomegranate, and flower buds swelled on the native Texas Mountain Laurel
But then came the March 3rd-4th Thundersleet that bent the Loropetalum to the ground
The trees and shrubs soon bounced back from the ice, but unlike plants in a northern place where dormant plants sleep, insulated by snow from cold air, our plants were wide awake and full of sap, making leaves and setting buds. When the temperature dropped to 19°F on March 6th even the native plants were shocked at the cold.
The results have slowly revealed themselves over the last few weeks.
All the leaves dropped off the Arizona ash and the pomegranates, every leaf and bud froze on the redbud trees and on the fig tree, leaves fell from the 'Climbing Iceberg' and the Meyer's Lemon, the flowers froze on the Texas Mountain Laurel, and leaves on all four Confederate Jasmines began to turn brown. Friends who grow agaves and aloes say they're badly damaged.
Plants that were dormant are mostly OK. Evergreen plants like Salvia greggii, Skullcaps and Salvia 'Hot Lips' froze way back but most are alive at the base. Semi-evergreens like Mexican honeysuckle, Philippine Violet and Turkscap died to the ground. Plants like iris and daffodils didn't die, but most buds froze.
The Lady Banks rose lost all its leaves and buds
The ends of every boxwood twig and branch began to die back, with stems turning light tan instead of green - something I've never seen in 15-years of growing them in Central Texas. The Barbados Cherries were already iffy - now they look dead.
Last spring I took many photos of the garden in bloom, but never got around to making a post at the end of March 2013 to celebrate the end of that unusually mild winter. The garden in those photos seems like fiction this year.
On March 30th, 2013, the Lady Banks was in full bloom.
On March 29th, 2013 the Mutabilis rose looked like a dream of spring
On March 29th, 2013 several Bluebonnets popped up with yellow Four-Nerve daisies, the tall fragrant Peach Iris, and white Salvia coccinea AKA Hummingbird Sage.
On March 30th, 2013 the white rose 'Climbing Iceberg' filled the left side of the sweetheart arch with blooms while the white-flowering Confederate/Star Jasmine filled the right side.
On March 30th, 2013 another Confederate Jasmine grew 8-feet high on the shed trellis with Spanish Bluebells at the base.
We were busy nursery-hopping and planting tomatoes at the end of March in 2013 - no guests arrived to see the garden clothed in blooms but we appreciated them every day.
Any longtime gardener can take the bad years along with the good years - of course, we can! And I know that much of the cold damage to this year's garden will grow out and repair itself and make flowers again some other day or some other year.
But the thing that made me want to scream was that this year there were garden visitors - real, talk-Latin-to-me, gardener-type garden visitors.
Flash forward to the end of March 2014... and what do this year's guests get to see?
How about a frozen and browned Loropetalum chinense var rubrum 'Plum Delight', no longer a screen but a see-through shrub?
Or the pitiful remains of the Jasmine on the shed trellis with one stem of Hyacinthoides?
At least the Rosa 'Mutabilis' had begun to releaf, even though it had no flowers
The Lady Banks rose also has made leaves, and may yet bring forth a few golden blossoms
What a trouper! After losing the main crop of buds and leaves, the Texas Redbud produced a second batch of buds for a light but lovely show of blooms.
The Confederate Jasmine is now 8-inches high instead of 8-ft tall, but the white 'Climbing Iceberg' has releafed and is forming buds. The Magnolia figo/ Banana Shrub is almost bare of leaves but tiny new leaf buds show green.
Only two-thirds of the knee-high Mexican Buckeye is alive, but the little tree was in bloom to greet the guests.
The buds froze on the white iris and the peach iris, and most of the dozens of Salvia coccinea AKA Hummingbird Sage plants died, but the Four-Nerve daisies are a cheerful lot, and some bluebonnets are in bloom, saying This is Texas. It's not a dream of a garden, but still a real one. Let the pruning-back begin!
This post about my garden in Austin, Texas was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.
Such a sad, sad story, being played out in many Austin gardens. I too lost a lot in that freeze and as you say it took weeks before the true story was told. I had splitting stems which I knew meant death to many branches-especailly on my pomegranate and my confederate jasmine. I don't think it will bloom this year which will be the first time in all the years it has been there. It is hard to watch such devastation but I guess this is Texas and we can't do anything about the weather that is meted out to us. Now it's lack of rain taking its toll. Then it will be heat and still we garden on. We are as though as those plants that survive and soldier on. One year is never like the next.
ReplyDeleteThis is our 15th year here & as you say, one year is never like the next. Choosing plants is like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what will stick!
DeleteAhh so maybe that's why my mountain laurels haven't budded. Makes sense of course. Lost my iris blooms too. Still, maybe it killed off some of the mosquitos for this summer? One can only hope.
ReplyDeleteMarthachick, I could see the buds, so went out and wrapped the TX mountain laurel with plant-insulate material. That has saved things in the past, but 19F was too cold. Sounds as if some garden bloggers have already been bitten so the tine vampires are frostproof.
DeleteHow sad! But you have the gardener's attitude...we just keep on going.I hope lots more comes back and it doesn't take too terribly long.
ReplyDeleteYou have it too, Leslie! The payoffs are random but they can be heartstoppingly beautiful!
DeleteA setback for sure, Annie, and a tale of woe that hurts to look at. Yes, lots of pruning ahead but I'm sure I will soon be drooling over your garden once again!
ReplyDeleteThe sensible thing to do would be to cut everything back low... but of course I'm trying to save every little live twig. No one ever accused me of being sensible!
DeleteAnnie, you got much more cold that we did in South Austin, but the results here are similar. I hate that we have to wait another year to see our favorite bloom season. I feel like we aren't given much in the way of blooms here in Austin, and to lose the best ones is devastating. Especially the Iris! They didn't bloom last year due to two mild winters, now they got blasted by a late freeze. I'm crossing my fingers and asking them to please bloom anyway...
ReplyDeleteYes! The TX Mountain Laurels seldom bloom in my garden anyway, and the Salvias will pick themselves up, but an Iris only gets one chance per year. When the irises don't bloom, it makes me sad & mad.
DeleteI didn't realize that plants like Philippine violet and Barbados cherry were so susceptible to freezes. I guess I should have read that fine print more closely when I planted. We had been so warm for several years in a row, I had started thinking of my garden as being in zone 9. This winter certainly corrected that misconception.
ReplyDeleteHi Ally - my Philippine violets are showing green at the base, acting like the perennials I knew in Illinois that went dormant for winter. But the Barbados cherries still have no sign of life. I've planted them over and over but must tell myself they're short-lived perennials. Lately I wonder if my yard is in 8A instead of 8B.
DeleteGlad you're back! Yes, this was a wonky winter and it's been so difficult to have plants flush out with growth, then be dinged by a harsh, late freeze. It looks like things will come out again, though the damage is certainly disappointing. I'm impressed with your Mutablis--I have nothing yet. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI have a large variety of plants jammed in so something has to make it! And oh, yes! I see little leaves on the Golden Eye you gave me ;-)
DeleteIf the tree listing was a hex then it's all my fault :(
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear most of your plants are coming back, even if it's slowly. You'll have to post pics again in a month so we can see the progress.
Nobody's fault - but the timing was perfect!
DeleteI've been pruning like mad so the garden is a mess... once cleaned up there will be a post. Hope April is treating you well.
Thank you for this very poignant post! I love that you mention Northern gardeners who get that protection but when we get a crazy zap, we're lost. Love your retrospective, too; it's so very much the same in my garden. The most unusual spring ever.
ReplyDeleteAt least the predicted freeze this week didn't quite happen or we'd really be lost! I'm glad you liked my little tale of woe.
DeleteGlad to see some things coming back.
ReplyDeleteI've never had more challenges in the garden, than here.
When we moved here..250 miles south of our old DFW garden...I thought things would be so much better. But, even the mild winters have had zaps of temps colder than up there. We live in a hole, I guess.
We got a low of 12 once this winter, but didn't get as cold as you, and no ice, that last big blast. I think almost all my garden has signs of life. Last year, I lost the Philippine Violet in a last minute freeze...during a mild winter.
But, we keep on plugging. Hope or just hard headedness?
Ugh... didn't hit 12F here this year but went that low a couple of years ago. Some things are coming back now but I'm still playing "Dead or Dormant?" this week. Happy Spring!
DeleteOnly a week later but hope you've seen more life returning than expected. We have and are grateful for every tiny green sprout.
ReplyDeleteRight now things look much better than I would have expected - especially glad that the fig tree and all pomegranates are alive, yay! I'll bet it's Showtime for your roses, right?
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