Frost Damaged Plants

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To trim or not to trim, that is the question many Houston area homeowners are asking. Having lived in Houston and worked in the Landscape Design and Installation business for 12 years, I was not even prepared for the below freezing numbers Texas experienced this last past month. With that said, for your Frost Damaged Plants the question is, Do I trim my now, or wait?

I have to wonder what the next two months will bring, according to the Farmers Almanac, we will experience colder-that-normal winter months due to the low-activity solar period. OK, so I am not sure I exactly know what that means, but I guess we need to be prepared to protect our plants, pets, pipes and people for the next couple of months or two. Again, the low-activity solar period.

The professionals do say, "wait to trim". "Wait until the last frost". When will the last freeze be? Maybe the writers of the Farmers Almanac know, but are holding back this information just in case they are wrong. Did they really know that it would freeze in Houston three consecutive days and counting? That only happens once in a blue moon here, oh, wait right, we will have two blue moons this year, coincident or not?

So, yes, wait to trim your Frost Damaged Plants, as long as you possibly can. Watch for new growth, continue to water, do not fertilize until spring. Be prepared to cover, move and protect again. When the last frost has come and gone, call your Landscape Maintenance crew. They will trim severely damaged areas, this will promote new stronger growth. Maybe I will lose a Hibiscus, Bird of Paradise or an Agapantha, but for the most part, I think we will be fine.

As always looking forward to warmer weather, to hang outside, maybe this year I will get to do some New Landscape Design in my own yard. Things I have been wanting to do for some time now, but it is hard to justify taking out a perfectly good plant, to relocate and plant something new but maybe it is time. While I am at it, maybe I will finally put in that Water Feature, I have been wanting to do. Something that will compliment my yard in the summer months. We get to appreciate the Fireplace Feature all during the cooler months, but having a summer feature would be nice.

Still take care of your garden and landscape. Cover your plants, bring potted plants inside, and do not forget to bring the pets in as well! We have had some strange weather in the Houston, Texas area this winter and had to really work hard on saving most of our warm weather plans due to the frost/freeze. I wish you luck and hope to see you outside in your outdoors very soon.

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• freeze damaged plants
• horticulture
• garden
• gardening
• Landscaping
• Landscape Design
• Frost
• agapantha
• ezine