Freezes

Howdy Gardening Enthusiasts! Here’s your GardenLine Email Tip of the Week from Randy Lemmon, heard exclusively weekend mornings from 8 to Noon on Talkradio 950 KPRC.

With your permission, may I gloat for just one second? During my radio broadcasts on December 28th & 29th, we were looking ahead at the weather predictions, so as to figure out what needed to be protected in the landscape with potential freezes. The forecast pages on all the television station websites predicted dire freeze numbers of 18, 19 and even 20 degrees Thursday January 3rd... The forecasts that were actually broadcast on the 1st and 2nd of January were even more dire sounding. But on my GardenLine radio broadcasts of the 28th and 29th, I predicted it wouldn’t be near that bad (although I agreed we would see some freezing temps). Officially the low was around 29 degrees. Exactly, what I predicted! I bring this up because it has a lot to do with what needs covering and what does not. In fact, I like to use 25 degrees as the magical number here in the Houston area.

In other words, if it gets below 25, there are some plants that might need covering, when in all other cases we leave them alone. Palm trees such as the Queen Palms and newly planted Sago Palms are good examples. While they are hardy to light freezing temperatures, they can suffer when low temps are below 25 degrees for multiple hours. My whole point is "why cover things unless you absolutely have to?" In other words, I RULE! And you should listen only to me when it comes to weather predictions. No seriously, I think that most television news stations make such dastardly predictions as a way to “generate some news,” and while their dire predictions are not all bad, it does cause some people to cover more than really need to in the landscape.

Of course, we still have some plants that suffered from freeze damage. But remember this as your guiding force in judging what’s damaged and what’s not -- the leaves of tropical plants are expendable. If you lose leaves, it doesn’t mean you’re losing the plant. The best way to tell if a plant suffered serious damage from the freezes is to look at the limbs especially on plants like Hibiscus and Bougainvillea . If you see browning, graying or blackening wood, then the wood has suffered freeze damage, and needs to be pruned back to green wood. On other tropicals like Banana Trees, you again need to remember that the leaves/fronds are expendable, and on the stalk you need to cut back past mushy, browning parts. There is an email tip we sent out about a month ago, talking about protecting tropical plants… if you didn’t see it or if you didn’t keep it, click here for more info:

http://www.950kprc.com/gardenline-tropicalprotection.html

If you have any other questions about what to cover and protect on freezing nights, don’t hesitate to call me on the GardenLine weekends from 8 to noon, exclusively on Talkradio 950 KPRC. Oh, and by the way, don’t pay too close attention to television reporters (not just to bash the weather forecasters on TV) when they tell you what to cover on freezing nights, unless they’re interviewing an expert. I saw a Channel 2 reporter tell everyone -- without any corroboration -- to cover their Azaleas on Tuesday night January 1st. YIKES!!! I just envisioned all these people running out to cover the countless azaleas in Houston, when they didn’t need to at all. Azaleas can handle temperatures well into the teens. The only time you “might” even think about covering them would be on freezing nights right before the blooms are about to pop. Not now, when this cold weather is actually benefiting the azaleas. That’s because they need cooler temps in December and January to produce better bloom heads in February and March.

Here's to great gardening! Randy Lemmon