the darn freeze/warm cycle this winter (landscape, spring, leaves)

[texan2yankee]

We have received two late hard freezes, weeks beyond normal date of the last annual freeze, this year. Needless to say, some of the landscape plants had already started their spring growth as these late freezes were preceded by several warm weather weeks.

All the boxwoods I planted last spring had started their growth spurt prior to the late freezes and now have drying leaves, yellowish leaves, and completely dead new growth flopped on each branch tip.

Are these boxwood plants now dead or soon to be dead? If not, what do you suggest I do to help them recover?

[Threestep2]

I am in the same boat - rather large boxwoods in huge pots. I will wait and see for a while.

[Hemlock140]

Depending on the variety, boxwoods can be hardy to -25F. When the leaves turn orange from the cold, they turn back to green in spring. If there is new early growth that dies off in a later freeze, just trim it off after the last of the cold. It should put out new shoots again. What could kill them in this first year is if the roots froze for too long, since there are not that many yet and they are near the surface. In a cold climate I would have mulched them well over the first winter.

[denverian]

I have a 9 year old boxwood hedge here in Denver and I'm impressed by how hardy it is. I'm sure only the new, tender growth was killed, not the entire bush. I have two varieties and neither has had any damage this winter, even though we had two bad Actic air outbreaks where it stayed in the single digits or below zero for multiple days, and got as low as -10 at my house. They're still very green

My Boxwoods won't put out any new growth until May though.