Damage from Last November's Cold! (plants, cover, shrub, shrubs)

[Lost Roses]

I'm sadly coming to the realization that a 20' tall Pussywillow tree next to my lower patio appears to be dead. I planted it as a little twig 20 years ago and it provided a great backdrop for my patio and screening from the neighbor (not that they're nosy!) I didn't see any catkins on it this year which should have been my first clue. I'm blaming the flash freeze in November also.

[NickMan7]

Originally Posted by denverian

Yes, as everything alive leafs out, it's becoming sadly obvious what was killed. In a park near our house, there are some fairly tall trees (I have no idea what they are, but they grew fast in 10 years) that looked beautiful and shaded the playground. About half of them are dead, while the other half are full and green.

I've been making a mental note of what died so I don't buy those plants to replace what's dead. I've noticed the cherry trees are struggling and have a lot of dead branches too. The one next door was still green in early November, so it must not have hardened off. When such mature trees and plants are suddenly killed really shows how much our weather is "off" these days.

It's strange how some trees made it seemingly unscathed and then some of the same species right next to them took hammers to the face. It really is sad, but it's also a good opportunity to change things up. It's nature taking it's course. My guess is that many of the species that were killed are not necessarily appropriate for our area, either, and that could have a lot to do with it. At the end of the day, when the weather goes from one of the most mild and beautiful autumns to double digits below zero, even the hardiest native plants can suffer fatally.

For those that are interested in this flash freeze we're talking about, click on this LINK to the Denver NWS. Select Preliminary Monthly Climate Data (CF6), then select Denver, then select Archived Data, scroll to November 2014 and select GO. You'll see we experienced mainly 60s and 70s from November 1 through November 10, then lows of 5º to -14º between November 11 and November 17. OUCH! All of this after an October than was more than 4º warmer than normal with only 4 lows at or below freezing and an average high for the month of 70º.

[denverian]

I know people complaining that they can't get anyone to their house from a landscaping company now because they're all so busy chopping down trees and branches. We ended up borrowing a long pruner from a neighbor and trimmed up our tree so it looks nice now (no damage from anything, just needed trimming away from the house). Next project is to remove about a 15' long conttoneaster hedge and replace it with something else.

[Isleofpalms85]

The Fact that a Southern Magnolia Seedling Managed to survive that freak November Arctic Outbreak in Denver Colorado truly amazes me, even more amazing is the fact that as Denverian pointed out, is that what is usually hardier did not make it after just that November Freak event while less hardy plants did survive, such as the Magnolia that he mentioned, that, while it almost was completely defoliated, apparently is producing new buds for leaves and flowers as of May 19th, I suspect that the Southern Magnolias back in Indianapolis are just now really beginning to unfurl new leaves, I am out of town down in Texas to Visit Family right now, so I have not had a chance to monitor the two Magnolias Near that Eatery In Indianapolis since May 7th, but back on May 7th, those Southern Magnolia's buds were just beginning to break and swell, I suspect that progress has been made since I last saw them, I will post on their condition in Early June when I return from my well earned vacation.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Isleofpalms85

The Fact that a Southern Magnolia Seedling Managed to survive that freak November Arctic Outbreak in Denver Colorado truly amazes me, even more amazing is the fact that as Denverian pointed out, is that what is usually hardier did not make it after just that November Freak event while less hardy plants did survive, such as the Magnolia that he mentioned, that, while it almost was completely defoliated, apparently is producing new buds for leaves and flowers as of May 19th, I suspect that the Southern Magnolias back in Indianapolis are just now really beginning to unfurl new leaves, I am out of town down in Texas to Visit Family right now, so I have not had a chance to monitor the two Magnolias Near that Eatery In Indianapolis since May 7th, but back on May 7th, those Southern Magnolia's buds were just beginning to break and swell, I suspect that progress has been made since I last saw them, I will post on their condition in Early June when I return from my well earned vacation.

The one in my neighbors landscaping now has multiple buds

I spent the weekend tearing out/digging/chopping up the Cottoneaster hedge and completely re-landscaped there area where it was. I added more Boxwood along the house and then in front of the Boxwood, added Manzanita and Kinnikinnick. Both of these plants are natives to high elevations in Colorado, stay evergreen in winter, need very little water and once they spread out, should provide this side of my house with a very nice broadleaf evergreen garden. The only negative was all the work, and then I spent $450 on all the new plants

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by denverian

So gardening here in Denver is no walk in the park on a normal year. But last Fall, it was unusually warm into early November and no hard freezes up until November 11, when that crazy Arctic front came through and dropped the temperature down to something like -15. At that point, there were still lots of hedges, plants and trees that were still green.

Now that things have leafed out, the damage caused by that are becoming obvious. I have a huge Cottoneaster hedge that is dead back to the ground. It's going to take a chainsaw to get rid of it. I've seen huge Euonymous hedges that had to be decades old that are dead. Surprisingly, my very long Boxwood hedge is fine, along with different types of Holly. All our rose bushes were killed to the ground, but are growing back.

Has anyone else in Denver or other areas affected by last November's cold had to deal with this?

Now that you mention it.....YES. Here in NE Kansas, K-State Extension has concluded that the extreme temperature drop from Nov 10 to 11 was a shock to the systems of trees and shrubs that were not yet dormant. I seem to have lost a number of Rose of Sjarons, but I'm waiting to see what they do this next month. My mini redbud trees are leafing sparsely, and our contorted filbert flowered on time but is taking forever to leaf out.

It's all very strange.

[oberon_1]

I am in NY and we had a brutal winter. Parts of the Hudson froze. Even the Niagara falls! Not necessarily a single event, but prolonged record low temps with insane windchills. I grow rose bushes, mostly zone 4-5 - and most canes died. Had to cut back everything. Some bushes that survived previous winters unprotected, are root dead now (I winterized all last November).
(It's funny- rose growers ended their delivery season in March, while our soil and bushes were still covered in deep snow and ice!)...

[denverian]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

Now that you mention it.....YES. Here in NE Kansas, K-State Extension has concluded that the extreme temperature drop from Nov 10 to 11 was a shock to the systems of trees and shrubs that were not yet dormant. I seem to have lost a number of Rose of Sjarons, but I'm waiting to see what they do this next month. My mini redbud trees are leafing sparsely, and our contorted filbert flowered on time but is taking forever to leaf out.

It's all very strange.

Sounds the same as here. The day that cold front came through, I was driving from Denver to KC, and the temp hovered around 10 degrees for the entire drive. I haven't noticed yet of the Rose of Sharon died back here or not. I'm guessing it did. I think most shrubs that are looking dead aren't dead below ground, so possibly chop them down and start over.

We also had a freak Mother's Day snow/freeze in Denver, so some trees have had to start over with new leaves growing. Not a good year for vegetation!

[Cambium]

Out of 11 Holly trees that got damaged, 9 have come back. Even showing berries forming. Tree filling with leaves very nicely. Awesome. 2 died completely unfortunately. .

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Out of 11 Holly trees that got damaged, 9 have come back. Even showing berries forming. Tree filling with leaves very nicely. Awesome. 2 died completely unfortunately. .

My Holly seems to be ok, although some of the new leaves it was sprouting died. I think they didn't like the fertilizer I gave them