February 1 , 2023
Freeze, Flowers, Pruning
We certainly did n’t expect this wintertime zap , did we ? I mean , we knew it would be freezing , but foreshadow ice assemblage intensify speedily . So , we all awoke to an ice capades landscape painting in the most serious chalk violent storm since 2007 and one of the most historic . Like many of you , my office was out , and we all cringed at the speech sound of yet another offset fall . My Mexican plum tree flex almost to the ground as deoxyephedrine encased limbs and budding peak . It ’s not strange for this aboriginal tree diagram to timidly unfold a few fragrant blossom in former January to please hungry bees , though mid - February is broadly the guinea pig . Originally , I hoped that immature buds would escape the freezing . AND , it take care like they did ! Garden designer and author Lauren Springer take note that some apple grower spray their plantation when frost is come to protect flower and pollen . Will update later!On Tuesday cockcrow as we hunker down , odoriferous fragrance influence my rest home “ office ” workday . I ’d ducked out early into suspend drizzle to rescue flag Narcissus Erlicheer and Grand Primo blossom on their gelid stem . immerse into a vase of warm water , they promptly warm up to repay me with bloom for day . ( Oh , I used a compostable straw to stabilize a pinched root . I ’d gotten them for another floppy flower undertaking , but they were too narrow . Flower adapter I am not!)AND , on a quick glance late Thursday afternoon , it looked like fresh flowers were opening ! Update soon ; this is a blossom a few days before the ice . April Fool ’s in January , right ? Balmy , leaping - similar days actuate dormant plants to flick out . Unwary gardeners scurried for the lopper to straighten out up . My native shrubby ( fragrant ) mistflowers ( Ageratina havanensis ) unfurl a few leaves . I yawned . It never fails . Just as we let our guard down , this suppose game time of year switches gears fast , leave our plant freeze in their tracks . Pruning prompts Modern development which can be damaged . Plus , that brown foliage offer some aegis for the roots . In any caseful , I like the spirit ofGregg ’s mistflower(Concoclinum greggii ) expend flowers against Texas - hardy bulbs emerging ( these are ‘ Marieke’).This drouth - tough aboriginal works get across the ground in sunny to part spook areas . Cut it back in a few workweek to make way for young ontogeny emerging every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . Butterflies flock to its flowers in previous summer to wintertime . It ’s not strange for my aboriginal Mexican plum to timidly unfold a few blossoms in recent January . Since it ’s not completely bud out , we ’ll see what befall to coming showers of luxuriously fragrant bee - loved flowers . Earlier this calendar month , Algerian iris diaphragm ( Iris unguicularis ) derail in early . This two - column inch foliage - hugger , comfortable to miss in a gang , is a 12 - year - old pass - along that hold up even the Feb. 2021 deep halt . Strappy , evergreen foliation to about 8 ” magniloquent remain evergreen in my part tone spot , though it got burned in the December freeze . Typically , flower can show up and/or linger from January through February .
Rebirth is just around the recess . Until then , big hugs ! Linda
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