Friday, February 3, 2012

What can I do about blooms that died in a freeze?

I live in Chesterfield County VA where we recently had 4 nights of freezing weather. Some things that were in the process of blooming have died. Azaleas, crepe myrtles, hydrangeas.
What can I do about blooms that died in a freeze?
take off the buds that died,and they should grow back when the temperature get back to normal
Reply:break off the buds close to the ends of limbs, they will start to bud again.
Reply:I would trim them back. Also, if it is still freezing at night, cover the plants at night.
Reply:Hopefully, there will be more blooms to follow wth your azaleas, this is one of the reasons I have always shied away from the early blooming varieties and have planted the later ones myself. White ones are particularly ugly when hit by frost, so my only white ones are late bloomers.

My crape myrtles have not even leafed out yet and I am south of you, they won't bloom until summer, so I wouldn't worry about them. They bloom on new growth.

The Hydrangeas are iffy. You'll just have to wait and see. If the bloom buds froze at a critical stage, it is possible that you will miss blooms this year, but the plants themselves should not suffer.

Both the azaleas and the hydrangeas have buds when they become dormant in the fall and you never want to prune them except soon after the blooms fall. A late freeze can have the same affect as a late pruning, as if to snip off the buds. I would not be concerned about the crape myrtles.
Reply:we had some of the same weather here in SC...I have fielded phone calls all day about burnt foilage and blooms....the azaleas will bloom again next year...the crepemyrtles and hydranges will recover..it is very early in the season...also gerber daisies cut blooms back to base of plant....give the plants a little time to get throught the shock of the death of the foilage and then remove and wait for it to come out again...I am quite confident that they will come back out unless they are a new planting and then you may need to watch them a little more closely in case the whole plant needs to be replaced. Plants are very resiliant...just give them a little recovery time.

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