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WHEN the record-cold temperatures hit in January, the questions to Barbara Eisenstein, horticulture outreach coordinator for Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, started rolling in: My agave 'Blue Flame' melted in the freeze. What can I do? My lantana looks ghastly. Should I prune?
"I'm still getting questions," says Eisenstein, who e-mailed suggestions and fellow gardeners' reports from the field as a form of electronic triage. She says recent inquiries have been about how to salvage frost-bitten giant bird of paradise and what to plant in the place of burnt ficus.
Early on, the advice from most horticulturists was to be patient.
Don't rush to rip out plants. Don't prune. Smart gardeners, experts said, will wait till spring and reassess.
So now what?
How can you tell if those frost-bitten plants can be saved? What's the best way to nurse them back to health? And with the greater L.A. area facing record low rainfall and the prospect of a drought, which ailing flora should be replaced with low-water substitutes?
We asked experts for answers, focusing specifically on some of the most common plants in the Southern California garden.
*
Bougainvillea
THE woody vine got burnt by the cold in many regions and may still look hopeless, but just remember: Bougainvillea is surprisingly resilient, so keep waiting for signs of new growth. Gardeners may be tempted to grab the clippers and start snipping before then, but the result may be a plant that is too tight and vigorous at the bottom.
"I've heard from a few people that it's starting to pop back," says Dale Uchida, co-owner of Bellefontaine Nursery in Pasadena. He suggests pruning burnt foliage only after new growth appears, which may not be until May in some microclimates. If new growth doesn't appear on the plant by then, "It's probably a goner," he says.
New bougainvillea can be put into the ground anytime from spring through fall. "The sooner you can plant it, the better," Uchida says, though he warns that growers are still coping with damaged or destroyed stock of their own. He expects the plant to be more widely available in stores in late spring.
As frustrating as it may be, replacing dead bougainvillea with new bougainvillea is probably smarter than experimenting with other plants. Why? Bougainvillea is drought tolerant, and dry spells are far more common here than arctic cold snaps. Besides, Uchida says, it grows so fast that you'll hardly notice the old plant is gone.
*
Bird of paradise
TROPICAL plants withered during the icy nights and mornings three months ago. One of the biggest hit: bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) and, to an even larger extent, giant bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai).
The bad news: Browned leaves won't green back up, so you might as well trim them. The good news: Unless the ground froze, the plants should recover and develop new foliage and flowers.
Some gardeners respond to severe plant damage with severe watering. Both types of Strelitzia, however, will appreciate less irrigation than usual because over-watering can lead to rot. (This is even more true with another popular tropical, the banana plant.) Experts' other advice: Don't fertilize until new growth appears.
Looking for a low-water substitute? Drought-tolerant replacements for big-leaf tropicals are tough to find, but New Zealand flax can serve a similar function as an accent plant in orange, burgundy or bronze, and the plants can grow to 8 feet tall.
"I'm still getting questions," says Eisenstein, who e-mailed suggestions and fellow gardeners' reports from the field as a form of electronic triage. She says recent inquiries have been about how to salvage frost-bitten giant bird of paradise and what to plant in the place of burnt ficus.
Early on, the advice from most horticulturists was to be patient.
Don't rush to rip out plants. Don't prune. Smart gardeners, experts said, will wait till spring and reassess.
So now what?
How can you tell if those frost-bitten plants can be saved? What's the best way to nurse them back to health? And with the greater L.A. area facing record low rainfall and the prospect of a drought, which ailing flora should be replaced with low-water substitutes?
We asked experts for answers, focusing specifically on some of the most common plants in the Southern California garden.
*
Bougainvillea
THE woody vine got burnt by the cold in many regions and may still look hopeless, but just remember: Bougainvillea is surprisingly resilient, so keep waiting for signs of new growth. Gardeners may be tempted to grab the clippers and start snipping before then, but the result may be a plant that is too tight and vigorous at the bottom.
"I've heard from a few people that it's starting to pop back," says Dale Uchida, co-owner of Bellefontaine Nursery in Pasadena. He suggests pruning burnt foliage only after new growth appears, which may not be until May in some microclimates. If new growth doesn't appear on the plant by then, "It's probably a goner," he says.
New bougainvillea can be put into the ground anytime from spring through fall. "The sooner you can plant it, the better," Uchida says, though he warns that growers are still coping with damaged or destroyed stock of their own. He expects the plant to be more widely available in stores in late spring.
As frustrating as it may be, replacing dead bougainvillea with new bougainvillea is probably smarter than experimenting with other plants. Why? Bougainvillea is drought tolerant, and dry spells are far more common here than arctic cold snaps. Besides, Uchida says, it grows so fast that you'll hardly notice the old plant is gone.
*
Bird of paradise
TROPICAL plants withered during the icy nights and mornings three months ago. One of the biggest hit: bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) and, to an even larger extent, giant bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai).
The bad news: Browned leaves won't green back up, so you might as well trim them. The good news: Unless the ground froze, the plants should recover and develop new foliage and flowers.
Some gardeners respond to severe plant damage with severe watering. Both types of Strelitzia, however, will appreciate less irrigation than usual because over-watering can lead to rot. (This is even more true with another popular tropical, the banana plant.) Experts' other advice: Don't fertilize until new growth appears.
Looking for a low-water substitute? Drought-tolerant replacements for big-leaf tropicals are tough to find, but New Zealand flax can serve a similar function as an accent plant in orange, burgundy or bronze, and the plants can grow to 8 feet tall.
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