Most Plants are Looking up but some still have a long way to go

Most plants are recovering nicely from the big freeze around Easter. Hosta plants are beginning to show new life and several of our shade trees are beginning to show new life. However there are some plants that we must wait to see what will happen.

The plant stressing me the most is 12 year old specimen Japanese Maple that is showing very few signs of life. I don't fear so much about losing the tree as I do the overall shape that has taken the twelve years to get the way I wanted. For many of these type plants we must wait to what Mother Nature will accomplish.

Things that would benefit from a haircut are:
Daylilies
Boxwoods
Some Hollies
Hosta's (remove the browned leaves)
Monkey grass
etc.

Freeze Damage to Ornamentals

It has been eleven days since the Easter freeze and we are still in a wait and see pattern. Many plants were very successful, an example would be the Hawthornes on Stephen Foster that are in full bloom today. I received word this morning that apples may end up with a crop after all. Flowers were open yesterday and Bees were in a flurry of activity.

For most ornamental plants we need to wait and see what happens before we take action. Do not fertilize this spring that will only make the problem worse however fertilization will be important this fall. There will be some plants like Japanese Maples that will likely have stem dieback which will require heavy pruning and as I said before other plants weren't affected in the least.

For much more information on this subject see the following link: http://www.ca.uky.edu/HLA/Dunwell/KYPlantDamage2007.html