How's everyone doing after the freeze? How are your gardens?

After reading Neil Sperry and Greg Grant articles telling gardeners to wait and see before taking drastic action to our plants, I've only pruned the mushy leaves of all my crinums, amaryllis, and agapanthus. Also pruned the knock-out roses back and
cut down my plumerias.

I do have spikes on couple of the red amaryllis and striatum. The verbena is starting to bloom and the trailing variegated vinca have blooms too.
The glads are poking through and the LA irises looks good.

It's been heavenly weather here these past few days; I'm enjoying the sun shining; not too hot nor too cold--just right.

I missed this incredibly cold weather as I was in physical therapy rehab but was told we had a single digit low and five days of temperatures remaining below freezing. I haven't been able to do anything with my plants but looked at those outdoors. I don't see signs of life but the stems feel as though most will come back.

I lost all my citrus trees but think the Arbequina olive will come back.

The confederate jasmine vine has some crunchy new leaves but the older ones appear to be unharmed as does the vine.

I don't believe we will see any (or many) Azalea blooms.

I had put a Vitex shrub in ground in December and it is too early to tell if it will be o.k.

I had also dug up a large Turks Cap to relocate it. It is in a large container. I hope the roots were not too vulnerable to the freeze.

The daffodils got nailed right when they were to bloom. They will be fine for next spring I am sure. I did notice the vintage Roman hyacinth were blooming but the foliage on the Byzantine gladiolas does not look too good.

Springtime will tell with the butterfly ginger and the crinums (all in containers).

Unfortunately, I had unpotted the Spiral Ginger that I planned to send you @piksihk It was in the greenhouse and not much has survived in there. Time will tell and I will let you know if it is worth sharing.

Oddly many of the herbs are fine. Two rosemary plants (one in a container and one in ground), the oregano, cilantro, comfrey, lemon thyme, sculpit, catnip, lemon balm, mint are all still among the living. Marjoram didn't survive as it is more tender. The Bay Laurel doesn't look too promising either but I will give it a chance.

I also have a bed of succulents. Most were fine. Hesperaloe, a Dyckia, a hybrid aloe, sedum and ornamental chives. It is interesting to watch what will sink and what survives.

I agree, it is now lovely weather but I'm still on a walker so cannot be impatient. That might be best for these plants.

I am waiting my sweet olives to come back to life.
I had 7 of these shrubs scattered through out the yard. They were 18 years old. Their apricot fragrance from insignificant flowers fills the air in spring and again in October. I can smell the apricot fragrance 100 feet away in a warm day. I had tried all kind of fragrant perennial flowers and shrubs. Sweet olive shrubs were only one survive our hot weather. It was so wonderful and no other shrub can match it's performance.

Ridvan

Cut the soggy plants. Most of the woody plants have dead leaves on top but green leaves on bottom.
Will wait a few weeks untill I prune.

Mostly, my plants have leafed out by now. Luckily for me, spring comes early in zone 9.

I lost the two huge plumbagos that anchored my foundation planting. Oh, well. I'll buy some tiny replacements cheaply and they'll be huge in 2 years. I used the loss of those plants as an excuse to plant a new satsuma. The plumbago will eventually be a ground cover under its canopy.

My little Texas mountain Laurel and Indian hawthorn aren't looking good. I'll wait to see how they do.

My Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow bush (Brunfelsia pauciflora) and blue butterfly bush (Clerodendrum ugandense) were both dormant before the freeze, so I'm not sure if they're dead or waiting to leaf out.

Just before the freeze, I dumped a bag each of mulch on my hibiscus mutabilis var. flore pleno (by far the most dramatic plant I own) and skyflower (Duranta erecta), and thank goodness because those both froze to the top of the mulch. I'll have to cut them both almost to the ground. But they're already leafing out, and they, too will be recovered in 2 years if next winter is milder.

I put 5 gallon buckets or sheets on top of anything else that concerned me, and put all of my pots in the garage.

The 3 gardenias look rough, but none are dead.

I have...uh...35 (really, 35?!) varieties of roses, and they all definitely came through except for Mrs. R. M. Finch. She's just brown twigs now, and I'll have to see if she comes back. My other roses responded with some variety. The ones with rugosa heritage and my Don Juan climber defoliated completely but sustained no twig damage. Several of my dwarf shrubs lost a couple of leaves and otherwise laughed at the cold. The rest of the roses all lost most of their leaves and sustained a moderate amount of twig damage, but are doing fine.

Other than replacing the plumbagos (which are sold very cheaply as annuals) I'm going to give most of the dead-looking stuff until June to prove that it is not, in fact, dead. After all, I need to save up for my daughter's orthodontia, so I have no budget to replace them this season anyway!

My Indian Hawthorne young plants were completely dead so pulled them and replanted with coral Drift roses. I'm waiting to see what the boxwood do. At least three look ok, but one seems iffy. Several pots were left out and will need something new in them.

All of our citrus trees are dead (some 30 years old). The loquat is coming back . The lantanna and plumbago are sprouting back from the roots. The ficus and jasmine are dead, but I'll wait to see whether they come back from the roots. Figs, peaches, vitex , boxwood, photinia, cherry laurel, roses, and most other shrubs are okay.

I am mostly doing nothing but pruning once it is practical (i.e., plants I usually cut/prune because the top always gets zapped like ferns, etc.). Observations from my neck of the woods on the Dallas/Forth Worth Metroplex, not necessarily from my garden... It got down to -2F in many areas around here.

Osmanthus fragrans (sweet olive) are in ICU, being evaluated. The prognosis is not good. No new foliage or growth from the base. April 6 - detected some leafout.

Some roses took a hit and are now growing back from the base (2' tall by 04/04/21). One Knockout was unfazed. Waiting to get any blooms from any rose now. Got one bloom from one that grew from the base.

All Indian Hawthorna are most likely dead; very brown, no leaf out and no new growth from the base. They cannot withstand temperatures below 0F and we got below that. Will have to figure out what to replace them with. Still dead on April 6.

Oleander also took hit (04/04/21 still dead looking). There seems to be some green but it is not a TAMU Hardy cultivar so I am not sure it will make it. In ICU. Still in ICU on April 6.

All Loropetalums look dismal but I saw something on one which may be leaf out or an old leaf out so I left them alone (04/04/21 saw some leaf out on a few of the loropetalums, not all). They cannot withstand temps below 0F either. Detected leaf out or new growth on all on April 6.

Azaleas were blooming or about to start. One that was blooming appears to be dead, probably because of bark split while others, which had unopened flower buds, have some injury in half of the plant or less.

One camellia appears dead as it was blooming in February. I suspect Camellia Japonicas and Sinensis, which were blooming and had sap running, may have been injured more than Camellia Sasanquas which bloom in the Fall and were probably dormant in February. 1:45pm 3/23/2021 observation: the so-called "dead" azalea is leafing out from selected branches and from the ground today. One camellia still dead looking as of April 6. The rest are in great shape, alive, recovering. As of April 24, the dead looking camellia has some leaf out signs near the base of the trunk, about 1-2" from the soil line.

Japanese Rose looks great. Wisteria is about to start blooming. Hydrangeas are starting to leaf out but may be bloom unreliable this year if they produced flower buds in 2020 that were supposed to open in Spring 2021. Annabelle-like hydrangeas and paniculatas are leafing out; should be ok but I see some stems -not many- still not leafing out. Will wait until May to prune them all the way down.

Apple trees and most non fruit trees (except palms) appear to be fine. Peach, pear, Texas/Oklahoma Redbud, Bradford Pear trees are blooming or leafing out.

Hollies and Yaupon Hollies doing ok. Iris and daylilies coming out. Photinias are leafing out. Quince is blooming. Forsythia is leafing out and had a few late blooms that I noticed. Abelia, Barberry and Boxwoods are doing well. Nandinas did well but some lost foliage where temps dropped to -9F. Spirea seems to have survived and is blooming. Mountain Laurel and Rose Of Sharon looked ok. Salvia is coming back from the ground so last year's growth may need to be pruned if you see no leaf out but I found one salvia with a few branch tips, very few, leafing out. Cannas are slowly coming back. Mexican oregano is coming back. Ferns are coming back.

There are many browned out shrubs out there that -from afar- I have not been to identify when driving by.

Vitex (03/25/21 noticed leaf out), Crape Myrtles (04/04/21 noticed leaf out), Hibiscus, Beautyberry (03/25/21 noticed leaf out), Butterfly Bushes, Mexican Petunia are still asleep or are unknown. These tend to be late breaking dormancy. Texas sage is hard to tell from afar as dead foliage may stick and appear to be doing well. Does anyone know how their Texas Sages did? Grasses, Hostas, Lantanas, Lilacs, Purple Heart, Turk's Cap or verbenas - have not noticed any; can anyone comment on those? For reference purposes, please indicate how cold it got in your area. As of April 24, I have seen recovery in sages (Sages have new foliage) and Turk's Caps (Caps have new growth from the base).

Weeds are doing very well. Outstanding, actually. ;o)) They have no idea that there was a freeze at all! Hee, hee, hee. Think: dandelions!

Get your allergy shots up to date!

Lantana coming back from roots slowly(gold), my lorapetulum are starting to leaf out, but because of our dryness, I have to water them, and they are back in bloom, (we hit -3*), but the lorapetulums had like 12" dirt added to the roots last Fall while we redid the aztec grass- not sure the aztec grass will make more than a patchy come back. Shrimp plant trying to return from the roots, I have a red Lion crinum with a bloom stalk coming up, poison ivy is coming back with a roar, grrrr. 1" rain last night and I haven't been out today in the pine and oak pollen shimmering down. Spring storms are back with heavy rolling thunder and crashes of light, sigh.

After I got the Drift roses planted I put in a grouping of Frosty Curls sedge to lend some texture.

I still don't know exactly how cold it got to. 5 degrees was forecast for one night. My Turks Caps...some are showing a bit of life now, others not yet. Mexican Buckeye and native Redbud are okay now. Barbados Cherry...nada yet. Hop Tree...one is barely looking like it's just coming back. The other is...well, doing something bizarre. It has leaves on ends of most regular branches, but at the ground level it has a big flurry of growth around the main trunk, also bigger stems have new growth where none was before.

teacup754 in Frisco, Drift Roses may not last long. Be aware that the DFW Metroplex is like a Rose Rosette Disease Central Station. I no longer plant any roses as the number in my home have gone down from 100+ to about 30. Most were here when I bought the house but RRD has wiped most of them out.

I'll try and cover them if needed. The roses are on the south side of my house, so maybe a small bit of protection. I only have a tiny garden ( this bed is it except for some containers in the back, so if something happens we will just replant.

It sounds like most of the plant died, but the roots are coming back. Moisture missing down here- watering to give the plants a chance to return. Some things are still being sluggish, but the weeds have multiplied by a thousand. I honestly think the snow carried weed seeds south with it. I remember when Plano was still out in the country miles away from other towns. McKinney, too.

Yes, dandelions have spread like wildfire over here this year.

I should have dandelions, nope. Cleavers, medicago, hedge parsley, yard burs, false strawberry, pink oxalis, moss, poison ivy goin crazy, whole yard is busily green, but not sure any of it is grass of any kind.

Annual winter grass is overtaken the grass! ugh!!!

The both the rangoon creepers are gone but the Mexican flame vine survived.
The irises and amaryllis are starting to bloom but many amaryllis bulbs are mushy, so I guess I'll have to dig them up.

The angel trumpets need to be chopped down and so does the Confederate R.
Lavender vine, plumerias and hibiscuses are goners.

The nurseries are like going to the grocery stores last year looking for toilet paper. It is a frenzy! And that is during the week. I wouldn't go near them on the weekend unless I had an hour to kill waiting to check out, and that is assuming I could find what I wanted. I went to four nurseries last week. Three of them looked like a turkey the day after Thanksgiving, picked over and down to bare bones. They had signs for the plants, but only one or two, and sometimes none sitting there.

I've heard the losses were high in wholesaler greenhouses due to the power being off on many of them during the coldspell. Supply may be limited at the source, so nurseries may sell out early with no hope of replenishing the stock. Bad for everyone, including wannabe purchasers looking to replace their losses.

Some HOAs are giving waivers since supply-demand will be off for a few years.