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marymebo

advice - winter freezing and shrubs/ bushes/ perennials

mary
9 years ago

This question is about all the things in my garden/ yard not just the shrubs/ bushes. I live in Cashmere WA which is a microclimate, a fairly sheltered valley in Eastern WA just 20 miles from the base of the Cascades. Basically Zone 6B. This is my first winter in a home I bought and put quite a lot of plants over the past summer and this fall. It's almost all full or part sun. soil acidity is low; soil is rocky and not drained well in some parts but I've amended a lot. Cashmere is full of pear, apple and cherry orchards. There are full size Snowbell trees, Mimosa trees, Elderberry trees in this town, which theoretically can't grow here... I've got hydrangea, dwarf arctic shrub, black lace elderberry, lilacs, azalea, honeysuckle, blueberry, a few smaller roses, one fig tree (big experiment), dying old black walnut, tall ornamental grasses, calla, hosts, lilies, chinese lantern, lavender, hummingbird mint, mint, rose of sharon, bushes that look like broccoli (?), wisteria, sweet kate, rosemary, other herbs, smoke tree/ bush, clematis, grapes...a lot I don't even know the names. I put in two damson plums, an eastern redbud, a tulip tree, a norway maple, and a flowering purple robe locust.

I have tried to buy only plants that are perennial and can handle temperatures down to about 10-15 degrees. I know some of my plants may not come back next year and some may. About half were already here. We''re in our first hard freeze tonight it's 16 degrees. All the leaves and leftover blooms and all green, non-woody parts of these are frozen solid now. I do have bark and mulch on the ground around much of it. A lot of my perennials are up sort of close to the house, which may help. Should I cut / prune most of these down close to the ground... for example, the hydrangea is such a wet, pulpy plant -- surely most of the branches/ leaves can't survive this type of freeze to bloom next year? Should I buy a bale of straw and spread everywhere? Is it to late, after this first long freeze? When and how do I deal with all this above ground very frozen greenery? I even have a sea of frozen nasturtiums! They will go of course. The strawberry patch is a sea of frozen free, leaves. I didn't get a bunch of carrots out before the freeze... If I should have cut it all close prior to the freeze, tell me so I know for next year... some are vulnerable far above ground vining like the grape, trumpet, wisteria, honey suckle, and clematis... How do I know what to cut/ trim remove and what may revive?

Comments (8)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    when i was first learning ... there was no WWWeb ... i left everything for my MI winter ...

    and then in spring ... cut back to live tissue ... which was usually below snow cover ...

    it was the only way to insure that the catch 22 you mention ... how would i know.. i wasnt cutting off the only part that might live ...

    and 30 years later ... i still use that system ...

    i do not keep a retentive garden .. i revel in what a plant looks like dormant.. and in winter.. else i would just have a flat garden to look at all winter ... and half the time.. i never make it out there in spring to clean it all up ...

    what lives.. lives.. what doesnt doesnt.. and i dont really worry about it ... if it wants to die ... so be it... i didnt want it anyway .. lol ..

    yes.. you can spend hundreds of hours.. researching every know plant by name ... and cutting them all down ... but for me.. gardening is about turning off the technology.. and intuiting it all .. and enjoying being out in mother nature ... not going blind reading up on the computer ...

    buying zone appropriate plants.. and relying on ma nature to provide said zone.. is about all i do ... and though i may think about things all winter long... i dont worry about it all ... and it only took me 20 years to get to that point.. lol ... what one might call.. zen gardening .. [she really screwed with us last winter.. and sent us a z4 winter .. in my z5 ... lots and lots of damage.. oh well .. what can you do.. would worry have made a difference????]

    good luck

    ken

  • whaas_5a
    9 years ago

    Everyone can throw their opinion out there and mine is that there is quite a bit of good advice in Ken's post.

    Then only thing I try to fight are deer, rabbits and winter sun.

    Regarding deer and rabbits...fencing and large white pots with the bottoms cut out. And white spiral wrap wrap for young thin barked trees. The rest is out of my hands.

    There are too many stressful things in life and a garden should not be one of them.

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    9 years ago

    As a fellow WA stater - even though on the milder western side - most of what you have listed should be fine. Chinese lantern is an annual as are the nasturtiums and they and any other annuals are toast. But everything else should be hardy enough to survive provided they were planted early enough before the cold weather hit to be a bit settled in. Mulching is always good and does provide an added degree of insulation to roots.

    Other than cleaning up of melted foliage (hostas any annuals, etc.) you don't want to do anything else until spring.......your gardening season is done! Wait until mid to late March when the garden starts coming back to life and do any cutting back then. Check back with us then and we can help you with what and how to cut back....not everything requires a complete haircut after winter.

    btw, all your vining plants should be fine. They can take it much colder than you may get in Cashmere :-))

  • zephyrgal
    9 years ago

    MaryMebo, you just received very good advise from the previous posters. In fact, it's one of the first times I ever agreed or read through all of Ken's post. For me in the PNW and years of gardening, I've adopted the attitude if a plant doesn't thrive or work for me, then out it goes! I'm not goint to fuss over anthing that doesn't perform on it's own. Sometimes with some regret, I've let beloved plants live their fate without my encouragement yet I come to know who my real rugged frtiends are. From the list you provided you should be rewarded with years of garden glory. If something doesn't survive, there are plenty of suitable plants to suit your needs and tastes.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    WHAAS???

    you feeling ok????

    whats with the compliments???/ .... rotflmbo ...

    i was mulling this while traveling today .... over the hills and thru the woods to ma's place today

    my point was... research what you can.. do what you can ... but dont sweat it.. if some things dont get done ...

    not many things.. if anything.. will die.. because it wasnt pruned back for winter ...

    the other point was.. i learned a heck of a lot more.. DOING IT ... rather than reading about it.. more specifically.. i REMEMBERED IT .... if i learned it myself ... rather than having to run back every fall to research it all again ...

    and if things fail ... it was probably a planting problem.. or bad stock.. or ma nature... its wasnt due to pruning .... most of the time ...

    whatever you do.. just have a darn good time... playing in the dirt ... be your inner child ... not some tightly wound adult ... [thats the real reason we garden .. but dont tell anyone.. lol]

    ken

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago

    One small point - 'Chinese Lantern' over here refers to Physalis alkekengi which is perennial. If you can start learning the botanical names for your plants it will help us help you in future. Maybe a Winter project, rather than worrying about cutting stuff down.

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago

    All good advice above.
    I'd put a heavy mulch on the those carrots and harvest them all winter long.
    Bo

  • edlincoln
    9 years ago

    I'm thinking you'll lose the lavender, Rosemary, and calla. Most of the other plants I'm familiar with should be fine.

    If you are worried about cold, you are usually better off leaving the above ground portion. You cut down the above ground portion for aesthetic reasons, to reduce rodent habitat, or to prevent the spread of disease.

    Hydrangea looks ugly in the winter to my eyes, but the branches usually come back.

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