Winter Kill

I'm not sure how many of you have noticed shrubs, especially evergreens such as Euonymus and Laurel, that either died completely or died off enough to make the plant look ugly.  Some evergreen trees have taken hits, too, such as Cedars and Sequoias.

Here is our sad butterfly bush (not an evergreen). It usually looks like this in very early spring, but it is getting to be late spring and there is no new growth on this bush. Not even one little bit that will help the plant recover. It's dead.  Bummer. 

It all started last fall. Actually, it started two falls ago, but this past one was enough to knock out more shrubs because many take more than one season to fully recover, especially the laurels. I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last fall the weather stayed really warm until late November; up until nearly Thanksgiving Day it was, like, 58 degrees, 64 degrees, on and on.  Then came the "Storm of the Century."  Remember, we all had to prepare for the big storm with extra food and bottled water?  Well, that storm never came but the cold temperatures did.  One day it was 60 degrees, the next day 18.  Then 11.  Then 4.  Plants generally do not like that quick of a temperature change because they don't have time to harden off, to get ready for the cold weather.  That's winter kill.

Shrubs that were in the shade were able to harden off a bit more and survived the quick temperature change better than bushes in full sun. Here is a rose bush that demonstrates this perfectly.  The rose bush is in half sun and shade. The part in the shade made it through the winter.

 The same thing happen two falls ago, in 2009, but not as drastically. I noticed my butterfly bush was struggling last spring, but didn't think much of it, but now I realize that it was already compromised and when it happened a second time, it couldn't recover. 

Maybe this fall will be a little more normal, but I kinda doubt it. So, how to prevent this from happening again?  You'd have to recognize the extra warm temperature trends in fall and shade your plants to help them harden off. 

Or just replace those old roses and laurels with something else that's a little more forgiving.