I have two 4' tall chaste trees. one I am growing as a single trunk and the other is a double trunk. They had just begun to leaf out the week prior to the late freeze, and even though I covered them their baby leaves still turned soft, black and dry. I crushed those dry leaves while trying to be careful not to hurt any buds that might releaf. It has been about 10 days of warm weather since, and I do not see any any new growth. But people have posted that we should wait 4 to 6 weeks, then do a scratch test to see if any branches or trunks have green color just under the brown or gray bark. I sure hope my Chase trees both survive. I also have a redbud tree. a very young only 1 foot tall smoke tree. and a Blue Satin hardy hibiscus tree, which I am waiting to see if they releaf again. My young ogon 'Gold Rush' dawn redwood did not drop its leaves, but they did get crispy and the tree is still stuggling to regain its spring leaf color. It will give me such joy to see all those young trees recover. At least my young perrotia persica (Sp?) came through without much damage, so did my young three trunked paperbark maple. At first I thought that we were supposed to remove the dead leaves which did not fall off by themselves, but now the current thought is to leave those dry leaves alone, so that we do not damage the buds which should releaf. Of course that advice came to late for me. I already removed my tree's dead leaves, but hopefully my effort to do it an a way which would not damage new buds worked. I guess I just have to wait and see.

You can cut them back.....at the expense of the rhizomes. This is the time when they increase in clump size and the energy produced by the leaves help with that. You know they "need" the leaves by how quickly they grow them back. BUT...in actuality about all that will happen is that you won't have the clumps increase in size very fast....perhaps a blessing, maybe not. If you are panting for large clumps and daylilies to share....suffer through the ratty stage ( think of it like the early teen age gangly stage in kids). If you like them just the way they are....whack them back. Linda C

Because I live in TX my friends love to call my amaryllis "Amarillo" (as in the town), and then they start singing a song about getting to Amarillo by morning!! Where do you live (what climate) and do you let your bulbs stay inside or outside? At 20 inches, if they are falling over it's likely that they aren't getting enough light. You can try staking them up and then giving them better light, which should make them a little sturdier. If they are beyond hope, then cut them back about half way and see if they will stand up. If the leaves are wimpy and limp (pale and almost see-thru), then you can trim them back to an inch or two and give the plant better light to grow strong leaves. If the plant is 5 years old...do you let it go dormant each year, or are these the same leaves from 5 years ago? Hmmm! Kristi

Probably there is some advantage to leaving the older foliage on until it has rooted in, but if it looks really awful with the old leaves, and you don't mind slightly slower regrowth of new foliage and roots, go ahead and cut them off now. These are extremely easy to grow plants as long as they have the conditions they prefer, and the weather has warmed up enough to push new growth.