I lost a very old rosemary the former owner planted. But my sedum

'Blue Spruce' came through just fine. Tough little plnt, even in a pot:

My stand of rosemary was five feet across, and I lost about 90% of it. That being said, a few lush green branches remain, and I'm reasonably assured that in a decade or so I'll have my old large bush back.

All my rosemary plants froze but there are now a few little rosemary seedlings where one of the plants used to grow.

Also - the 12 ft tall, many-trunked double oleander looked dead for over 2 months but now has some leaves pushing out from some of the trunks about four feet above ground.

With so many surprises going slow on cleanup seems like the only sensible thing to do.

I don't think anything will kill an oleander, Annie. :) My small rosemary at our cabin in Gause (only 12" tall) survived; my huge one out front I was sure would pull lthrough totally died. Go figure.

And just look at my Sago palm go: (fronds are about 20" tall now! Don't think the main trunk is going to come back, however. Surely it would have ahead of this pup by now.

My sago still has not moved but it is still alive. I am waiting. They are not on my schedule. Ho humm diddly dum.

On the other hand my Bull muhley grass is sending up bloom stalks a tad early. They bloom in fall with all the other muhlenbergias. Everything is a tad crazy: knocked all a kilter.

Both of my large Segos survived. I've cleaned up the trunk of one and the other is waiting to be done, it's a monster. I wish my email accepted pics from my phone so I could download to my computer, that's why I never post pics anymore.

"various dianthus flowers (they continue to impress me with their hardiness through hot scorching summers or cold winters or even colder winters than we thought we'd have)

cyclamen (the top leaves died off but the bulb made new leaves -- this is important because many other bulbs died from much more freeze than they usually expected to have in this Zone 8 winter time)"

That is good news about the Dianthus bulbs surviving the freeze. I love that plant, the way it blooms profusely, even throughout the Texas summer heat.

My sago is erupting *explosively*. All the fronds died, and a month ago a new sprout was peeking out of the center. As of now, that sprout is two feet high, and now splitting into 18 fronds. Shooting up an inch or two every day. Yikes! This guy is big, with a trunk almost a foot in diameter. But it was only loosely covered during the freeze. I figured it was toast.

Recount! 26 fronds.

When this sago sprouts new fronds, it usually only shoots out a couple at a time. Somehow it KNOWS that it has none anymore, and it is now blasting out a whole slew of them.

I was talking to my sister who is a gardener in Alaska and she has told me to have patience. I was talking about my Live oaks that have not responded. Many are green but some are not. She told me they usually have their killer frosts in the fall. A horrid frost would "explode the sap wood under the bark. She had seen trees recover 4 years later. They had looked dead for 4 years. So as the TV zen Master said "Patience Grasshopper"

My live oaks are all doing fine, but the red oak next door doesn't look that good. It's alive, but has many large branches with no leaves at all.

My spanish oaks are a mixed bag . One is looking real ratty with only a few small outburst of green and a few feet away there is another tree burgeoning in all its springtime glory. I am trying to not make a judgement with a chainsaw in hand.

One of my Loropetalum (the 4' plant) is alive! It started putting out shoots near the base of the main trunk yesterday. Yaaaaaay!

And it's starting to put out a couple shoots higher up on some of the branches:

Recovery will clearly be slow, but as Mara says, Patience is the keyword here. Most of the branches look dead at the ends, but the roots are still feeding the plants. The other Lorapetalum that is a dwarf and was never a healthy specimen and not in the best location, (ironically, it's in the most sheltered spot in said garden) still looks dead as a doornail. I'm just waiting that one out, but holding out little hope, as I get no green anywhere when I scratch the bark.

Growth at the base of the Loropetalums is what happened here, too Buttoni

Funny thing, though... this thread started with memetexas saying that her Cast Iron Plants were the winners. I have them all over the place and every single one died right down to the ground. I cut them back and waited. Now some clumps are even more dead, but some clumps are sending up little green points, so Yay!

Yeah, my Cast Irons all died off big time out front. We cut them off with hedge clippers. It took over 2 months, but they started sending up shoots out last week. Now the clumps at the base of all my trees are looking slightly green, amid the brownstalks, as we only cut them off at about 6".

In the back yard, they have run under the fence where my neighbor has a ton of them. When they came back it was in a straight line. I think they look like little soldiers standing at attention, LOL

There's hope for my dead-looking 25' loquat tree. Look at those barely visible shoots I mentioned last week. Some are 4" long today! Still no shoots on any above ground branches though. Just these few on the main trunk.

@buttoni; Are you going to leave the cast iron plants in that narrow gap by the drive? I had lirope growing in a space like that once upon a time.

I did get a nice surprise. My Mexican sleeping turkscap came back. I had piled a small layer of oak leaves very quickly over them in my mad preparations before the storm. I did not have much hope for them since they have been known to die on a normal winter.Now I know that mulching really does work.

On another note. A note of caution if anyone is planning to burn those sago dried up sago palms. I don't know what is in them but they a FLAMMABLE sometimes explosively so. I put on a pile of them on my fire in a fire pit and the wind changed just as they really ignited and I have a first degree 7" burn on my arm and let us say I am looking for a hairdresser tomorrow. I might be coming home with one of those new fangled asymmetric numbers. Shaved on one side and long on the other. I hope not.

Ohmygosh, Miss Mara, I'm glad you're otherwise okay! How freakin' terrifying. :-( I'm especially glad your face is okay, and sad that your hair suffered. :-( Dang. :-(

Oh Lordy Mara, so sorry that happened ! What a freaky thing to happen. I’m glad you‘re okay,.

I have a lot of burning left to do. I had the 16' yucca ; eight foot wide desert spoon y and sagos yesterday. I did not get things finished. I have acres of cedar and oak clean up all over the place.I have been doing agricultural burns for decades and never gotten hurt. This was a wakeup call of warning. I am grateful for all the father in Law's ancient medical dressings and unguents. We seem to have inherited the doctor's 2 ancient doctor bags.

How awful, Mara! So glad you're OK! A speedy recovery to you, my dear. And on those cast iron plants that have run under the fence out back, yes, I will be keeping them. They have been there the 5 years we have lived here. Former owner here stopped by last month and said she actually GAVE them to the neighbor off of the larger clumps of them out front. So I feel they are trying to find their way "back home" LOL.

I also have some very young Autumn Embers Azaleas planted in the wider end of that narrow wedge-shaped gap by my rear driveway. (last year's photo below)

They cohabitate quite nicely, although the azaleas don't like our alkaline soil. I have to add acidifier fert often to them. But they are slowly putting out a few leaves down low and on a few branches after our severe freeze in February. So they are trying to revive. I have decided if the azaleas die off on me, I'll just let the strip fill in with runner Cast Iron plants. :)

Yikes, I knew some plants were extremely flammable when dry, but didn't know sago palms feel into that category. Scary. Hope you're recovering quickly.

I noticed new sprouts coming from the base of my bottlebrush tree last week. I was excited to see that as I really liked how that looked. Impressive how many things made it through the big freeze OK.

They were just first degree and are long gone . Aloe vera works.. My hair has not been felt with yet. Too much to do and my looks were never that important to me.

A month ago, I said that it looked like my 20-foot bumelias died in the freeze. Absolutely no sign of life. Until now. Now I'm seeing a few branches near the top with some bright green leaves coming out. Another good lesson that, if something looks like it has died, hold back on the chain saw and be sure to just wait a while. They are z8, so I wasn't optimistic.

My bumelia are in my valley in deep woods so they seemed to be unaffected by the freeze. Most of the trees that seemed to still be without or late to green up are on the edge or exposed. I did go on a walk back into the woods . I had not been since a couple of days after the end of the freeze. MANY more limbs are down. We have had all those wicked windy days and the weakened branches gave up.

My recalcitrant live oaks and Spanish oaks are putting on growth FINALLY. I have one left by the rain tanks that is still real thin but I think it is breaking into bud. Patience grasshopper... They are out/.

My big old oak is trying to live. It's put on leaves on the bottom half and the top half has buds but it's like it just can't push them out and open into leaves. We've also had a ton of rain for two weeks now which saved me $$ on water when I was ground watering with the hose running on the ground for an hour to deeply soak the area (every 2-3 days) through March and April. My friend with many huge oaks told me to do that. I know it helped because I had no leaves then.

I had no leaves then either but I can't water 17 acres of trees. They get what they get. Maybe the water from all this rain helped push them out of dormancy. God Knows.

My Cast Iron "soldiers" mentioned above have spread their wings.

The 5 clumps of Cast Iron around my front yard trees have begun doing so this week, too.
Guess they're loving all the rain we're having. Rained again this morning and due for more this afternoon.

just l.ooked it up and that is an amazing flower. So exotic looking!

When I was looking for a picture I saw that Etsy has One bulb for $26.

I really do not know why they cost so much because once they get started they are bulb making fools. Prolific. Plant Delights has some interesting varieties but one has to pay attention to their hardiness ratings. It varies.

When I was looking for a picture I saw that Etsy has One bulb for $26.

I really do not know why they cost so much because once they get started they are bulb making fools. Prolific.

I have found Etsy *way* over priced on plants/bulbs/seeds. I'm a huge fan of Etsy, otherwise, but dang. The plant/bulb/seed sellers I have encountered there tend to magnificently *gouge* you, if they don't outright scam you.

I have purchased seeds from 2 or 3 different shops, every single one a dud; I have seen listings for neon rainbow rose "seeds" and all kinds of other circus-show acts. Ugh.

They can get away with it because Etsy's feedback system has a *very* short window for submitting a review.

We determined that my 4 ligustrums in the above bed were dead above the leafing area. No new leaves for the last month. So we cut back all the branches to the leafing level. They'll be smalll bushes for a year or so. But they look healthy. Next..........to tackle the Vitex on the intersection point of this same bed. Half the tree died off (a major trunk) No leafing going on there. It's coming off as soon as I can get hubs to cut it for me. I'm hoping after the removal, the tree will shoot out some new branches on that side, as it has always been out of balance since we bought this house and seriously needs some growth on that side. I was always just afraid to cut it off since it was one of only two main trunks. Always feared such a cut would kill the tree for sure. I've always heard you should never take off more than 30% of a tree at one time. Mother nature has solved this conundrum for me. It's dead on that side and the trunk WILL be coming off this week. Lots of re-leafing on the healthy half of the tree, so I'll just have to hope for the best.

Went to our cabin yesterday for hubs to mow grass and for me to plant out 4 trees/shrubs. I walked the perimeter of the yard and found that my very small, young vitex down there survived. So did my young pecan tree and Dessert Willow. Duranta 'Sweet Memories' in-ground survived and is slowly shooting out new branches from the roots. The two golden leafed durantas in huge pots at the entry gate didn't make it (yet). Gause got the snow/ice just as bad as Temple, so I'm surprised I didn't lose more, since no covering/care was taken before the freeze. Trees/shrubs there have to make it on their own since I don't live there.

I lost:

One lantana (out of many)

One salvia greggii (out of many)

Two Oleanders

One gaura (out of many)

One ‘Black Diamond’ Crape that died to the ground, but is sending up shoots.

I was most surprised an Esperanza in a pot survived, in unheated garage. My Vitex looks great, but is blooming later than normal.

I think this cool wet long spring/ wetMay is balm to these damaged plants. But hell for chigger bites.

Here is a Voodoo Lily from someone on ebay who I bought Caladium bulbs from and the price is $10 plus shipping.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324598138215?hash=item4b938e8567:g:L8cAAOSw4bdgqB3Y

I just saw some green growth on my cylindopuntia imbricate Texas form. I wonder how fast it will recover from the roots. The real big one is still a no show but I have not cut it down yet. It is still nothing but dead sticks. It is supposed to be hardy to Oº. The Colorado form is much more alive but it does not like hot humid weather. Can't win.

I'm more encouraged by my one Loropetalum. More leaves, although only at the bottom, and not real healthy looking this first batch of leaves. We'll see how it progresses with the next round of leaves.

It is amazing that this thread keeps going bt I just saw an errant late Zodiac Lilly sprout in my garden. The ones in pots turned to mush. I burnt up the 20' yucca faxoniana in the fire pit yesterday; but today I see some very energetic shoots sprouting from the roots. I got two small Guyacan trees. I Yanked one before the storm and left one in the ground under pot.; I replanted the yanked one a couple of weeks after it warmed up. It lives but the one I left in the ground is still a no show. I just saw the green shoots at the base on the living one . It had been hiding under the dried bluebonnets.

Mara, what is a Zodiac Lily? Sounds fascinating! My Guyacan shrub wasn't damaged. That shows the difference in a few degrees. I'm stll amazed the Arroya Sweetwood trees and Floratam grass were okay.

I meant a voodoo lily. God I keep making mistakes. OH I wanted to also add that I was redoing my succulent bed (or part of it). The echeveria runyonii tpsy turvy and Echeveria lilacina won hands down. I did through a doubled frost cloth over it but Un covered E. tipsy turvy or whjatever you call it survived elsewhere. I am also seing some pulidonis showing up. Echeveria agaviodes is a goner and so was the aloe aristata. I think it was the moisture combined with cold that did that in.

Well, what a surprise! I was in the side garden today doing some weeding and weed whacking and looked over at my sago palm and saw that just in the last week of regular rain (very heavy rain for an hour yesterday evening) look what finally woke up! The mother trunk of my sago! The pup on the right opened out some time ago, but the main trunk in the left I was just sure was a goner. It only took it 5 months and lots of water, but IT'S ALIVE! And it looks like another pup is trying to come out beetween them! I need to get rid of that one. You know the old saying: Two's company, three's a crowd.

I am still getting some surprises and some late fatalities. The rot finally travelled up the roots and took out a silver dasilirion . All the leaves started falling off still silver green. It just collapsed. It was in a pot. All the ones in the ground did fine.

All of my 4 Segos+pups lived!!

I actually finally see growth at the base of my Blood Orange bellow the graph so who knows what I'll get. Same with another orange, who knows what it will be because there are thorns on the new growth. Meyer lemon looks dead...still. I probably should replant all because they're both not the same without a graph.

All of my sagos survived as well. Some small ones in pots are just now leafing out from below (producing pups). On one of my mature two headed sagos one of the heads leafed pretty quickly and the other one did not. It took months to produce any leaves.

The root stock of the blood orange is probably trifoliate orange or "Flying Dragon" that has huge thorns and twisty limbs which I grow as an interesting ornamental.

I like the idea of twisty limbs but not thorns.

Interesting info about the root stock of the Blood Orange, Roselee! I so wanted one of those and this was the first year that it flowered too. I have had it in the ground for 4-5 years too and it was about 5 ft. tall. It took forever even though I read it was slow to fruit, but I didn't think it would take that long.

I just saw this on Reddit Gardening forum and thought what a clever idea! Those of you who have mentioned up-thread losing one or more large trees in our winter storm last February, you might want to consider this creative option for a unique planter? https://old.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/p51s1u/this_is_genius_they_had_to_cut_the_tree_down_so/

That's fabulous, I love it!!

I'm always seeing fallen trees on ranches driving around Texas, just rotting in place and think "What a waste". So far all dying trees on our place have snapped off in the middle, but if you had the equipment to pull the bottom half out, you could still do this. We have very sandy soil in Gause, so it could be done pretty easily down on our place. Not true up here in Temple, but a piece of cake down there with the right tractor. Digging the hole to "plant" it into would be pretty easy as well. I'm going to definitely keep this in my memory banks for future possibilities. :)