IN THE GARDEN: Are the plants confused?

by Chuck McClung

A lot of people have been asking me if the plants are confused by all the mild, spring-like weather we’ve been having. Crocus and heather have been blooming; daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips are all emerging. Roses, shrubs, and other trees are beginning to leaf out. This year I even started pruning some of my customers’ fruit trees one month earlier than usual. So, are the plants confused?
Perhaps it is we who are confused by the mild weather, and if so how then would we know if the plants are confused, too.  But that is perhaps a discussion for another time and space.
I don’t think the plants are confused… yet. Yes, the weather has been much milder than usual, and as a result the plants are emerging and leafing out from their winter dormancy. As long as our weather continues its current trend, we’ll have an earlier than usual spring, and all will be fine.
Plants will get “confused” if the weather suddenly turns toward the cold side. For instance, if we suddenly received six inches of snow followed by cold temperatures into the lower 20s that persisted for one week, I think the plants will be confused.  If we suddenly get a cold nor’easter for 7-10 days with temperatures in the teens, yes, the plants will likely be confused.
This type of “confusion” typically has its greatest impact on the plants’ new growth. Soft new growth produced during periods of mild weather is almost always damaged during wintry cold spells. Symptoms of this “confusion” will be brown or blackened, drooping, damaged tender new growth on stem ends or leaf tips. Plants typically won’t die, but spring growth is set back a bit, stems may need a bit of a clean up pruning, and tender swelling flower buds may fall off.
Certain years with lots of extended, wide fluctuations in weather patterns, especially during late winter and early spring, are simply not the best years for showy gardens. Late frosts often produce yellow leaf tips on bulbs as well as a year of no flowers for Camellias.
So what can we do when it gets cold to prevent our plants from getting “confused”?
If it snows, keep the snow off the leaves of your broadleaf evergreens like Rhododendrons, Nandina, Pieris, Azalea, Camellia, and Escallonia. Standing snow on the foliage will likely damage new growth as well as some older leaves.
Flowering fruit trees, tender plants, or plants just leafing out can be covered with frost blanket at night to help insulate them from drops in temperature. Cover your freshly planted primrose pots with frost blanket, so simply move smaller pots into the garage during the cold snap.
Broadleaf evergreen shrubs like Rhododendrons, Camellias, Azaleas and Pieris, for example, benefit from an application Wilt-Stop or other anti-desiccant.  During cold dry winds, Wilt-Stop forms a thicker boundary layer on leaves to prevent them from drying out.
One of the best garden tricks during a period of dry, cold weather with northeasterly winds is to water your evergreens trees and shrubs during the day. Water the ground, not the plant, and keep water off the foliage. It’s the dryness of the cold northeasterly winds that damages plants the most.
Having said all of this, I’m hoping for a continued early spring!

Chuck is the owner of Fantastic Gardens and helps others solve their outdoor and indoor gardening dilemmas. He can be contacted at orchidfruit@hotmail.com.