Our phones are buzzing following the hard freezes that have hit Houston this winter.  The typical questions have been requesting information about the viability of plants and just how cold can they take. Even though you may have done all the right things – covered your plants and run the irrigation system the night before so that the beds are well hydrated, it has been 25 years since we have experienced a freeze so deep on the Gulf Coast and the truth is – we don’t know.

In the 25 years since the last deep freezes (below 20 degree’s) our plant pallet has been expanded to include hundreds of new tropicals and temperate plants that were not available here until the last 2 decades.  The city is now filled with citrus, antique roses, ornamental grasses and a wide variety of tropicals that have been introduced because our mild winters and hot summers were conducive to their growth habits. I now use Sanseveria (Mother-in-Law’s Toungue) on a regular basis as an ornamental because it is readily available and it loves Houston. The answer that we have been giving is – don’t replace it yet – wait until we have consistent 72 degree nights (May) and then let’s see what comes back. Do not cut off the frozen growth yet, it is protecting the root system underneath and by cutting it off all you are doing is encouraging new growth which will be very susceptible to any more freezes coming our way.

I saw a planting of Butterfly Iris yesterday that had been cut back two weeks ago, they had put on 2”-3” of new growth with the mild weather last week and then gotten hammered this weekend with the light freeze. Don’t cut anything back until March, and you may have to wait until May to see what happens. For the large tropicals, I anticipate a shortage of replacement plants this year as the primary growing areas (Florida and the Valley) were hit with freezes as well. It very well might be late summer before we see adequate numbers of tropicals hit our market, so you may as well just wait and see what happens to yours.

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