23 May Is my evergreen dead?

We’ve come across many questions about evergreens (particularly yews), rose bushes and ornamental grasses this spring.  Many of our clients are asking the question, “is it dead?”

Our simple answer to that is to first have patience.  After an unusually dry and extremely cold winter, these plants have experienced what we call “winterkill”.  This means that parts of the plant have died off, turning it brown.  This does not mean that the plant is actually a “goner”.  It’s possible that your tree or shrub just looks dead, but still has buds that are well and alive.

A simple test you can perform on your trees and shrubs is to rub your fingers across a branch.  If the branch comes clean and all needles fall off, it is probably gone.  If you have a few that are still intact, there is most likely a good chance it will continue to green up and eventually fill in the brown areas.  You can also scratch the bark and look for green.

Roses may look a little weak right now, but they are just taking longer than usual and rejuvenating from the base (or crown) of the plant.  Make sure all old dead wood is off and it is pruned to allow for proper growth.

For ornamentals, it’s just a waiting game right now.  There is no real way to know – we can only wait to see if they will come back.  We are seeing about one-third of our last two years of ornamentals not surviving the winterkill.

The final decision on whether to replace your plants will depend on the extent of the damage and how long you are willing to wait for it to recover.  If you have questions or want an expert to assess your plants, give us a call.

-Rich Carey, Estate Gardener for Sun Valley Landscaping