Many of our outdoor plants look pretty bad after the dry season and the winter freezes.
Everything that lives must die. But, it may not be your plant’s time to go. A husband and wife landscaping team from Campus Landscape in Brandon showed me how to tell when it’s time to toss or keep plants. We visited my backyard, which is unfortunately a perfect breeding ground for plants on the brink of life and death.
Campus Landscape’s Silvia and Todd Erickson took pity on my black thumb, and shared how to know when to salvage or scrap damaged plants.
In general, “If you start to see a lot of black tissue and or white powdery stuff on the outside it’s a real indication that your plant has some serious damage, which will infect the root system and make it not survive,” explained Todd.
The Adonidia palm tree is a popular palm in the bay area and can struggle when there is a freeze or dry season.
Todd checked out my two Adonidias. “This one is still green. I don’t see a lot of pests taken over. I see a green healthy pike in the center so I think this one is going to be ok.” Todd said the potential survival of the tree is not dependent on whether the leaves are dry, but instead on the health of the center of the stalk. It should be green with possible new growth shooting from the top. Todd looked at my other Adonidia which was brown, rotted an showed no green areas.
“Up here once upon a time was the crown shaft which was the life provider, but its rotted off. The whole thing is kind of crumbling so I think we can remove that one from the garden,” said Todd. One palm could be salvaged with water and a little palm feed, the other had to be scrapped.
With smaller plants, look for re-growth. Todd then turned to Crotons and said, “So these were devastated everywhere, but some of them are coming back.” Silvia explained that although Crotons can look dead with most of the leaves brown and brittle to the touch, they can be salvaged it there is green re-growth on teh plant. She said that when you trim the plant just above the new leaves, and remove the brown areas, it allows the plant to refocus it’s energy on growing new limbs. So, my Crotons were salvageable with trimming above the regrowth and some added watering.
Todd then walked over to a Red Sister plant that looked like a stick coming out of the ground. I was holding a healthy version of what the plant should look like. Todd said because there was a little bit of new green growth at the base of the plant, it would eventually return to resembling the plant I was holding. He then trimmed above the regrowth. To my surprise my Red Sister was salvageable!
Todd then compared my Italian Cypress plants. One was green and one was brittle and dry. It was planted just before a freeze. “Well Italian Cypress should remain green at all times,” said Todd. “So it’s going to have to be replaced.” Arrivederci Italian Cypress. It was so dry, I pulled it straight up from the ground by it’s limbs and it went into the scrap pile.
Todd and Silvia say the key to salvaging damaged plants is looking for fresh growth and trimming above that growth. Of course, water and possibly some plant food may be needed to help your fledgling plant along in its recovery.