This week I answer questions from a couple of readers:
Q: I was wondering how to protect my palm from the cold weather. It is in my backyard facing south.
A: If your palm is in a pot, it’s best to bring it inside away from cold winds. This could be in your home, a garage, carport or even a garden shed where it could get some natural light. It’s possible to get flat stands with wheels. These make it much easier to move pots.
Plastic bubble wrap protects roots in pots, but growth above ground needs to be wrapped if the potted palm is to be where there’s no extra heat.
If it’s in the garden, you need to mulch the roots deeply. This should be at least 12 inches (30 cm) deep and more is OK. Leaves are best but they should be wired down so they don’t blow around.
If you have enough leaves, you could also protect the stem and top with leaves by fastening a wire fence around your palm and filling it with leaves right to the top.
Farm stores sell wire. Fencing wire might do, but chicken wire comes in much taller heights and is easier to work with because it’s more bendable.
If you don’t have leaves, the mulch should be bark mulch and you could wrap the stem with several layers of burlap. It’s important the wrap be burlap because this lets in a little air and prevents moisture from building up that causes mold or rot. Gently close the leaves around the central growth shoot and wrap all that with burlap too.
You could put a sheet or blanket over the top at night for extra protection.
Q: I have three well-established hydrangeas — one in a pot and two in the garden. The last cold spell hurt them as they have turned brown and look dead. Can I cut them down and, if so, how far and when? I have never pruned them and they have come back better than ever the next year, but they do look awful right now.
A: In our B.C. climate, winter is not the time to prune hydrangeas. You probably have the mophead type and they need the old flower heads to help protect the new buds below from frost.
You can remove the old flower heads in early spring. Just cut these down as far as the first two strong, healthy-looking buds.
It’s best to take out any stems that are really skinny or dead, damaged or diseased.
Mophead hydrangeas are said to be hardy down to Zone 6. But in some areas of the Fraser Valley we have had temperatures close to Zone 5, possibly into Zone 5 in valley bottoms.
Brown stems could indicate these stems have all died. But the roots are probably alive and healthy even if your hydrangeas out in the garden are mopheads. If the top growth is truly dead, just cut all the stems to the ground.
New stems will emerge when the weather warms up in spring.
But don’t expect flowers this coming year. Those new stems will need a year to produce buds.
If any of your garden hydrangeas are the lacecap type, you’ll have no problem. Lacecaps like cold winters.
Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions. Send them to her via [email protected]. It helps me if you can add the name of your region or city.
