Don’t rush to replace plants caught out in cold

A cold snap in January, which included a record low temperature of 13 degrees Fahrenheit, wreaked havoc on residents’ plants. 

“We have been just inundated with calls,” said Ryan Riecks, owner of AZ-RY’s Landscaping and Yard Maintenance. 

Riecks estimated 60 percent to 70 percent of the calls he’s received this year are customers with concerns about January’s frigid temperatures. 

Residents want to know whether their plants have been damaged, are dormant or are even alive.

“So many people just weren’t sure what they were looking at,” he said. 

It can be hard for gardeners to tell what is going on with their plants because many do go dormant in the cold.

“As soon as we get to a certain temperature in the evening, it’ll shut down,” Riecks said. 

A dormant plant may appear brown, dry or crumbly, but it is actually “protecting its root structure.” 

Riecks said this is especially true of non-native plants. 

A plant that looks worse for the wear isn’t necessarily lost and Riecks advised caution and patience when it comes to repairing potential damage.

Do not trim branches or leaves. 

“Wait for the weather to heat up before attacking any dead growth,” Riecks said.

For example, maybe only the extremities are damaged on properly trimmed trees.

If a plant has suffered some frost damage, “in most cases we’ve been able to bring it back,” he said. 

Native plants also struggle during the frigid temperatures, said Sara Manochio, co-owner of the maintenance and landscaping service Anyone Home?. 

“There are plants that were really affected by the freeze,” she said. “It looks to me like some of the agaves and the succulents really took a beating.” 

Manochio said the water inside the desert plants can freeze and expand, causing damage. 

“There are plenty of times that we got below freezing here, but this was sustained, over several hours,” Manochio said.

According to National Weather Service, the coldest temperatures were from Jan. 12-16, when nighttime lows dipped down to 18-19 degrees.