During the first week of February, we had our 3rd hard freeze of the winter. This one involved lots of ice & temperatures below freezing for 16+ hours. I realize that parts of the upper Mid-west received another foot of snow overnight, but for Houston, we had a brutal winter.
Many people stayed home from work to avoid the icy and very dangerous roads. Living only 5 minutes from the office, I braved the conditions & watched the ice accumulate on the bushes outside our building.
Many of the new plants I’d just put in our yard didn’t take too kindly to the harsh winter and were looking fairly pitiful in early March.
I’m thinking these would have survived if they’d been in the ground longer before the temps dropped. I have cut them all back & I can see a few green sprouts that survived.
A few weeks ago, the first flowers were springing forth from my azaleas & this weekend the bushes were covered in brilliant blossoms.
I loved all the tiny buds and the renewal and rebirth that they stood for on the branches.
So glad to see that my shrub was coming back to life & not totally dead.
Almost all the plants showed at least some signs of the harsh winter we had endured.
These poor guys only had a few green leaves left & I ended up trimming away all the dead ones so the remaining few might have a chance.
I’m betting this bush doesn’t make it at all.
But my biggest heartbreak was our lime tree that we both loved and had just planted! We’d already enjoyed a few limes from it last fall, but I think it’s a total goner. The smaller lime and lemon trees are showing some signs of life, but they look so pitiful.
I’ve been enjoying my little settee area where I can sit in the afternoons while reading & soaking up the last bits of sunlight streaming into the backyard.
Even all the trees are starting to show buds & soon the squirrels will be much more hidden in the leaves as the play with the dogs.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My technical paper was accepted for publication today!
I have a key lime tree. I live in Wisconsin so it’s in a pot that we bring inside in the winter. The first winter it lost all of it’s leaves and I thought it was dead. I put it back outside in the summer and it flourished. The next winter I bought a plant light and covered it with a clear plastic bag. It did wonderfully and this past summer I harvested over 20 key limes! This winter it hasn’t faired so well indoors (too drafty in the house I think) and has lost all of it’s leaves again. I’m not too worried and think it will be just fine once it goes back outside (in 2 months!). So, there is still hope for your lime tree I think. I think as long as the roots aren’t totally damaged it should come back. Hopefully the roots established themselved enough. Your pictures are reminding me of the ones I will take in the next month or so…I can’t wait for spring (it’s snowing right now)!
So glad to know there might still be hope. It’s just strange the little ones made it & the big one didn’t. Maybe it wasn’t as protected from the wind? I guess I should trim it up though to give it a chance. Hopefully spring will be to you soon!