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davidrt28

Heaths trashed by heavy snow - any chance of recovery?

davidrt28 (zone 7)
10 years ago

I've had heaths deal with heavy snow before. This winter's combination of many deep freezes, multiple heavy snows, and high winds was just too much for them. Erica X griffithsii, 8 years old, had practically every stem smashed. My 2 Erica arborea var. alpina had their stems split clear to the ground. Since first growing this species in the mid 1990s, I've never seen such bad damage. NB I do not believe it was the cold, because I've seen this species survive close to 0F before. It was the weight of the snow combined with extreme cold and heavy wind.
So, if I cut them all the way to ground this spring, is there any chance they can return from the roots?

If there's any good news it's that Erica 'Kramer's Rote', thanks to its bun like shape, managed to avoid any damage and in fact the flowers weathered 3F temperatures, as I've seen them do before.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 17:21

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