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Winter Kill

Dan
13 years ago

I have alot more of it this year than I have in years past. My New Dawn climber (six years old) is down to about a foot off the ground, and my Ramblin Red had several canes die and lots of tip damage, which is very unusual. Several of my spireas will be about a third of the size they were last year. Even my cotoneasters had some damage, and that has never happened before!

Anyone else experiencing anything similar? Any ideas on the cause? I know it was a somewhat dry winter compared to a couple years ago, but seemed fairly normal to me.

Comments (5)

  • treebarb Z5 Denver
    13 years ago

    I have a lot of tip damage and lost a couple of knock out roses planted last spring and a Mountain Mignonette that I planted in the fall.
    Tree wise, I found a nasty split on a 12 foot Emerald Queen Maple I planted last spring. It hasn't leafed out, but the buds and branches are still pliable. I wrapped it around Thanksgiving, but I think that was too late. I also lost a Washington Hawthorne that was already in decline and suckering, but I believe one of the horses bit it while grazing in the yard last fall, so I'm not going to blame that one on the winter. I'm going to cut down the main trunk, leave a sucker and see what happens. My Kentucky Coffee is in bud swell right now and that seems really late, but that tree is always the last to leaf out. I need to check my Bur Oak, it hadn't leafed out yet last time I checked.
    I understand there have been heavy losses with grape vines in Colorado over the winter. The theory is the frosts in September and October hit before the plants began to go dormant. I have 2 and they are leafing out.
    I think it got really cold really early and that's what we're seeing, but I'm interested in what others think.
    Barb

  • Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
    13 years ago

    We're having a very good year on some things (Spiraea, Syringa), some tip dieback on a couple others. We had a moist winter here in Aurora and averagely cold. 'Austrian Copper' rose a little dieback, nothing out of the ordinary. Sorbus didn't die to the ground for yet another year, sadly.

    Dan

  • plantladyco
    13 years ago

    Here in Colo Spgs my roses took a real hit. I lost half of my Austrian Copper! Almost all of my roses have some loss. Two shrubs that were effected were Spirea and Viburnum.
    A friend who works at a local nursery said it happened all over the city.
    It may have been early frost because most of what I planted in the Fall didn't come back this Spring.

  • jclepine
    13 years ago

    I had a lot of canes on my roses die. I usually cut them down for winter and this was the first time I didn't do that so I have no real comparison to make.

    I'm not sure what causes that to happen but I might cut them back again this winter.

    Hard to say what is a normal winter here :) It did seem to have lots more of those -20 days than the previous winter and lots more snow. Oh, and it did seem to start fairly early and run fairly late. Maybe that made a difference.

    I might give them some winter protection this time around. I protect the little ones with grass but have not bothered with the bigger ones because they are hardy to zone 3. Maybe I'll try that and leave the canes on...?

    J.

  • foxes_garden
    13 years ago

    I'm in Fort Collins.

    All my roses died pretty much back to the ground this year, which hadn't happened the previous three years I lived here. I could believe it was the early frost-- I know it seemed like fall only lasted a week. We also lost a lot of tree branches on our maple and redbud trees in one of the heavy spring snowfalls.

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