Monday, April 10, 2023

A list of garden death and destruction...

A local gardening friend recently posted on her Facebook page a list of the plants in her garden suffering after our destructive winter. In her words: "I lost more plants than ever this winter. The combination of the cold winter storms along with the east winds I get took a bigger toll than usual. The east winds made the storms much more damaging." On one of my Facebook posts she wrote: "It was the hardest winter on my plants I've ever experienced. I have more damaged and dead than I thought could happen, 25 year old plants included." While I would never wish that kind of destruction on a fellow gardener, it was still comforting to know that my experiences are not an anomaly. Especially when the plant damage seems so random this year. 

Since I use this blog as a garden journal I'm posting a list of my dead and damaged plants. I have no doubt I'll look back on this list in the future. Memories—even the bad ones—fade with time. Plus maybe you'll find it comforting to know you're not alone? 

Defoliated evergreen trees and shrubs the leaves on some of these evergreens didn’t just all fall at once, in some cases it’s been a 3 month’s long process. Clean-up goes on and on. Spring has been so cold that they're not showing any signs of re-leafing, even if I'm hopeful they're going to. It’s very discouraging!

Acca sellowiana I have two of these, one is worse than the other, it looked so bad I cut it back drastically hoping it will leaf out lower on the branches and get full again. For now it's just sticks.

Maytenus boaria 'Green Showers' a weeping tree with no leaves is a sad sight indeed. The scratch test still shows moisture under the bark, but no green. Hopefully it will leaf out again.

Metapanax delavayi has been dropping its leaves since late December; I can’t believe there are any left. The back 60% the plant is bare and the front half is hanging on to a few leaves. 

Schefflera taiwaniana just a stick now. Dead, alive? I am not sure. My two Schefflera delavayi look grand.

Stachyurus salicifolius interestingly the pendulous blooms have not dropped, just the leaves. The blooms are however stuck, not getting bigger and showing no signs of opening. They’d normally be well on their way.

Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash' I have two of these, one of them dropped every leaf but does have tiny buds appearing.

Pseudopanax x 'Sabre' might be dead

Pseudopanax laetus might be dead

Several mahonia are now just sticks that might leaf out again at some point: M. eurybracteata 'Cistus Silvers', M. x sevillana for example. Other mahonia suffered extreme foliage damage, among them: M. eurybracteata 'Soft Caress', M. oiwakensis, and this, M. x media 'Marvel'...

The NOID rosemary has a split personality. Most of it is dead (there's no green in those stems), yet a few green leaves remain.

Podocarpus macrophyllus 'Miu' (Roman Candle variegated Podocarpus); the bright yellow tip growth immediately turned brown after the December freeze, I pruned that off and now the branches are browning further down and dropping foliage.


Damage on evergreen perennials and evergreen ferns

Cyrtomium fortunei fronds died back completely, no signs of new growth pushing out.

Pyrrosia damage is random around the garden, some are only lightly damaged and others completely killed back to the ground. They should (fingers crossed) rebound, achingly slow growth though. It will take years to achieve the sort of fullness they once had. Here's damage on a Pyrrosia sheareri. Some of the P. lingua damage took the form of completely light brown leaves.

Bommeria hispida only one leaf still has green left on it.

Cheilanthes argentea was mostly eaten by a %@&* rabbit but winter cold and wet finished it off—dead.

Pachysandra axillaris 'Windcliff Fragrant' damaged foliage and bare stems on all three plants.

Aspidistra, both solid green and variegated/patterned plants were damaged. Some leaves completely straw colored (dead), others damaged to the point they were so ugly they had to be removed. Some only slight damage. Completely random across the garden. These leaves should be solid green.


These leaves should be green with yellow splotches.

Agaves dead (I’ve already went into great detail about many of these, so I’m skipping it this time, just the names ma’m)

Large: A. weberi, A. ‘Sharkskin’, A. americana variegata, A. salmiana var. ferox (2)
Small: A.parryi (2), A. ‘Blue Glow’, A. victoriae-reginae, A. × leopoldii, A.parisana 'Meat Claw', A. americana variegata, A. bracteosa (4), NOID misc (5)

Other plants that didn't fit in the catagories above

Echium wildpretii 3 plants dead.

Astelia 5 plants collapsed and leaves pull right out, dead.

Passiflora both P. 'Amethyst Jewel' and P. 'Snow Queen' fail the scratch test, no green wood. So sad.

Pachystegia insignis dead

Dianella (Clarity Blue) dead (2 plants)

Cordyline 'Cha Cha' and australis (several of both) are all killed to the ground, they’ve came back in the past when killed to the ground so it's likely they will again.

Trachycarpus fortunei 'Wagnerianus' both have suffered pretty serious damage to the fronds, broken right at the base so I’ve had to cut a lot of them off. These palms will look a little awkward for a while.

Yucca aloifolia ‘Blue Boy’ the center growing point rotted out on two plants, I've cut them down.

Tetrapanax papyrifer I’ve yet to see any sign of new growth pushing out from the growing point on my 8-ish plants. Of course they're tall so I can't really see what's going on up there, but I am worried.

I’m sure there will be more 

A couple of unusual polygonatum I got from Far Reaches Farm last fall have yet to show themselves: P. vietnamicum and P. mengtzense. Taking photos for this post I stopped to look at this slice of the front garden and had to just laugh. A rotting opuntia, Agave ovatifolia with spots, there’s a mushy agave somesomething hidden in the juniper and then at the bottom a very sad Agave ocahui. Somehow, I’d missed all of this before. So it goes...

There are a couple positive surprises!

A reportedly hardy dwarf Billbergia nutans I bought from Evan is doing just fine. It was under frost cloth and plastic (protecting the nearby agave) for the December event, but weathered the snow and other cold with no protection. These will be interesting to watch.

And this small Lomatia ferruginea just keeps keeping on. I don’t recall ever protecting it in past winters and certainly didn’t at all this winter, yet look! It’s just fine. Perhaps this rated Zone 9 plant is hardier than it’s thought to be?

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49 comments:

  1. So sorry. With all the care you give your garden it is really hard to see all the damage.

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    1. Thank you, and yes it is!

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    2. We lost many similar plants. Nearly all ferns had to be cut back to the ground. S. taiwaniana's all lost their leaves, astellia's all dead but one, P. Sabre probably dead, blue glo dead, large americanas lots of rot, Double butia capitata likely dead, my prized jubaea chilensis has dead shoots, but the fronds are ok (might not make it), mahonias all look terrible, many aspidistras I cut back to the ground, one trex has new growth, not sure about the other 3. I ended up renting a second green bin until I can clean this all up. Nearly everything had to be cut back. They only plus side of this is we get to buy more plants:-/

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    3. Ugh, I wondered how your garden did. Sorry to hear your experiences were similar. I'm curious what route your new purchases will take? Sticking with the same or going in a new direction?

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    4. Probably slightly hardier plants

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  2. Wow, you and Gerhard in CA! Here in Phoenix we had the best winter in all 42 years I've lived here. Perfect amount of rain and cool temps (only frosty a couple days) for cactus and other desert plants. I am sure sorry for your losses. Gardening is a challenge wherever you are.

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    1. Well at least somebody had a great winter!

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  3. Oh, Loree, this sucks. This winter was so brutal for you and so many other Portland gardeners and the kicker of it not being spring yet (2 months behind?) just adds salt to the wound. Makes plants even more stressed and water logged. Even though it's painful to list what you lost, I find in the long run it's helpful (well, for me anyhow - a kind of therapy). Also, I have a couple agaves for you. Let the replanting begin! (well, maybe by July at this rate).

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    1. Seriously, if a lovely spring followed this horrid winter then things would be very different right now. After yesterdays drenching (on top of all that came before) I do think it's going to be July before things dry out and I get to do much planting! What's this about agaves!?!

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  4. I see new growth on my Tetrapanax, so fingers crossed there. Wondering about Pseudopanax x 'Sabre' -- looks rough. We removed the front Phromiums & seriously whacked the one in back. See other signs of casualties, but have yet to fully investigate. Mostly looking for spare recycling space from neighbors. Our poor plants.

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    1. Ya, I've given up and asked my neighbors about using their green bins, funny even the ones that don't regularly take theirs to the curb didn't offer up space...

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  5. Yikes. I'm sorry, Loree. A list like this is more distressing than your earlier damage reports. I hope some plants surprise you and recover as temperatures warm. As global warming continues and weather from one year to the next becomes more unpredictable, have you reevaluated your strategy as to which plants go into the ground and which go into pots that might be easier to protect when winter throws its worst at you?

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    1. That's a big no. The last thing I need are more heavy pots to have to haul around.

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  6. It’s been a brutal winter. My schefflera taiwaniana still has some leaves, hope yours pulls through. The Acca sellowiana “Nikita” I have is in good shape. All echiums dead. Clianthus punicaus (in a large pot) may pull through, hoping for dicksonia Antarctica (potted) to show some fronds in May, but it looks awful. My whole front yard faces east. But now is the he time for new opportunities! I have no doubt by summer you will have awesome new replacements Loree!
    Jim N. Tabor

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    1. I hope you're right. Summer feels so far away... (fingers crossed for your Schefflera taiwaniana!)

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  7. Jeanne DeBenedetti KeyesApril 10, 2023

    Yes, lots of plant death out there, as I listen to the rain continue to turn the agaves and opuntia to mush. Good to see some of the surprises though. I had a couple of surprises also. My Shefflera delavayi and S. alpina had no damage at all also. Odd considering they have had winter damage before with snow loads. Maybe being under a large bamboo helped. Interesting about your trachycarpus. Was the snow load or the East wind? I've noticed some of the palm fronds on my trachies have lowered and are not going back up. Of course they are right at eye level. As you say, careful, or you will poke an eye out! My aspidistras have the same brown spots. Hoping to see some new leaves soon.

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    1. Good god but the rain has got to stop sometime! Yesterday was brutal. The palm damage was mainly snow load I think, although I'm sure the wind helped.

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  8. Very informative and useful post as always. While hard to see, documenting so professionally this way will allow for organized plan of action and new ideas to beat the next winter. If I was starting all over again, I might build a 10ft concrete/stucco/rock wall around my entire West Seattle property to create robust shelter from wind, plus would give it sort of a ruin-esque look like you get at Zoo exhibits. :)

    I think P. 'Sabre' should be rated zone 9a. Mine was growing so well for years, and then during last years true 8b 3-day snap, it was almost instantly toast. Not reliable as an evergreen perennial here in my opinion (unless entirely blocked from wind). Almost irresponsible of local nurseries to temp us with its gorgeous look while shopping.

    Also, seeing no green growth on 2 of my tall 4 Tetrapanax P's, which has me worried quite a bit too. At least the birds enjoy landing on the barren tops.

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    1. I watched a squirrel scramble up to the bare top of one of my tallest tetrapanax, he sat up there for a bit, surveying. Then he fell. Ouch. Also—I could not agree more about the P. 'Sabre'.

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    2. I inspected my stalled T-rex plants yesterday and actually got a little bit of hope. It's hard to say for sure, but there seems to be something budding, just noticeably weeks behind other specimens in the yard that have green leaves already.

      I should also add for destruction observations:
      Two of my Arbutus 'Marina' have never looked worse. They will push new shoots from the base, but after finally getting to nice screening heights the top halves are cooked & dry.

      Eucalyptus Nicholli froze to ground again. That's two years straight. (interestingly E. rubida did not freeze this year, but did die all the way back last year).

      Hardy bromeliads saw about 25% success rate

      2 of 4 Aloe striatula rotted away (fingers crossed for a base-resprout)

      "hardy" (note the quotes) Nerium Oleander = ravaged. Not a green leaf in sight, but bark-scratch test shows green.

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    3. Hardy bromeliads = fascicularia? Puya? Dyckia? That oleander is such a tease!

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  9. I’ve made such lists before but not for a long time. I’m afraid many of us will be doing more of this in the future. I am seeing a lot of brown on evergreens that have come through many winters with no problems.

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  10. So, with that much damage, I'm wondering...what part of Portland? I've read some of the more prominent nursery-people in the area mention the dreaded east side, and the drying winds blowing out of the east through the Columbia Gorge. Is your gardens exposed to those conditions?

    I'm in Dallas, OR and so far I've only noticed Cordyline 'Torbay Dazzler' lost its growing tip, and Rosmarinus 'Mrs Reed's Dark Blue' in an optimal spot against the south foundation started losing branches very late this winter. I suspect I may have lost one or two Salvia greggiii as well. I was under the impression that almost all of Portland would be significantly less harsh than our spot here in the west Willamette Valley, 20 miles west of Salem, elevation 400 feet.

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    1. Sorry, I figure by now everyone knows where I am. NE Portland, the horrid winds are very much an issue for me. December's cold and the extreme wind was nasty.

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  11. Lots of commisserating but really I learned to call it opportunity especially knowing most plants are not around forever. Corvallis on the flats never got below 20 degrees and only dustings of snow.

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    1. Our low was just slightly less, at 19. But it didn't get above freezing for 72 hours and the wind howled. Then of course there was the foot of snow...

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  12. That had to have been a hard post to do. I am so sorry to see that much damage in a yard that I look to as a teaching tool. Many of your dead plants I bought because of previous posts. Happy to share if you get to Corvallis.

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  13. My heart goes out to you as it must be disheartening surveying the damage. Mother Nature can be so very cruel. Snow is finally melting here leaving behind a rotting mess of foliage that got hit while still green. Mice have been busy too so am bracing myself for lots of gaps.

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    1. Mice too? Ugh. I'm experiencing the damage of having rabbits around, I didn't realize mice were also an issue. Then again, the new shoots on my bamboo were being eaten a couple of years back and folks said rats were to blame, so I guess mice damage makes sense. Fingers crossed for your plants!

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  14. A bad winter for your garden. Very sorry to read this. I hope you get at least one or two delightful surprises--plants thought lost coming back strongly from the roots.

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  15. That much loss really sucks. I made such a list not long ago myself, and it does help to let the scientific observer portion of your brain take over by cataloging. Soon spring will spring and that helps too. But it's OK to grieve losses. We love our plants, and it's hard to lose them.

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    1. We do, and it is! I've been jealous of your warm weather posts. We haven't even hit 70 yet.

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  16. That last comment was mine. I forgot to change the default Anonymous setting. Oops.

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  17. Oh, this is tough; so sorry. I'm finding more issues this spring, too, as everything wakes up. We had so much back and forth weather, from a warm January, to a cold and snowy February, and then a changeable March. Poor plants. I hope some of the items you've posted about will find a way to survive and thrive in the future.

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    1. Thanks Beth, that yo-yo-ing is hard on the gardeners too isn't it?

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  18. A very detailed--and devastating--survey. My heart aches for you. What a winter. I don't want to experience anything close to it again, even though it was a boon to the water supply in the West.

    I keep asking myself what I could have done differently. The answer is: probably nothing.

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    1. I think a dome over my garden is about the only thing I could have done differently.

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  19. It does feel better to know we’re not alone. It was actually dry enough to mow the lawn today. I was at a nursery up in Portland the Saturday following Hortlandia. Their Agave bracteosa looked as rotten as mine did. Surprised to see them out for sale in that condition.

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    1. I've seen rotten agaves that should not be on the sales tables at more than a couple nurseries, it baffles me as to what they're thinking. Even worse I think are the borderline ones that someone might actually buy only to have them die. Pull your dead plants people!

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  20. Hi Loree, this is TropicalPDX. So sorry to hear of the damage. What I can tell you is that the proximity to the gorge made all the difference. Most of the plants you’ve listed I have as well and many show little or no damage. This little bit further south made a difference. Tetrapanax are leafing out and the Stachyurus have already started growing new leaves. I’m sure yours aren’t far behind. I did lose one big Butia and a few small more tender palms as well as a few agaves. I think it’s going to be like last year where we flip from late winter right into summer. A few average temperature days with sunshine sure would go a long way to wake everything up. Hang in there, by July our gardens will be looking great again.

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    1. The gorge winds are definitely an issue, one I wish I knew about when we bought this place back in 2005! Since writing this post new growth has peeked out of the tops of most of my tetrapanax, so that's good. I think you're right about the flip to summer. I wonder when it will happen?

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  21. Have just found your blog - off the back of concern about my Tetrapanax and wanting to find out how others have fared. Like yours, mine is very tall but can see no signs of growth as yet - although one of the pups/offshoots is throwing out a leaf, so there's hope. My Euphorbia pasteurii is looking forlorn as is E. stygiana. The clump of Aloe striatula grown in grit against a south facing house wall has turned to mush, and don't hold out any hope for my Lophosoria quadripinnata. Amongst others. Strangely, the Schefflera rhododendrifolia has come through unscathed, so think is hardier than taiwaniana. It's been a brutal winter!

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    1. Over the weekend could finally make out new growth at the top of some of my tetrapanax, so things are looking up! Don't you suppose your Aloe striatula might come back from the roots?

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    2. I'm hoping so...I'm not giving up hope with any of them as yet and will wait until May before deciding if gaps need to be filled, but certainly temperatures below -10°C have done the garden no favours.

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  22. AnonymousMay 10, 2023

    My Polygonatum vietnamicum was brought inside for winter and went dormant. it hasn't popped up yet either so don't give up hope.

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