Neil Sperry: Tips remake your North Texas landscape damaged by cold and drought
The past 24 months have seen weather extremes unlike any most of us have encountered before here. Record cold, especially for so late in the season, in February 2021. That awful drought in summer of 2022, and another bout with severe cold around Christmas just a little more than one month ago. Our landscapes have been sent reeling.
The biggest problem through most of this came about in spring of 2021 when nurseries very quickly ran out of stock. We all were trying to replace shrubs that had frozen, and it quickly became obvious that types that had survived were going to be in short supply. We were all seeking the same 10 or 15 types of plants and there simply weren’t enough to go around.
Nursery owners tell me now that supplies are catching up, particularly of plants in the smaller sizes (from two- and three-gallon up to 10-gallon pots). It’s the larger plants that will take another year or two to come into the market, although local nurseries that have been scouring sources from both coasts have been able to find many of the most popular types.
With all that in mind, here are some suggestions I’d offer as you consider redoing your bedraggled plantings this spring.
▪ Have a plan for your re-plantings. It can be as formal as a to-scale drawing of your property done by a professional landscape architect or experienced landscape designer, or it can be your own hand-drawn sketch that you discuss with a Texas certified nursery professional at a member nursery of the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association.
▪ Don’t be restrained by the layout of prior beds. The best designs are in wider, sweeping beds with long, gentle curves. Avoid long, boring rows of plants pruned into cubes. Go instead for clusters and groupings that will feature the plants’ more natural growth forms and textures.
▪ If the old plants were damaged by cold or drought, it’s likely best that you don’t try to salvage them. You probably wouldn’t think twice about replacing a broken chair or table inside your house, so take that same attitude into your landscape.
▪ If your old plants are too tall or too wide, either move or remove them. Simply whacking them back year after year won’t make them grow any smaller. They still have the same genetic potential and will quickly regrow to their former sizes. Get them out of the way. Let your nursery professional guide you as to the best choices for each space you have available.
▪ Buy only plants that are perfectly adapted to our part of Texas. It’s amazed me at how many people have replaced frozen Indian hawthorns with more Indian hawthorns. Accept the losses and don’t make the same mistakes again. And so on with your other plant choices. If you’re unsure, ask your nursery professional, “Did this plant species get hurt by the cold back in 2021?”
▪ I’m going to carry that suggestion one step further. I always suggest that gardeners let their nursery salespeople “own” part of the decisions. Just before you pull out your credit card or your checkbook, request that the owner or manager to look over your cart as you ask: “Am I about to make a mistake by buying any of the plants that I’ve chosen? I want you to help me.”
▪ If the budget is stretched thin this year, there’s no sin in leaving parts of beds open and covered with mulch. A tidy empty bed with that new layout is much more attractive than an old bed that’s full of frozen plants. It also gives you time to contemplate options for those empty spaces. That’s half the fun of gardening — thinking ahead of what you’re going to plant next.
▪ As you buy your new plants get them planted as quickly as possible. Nothing good happens to nursery stock as it sits on the driveway. Keep the plants watered thoroughly if you must wait a few days to plant.
▪ Hopefully you will have configured the beds and applied a glyphosate herbicide to kill all existing vegetation a couple of weeks prior to working the soil. If you’re planting small shrubs, groundcovers or annual and perennial flowers, work several inches of organic matter and 1 inch of expanded shale into the top foot of soil with a rototiller.
▪ Space the plants carefully to allow them ample room to grow to their mature sizes. In most cases you’ll want them to grow together so you’ll see them as a single unit, but you don’t want them to be mashed into a tight mass.
▪ Water new plantings deeply regularly. If there’s one shortcoming I’ve seen the past couple of years it’s been with people expecting sprinklers and drippers to water new plantings. In most cases, neither will supply enough water regularly to keep the plants growing vigorously. Some plants, notably young hollies, do not wilt when they’re dry. Unless you have a keen eye for first signs of drought, these plants can get past the point of no return (called the “permanent wilting point”) before you’re aware. Use a water breaker or bubbler to soak them deeply every two or three days during the April-October growing season.
Good luck with your fresh coat of landscaping as this spring unfolds. It’s a great journey, and wise gardeners start early.
