Winter kill in the garden
Is it dead or is it dormant? Cold temperatures this winter were hard on humans and plants. Even seasoned gardeners wonder what’s gone for good. The best advice overall is to wait, wait, and wait some more. We normally have a few weeks left until the danger of frost has passed. According to a hardiness zone chart for the Hutchinson area, our average last frost occurs during the first few weeks of April. But it hasn’t been an average winter. Coming on the heels of dry weather last fall, have the cold temperatures damaged our gardens? The most important thing now is to wait. If you prune a dormant plant right now and warm weather stimulates growth, the new leaves will be highly susceptible if we have another freeze, and it will then die. If you wait until the danger of frost has passed, you will give your dormant plants a fighting chance. Plants that survive might need much longer to recover this year. A quick stroll through my garden reveals some plants with more winter damage than