Why Did My Plant Die? Redux
Plants die for myriad reasons. Winter injuries, of various kinds, are high on the list. We can all understand why tender plants die when it gets too cold for them, but why do our supposedly hardy plants join the list of winter injuries and fatalities?
The answer to this question is at once easy and very complex. The easy answer is that there was an ice storm or a late freeze or an unexpected warming followed by a cold snap. All of these can, indeed, injure susceptible plants. But they don't injure all "hardy" plants...why?
Hardy plants are considered so because they have the amazing ability of changing themselves on a molecular level so that they can tolerate freezing temperatures, permitting them to survive cold that kills their non-hardy kin who do not have this ability.
Warm blooded creatures combat cold by growing more fur or adding layers of clothing - or staying inside where it's warm. But, hardy plants can't do these things. What they do, however is pretty fascinating. Very simplistically put, they change the water in their cells to antifreeze - just think about what would happen if we could do this. But, they don't all do it the same way and different parts of the same plant will have different degrees of frost resistance coded into their genes. Roots and flower buds, for instance, have less ability to deal with frost than stems or vegetative buds. That's why frost heaved perennials die if their roots aren't gotten back into the ground fast enough and why some shrubs survive in cold climates but don't bloom.
Bud Blast
Winter flower bud injury is a disappointment that most gardeners in temperate climes have faced at one time or another.
We examine our woody plants in early spring, looking for signs of the flower show we have awaited through the dreary winter months, only to find that promising buds are dead - hollow, shriveled, black or gray when they should be polished and ready to burst into life.
You can see the difference between the fat, live, healthy Hydrangea buds on the stem at the far left and the shriveled and papery looking ones that have been bitten by frost and died on the pale center stem - which is also dead.
On the right stem, a holly (Ilex spp.), the newest bud was killed, while one at the leaf stem survived.
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