A double Alice Stokes Camellia, named for Glenn Stokes mother.

Don’t prune too soon — clean-fever misdirected can cost you 

Every plant has a story and Glenn Stokes has a lifetime of listening and telling them, meeting people that discovered and expanded varieties of plants from all over the world. Calling him a consult and passionate garden expert is an understatement, but when winter frost hit the Teche Area leaving huge brown spots all over the lush semi-tropical environment, it was time to get some answers. A thimble full of information sprung from his recent tour of the Mata gardens on Main Street — to help homeowners with similar problems prepare their grounds for a beautiful growing season.

“This is to show you what the winter garden looks like, unless you’re a long time gardener, it’s depressing,” said Stokes, owner of Stokes Tropicals on Louisiana 182. “It’s been since 1989 that we’ve had a winter this harsh, this is even worse for the number of consecutive hours of below freezing weather. In 1989 it was single digit numbers for 14 or 15 hours. This time it was 38 or 39 hours. It killed or damaged a lot of things it normally wouldn’t.”

Stokes said just because things look dead, doesn’t mean they are, rather, they could be dormant. The key to spring-cleaning is knowing which plants need attention and which ones are best left alone until they are ready to bud back out. Most notably around New Iberia are the palms with brown prawns.

“Knowing what Louisiana is like and the history of the palms, people should make intelligent decisions because the palm is a big investment, it’s difficult to plant and they grow large,” Stokes said. “People should only plant cold hardy plants. Otherwise in 15 or 20 years or so, it might be killed and they have to start all over, and it’s difficult to remove.”

The Teche Area is in the horticultural Zone 9 meaning average low temperatures are 20 to 30 degrees, only the southern part of the Keys is a Zone 11, 40 to 50 degrees. Stokes pointed out the tall palm across the street as Phoenix Canary, probably 40 years old, appeared to survive.

After much trial and error, consulting other experts and research, there are palm choices for people needing to replace the dead ones. First check to make sure they don’t just need pruning. Stokes said the new growth at the top, when held and slightly tugged, should remain in tact. If it comes out easily, the palm is dead from the bottom. If it still holds, there’s hope. Trim the brown prawns and watch for new shoots.

“The most important thing in a palm is the top stem, if you can pull it out, if that is dead, you can forget about the palm. Another thing (in winter) is to protect palms,” Stokes said. “The growing point is at the top, that’s the part to cover. Wrap something around it for protection, not the bottom. Cover the prawns, too, but it’s difficult. Better to get a palm that’s going to take the cold.”

If replacement is necessary, the common names for palms that stand a chance in south Louisiana include California Fan Palm Chinese Fan Palm, Canary Island Date Palm, Pindo Palm, Chinese Windmill Palm, Silver Date Palm, Mexican Date Palm, Queen Palm, Dwarf Palmetto, Cabbage Palm European Fan Palm, Paurotis Palm, Needle Palm, Lady Palm and Saw Palmetto. Consult a knowledgeable professional to insure your are planting them properly.

First Things First

Now is a good time to begin preparing new or clean beds by treating them with Preen, a pre-emergent that helps control weeds, and reseed dead spots in lawns with St. Augustine grass. Inspect your garden to see what has survived the winter and what will need to be replaced. Don’t fall prey to early blooming flowers at big box stores or you may still lose plants before the last frost appears.

“If you go to Lowes or big box stores and buy beautiful plants that just came in from Florida, and if you go an buy them right now and put them out, you’re going to have problems, they’re not adapted,” Stokes said.

Mata has a large group of ferns and bougainvillea that hang in a side arbor that were taken down for the winter and put in Stokes green houses. They’ll be brought back in spring. Other ferns are sprinkled throughout the flower beds and some are cold hardy. Homeowners can be drawn into the beauty of plants without full knowledge of their growing condition.

“Winter was cruel to us this year and if I didn’t have Glenn Stokes, my yard would look like this year around,” homeowner Phyllis Mata said. “If there is anyone who is going to work his magic in this yard, it’s Glenn Stokes. I pay attention to Glenn. He does the best he can to give us the things we love.”

Holy fern is one of the ferns that fairs well in winter especially next to the kettle fountain. Selectively prune out the dead spots or cut ferns back to the ground and they will come back. It’s not necessary to cut them back if most of them are still green.

“A brown leaf will never turn green, the chlorophyll is dead, look in and see the leaves underneath,” Stokes said.

Even if there is a green prawn sticking up in a dead fern bowl, it may not be worth saving when for a few dollars a healthy plant can adorn the space that may take all season to fill out otherwise.

If roses are in your garden, now is the time to prune those back, according to the rosarians who aim for Valentine’s Day as a goal for first Spring blooms.

Bananas or a plant where the leaves are close to together gives insulation, so you don’t want to take the dead away unless the threat of frost is past. The date anticipated as last frost is March 11, though that is an average and surprises can still happen. The middle of March is the optimum time to start cleanup.

Landscaping 101

Symmetry is the most important thing in landscaping, everything needs fertilizer, Stokes said. Every plant is different and it’s important to know where they grow best, shade or sun, and which side of the building where they will be planted.

Stokes calls each planting area micro climates — the positioning near water, against a brick wall or next to the house gives tender foliage extra protection from both cold and heat. A protected corner next to a house on the south side is about the most ideal spot for surviving the winter.

To test a plant that looks dead, take your thumbnail and gently skin a small spec of the bark, just enough to see if green is underneath. If it is dead, the bark will slip off and the twig will easily break.

“Azaleas, camellias, japonica are hearty, and the mondo grass,” Stokes said. “What the freeze did, it completely killed buds on the camellias, a flower will never open properly if burned. The new ones are still coming out and they’ll be fine.”

People look at the twigs and think a plant is dead but it’s not, Stokes said. He doesn’t even shape or prune back the Indigo plants preferring for them to continue to grow as high as possible.

Leaving Christmas lights on outdoor plants can also protect plants to a certain degree but are not perfect. Even covering plants is no guarantee they will outlast the winter.

“When you clean up, you don’t want to do two or three things and have to come back (because something else dies), wait and do it all at one time,” Stokes said.

The hydrangea is another plant that can be cut back, shaped or replaced with healthy plants. It depends on your desire — immediate gratification or waiting and watching for the new growth to fill in a dead spot.

Jasmine vines will return. Pruning depends more on the location and use. Dead leaves and debris, you have hand prune it and yet it makes a beautiful shade covering with a fragrant yellow flower. Keeping the main vines growing with select pruning will help keep the vine from becoming so dense it becomes a blanket of dead debris.

Natural diseases and pests are other problems to overcome as winter warms into summer. When trimming sago palms, watch for scale, an insect that will take over the plant with white spots that look like paint specs. It is a living organism that is sucking all the nutrients out of the plant.

If caught in time, the plant can be treated with a systemic insecticide. If severe spotting, the best solution could be cutting all of the prawns back and letting it come out new. However, doing this too often in the lifespan will result in killing the plant, Stokes said.

Garden News

Caution is the word used by the LSU AgCenter when it comes to post-freeze pruning. Give the plant time to show you what really is its condition. Non-woody plants, such as cannas, elephant ears, amaryllis, gingers and more can be pruned back to living tissue to keep the winter garden neat. Some tropicals may not sprout until April or May.

Damaged tissue that is oozy, mushy, slimy and foul smelling, should be removed. The decaying tissue is unhealthy for the plant. Damaged foliage on banana trees should be removed but don’t cut the trunk unless you know it was killed.

If you clearly know which branches on woody plants are dead, you can cut them back, Dan Gill with LSU AgCenter said.

Unless a homeowner is a studied gardner, it’s helpful to work with a landscaper to know what scrubs and evergreens to use as hedge, ground cover,

For more information on the tropicals in your yard, or other gardening advice, visit StokesTropicals.plants.com or other area landscape professionals.