Operation shock and thaw

The snow and frost have played havoc with your plants, but don't give up hope completely, writes JANE POWERS

A WEEK MAY be a long time in politics, but its also enough time to wreak several disasters on a garden. At the time of writing, Im still in awe at the damage the snow and ice inflicted on our plants over a few days at the beginning of this month.

Our lowest temperature was -4.3 degrees, which was balmy in comparison to the arctic reaches of Carlow, where -12.1 was recorded at Oak Park in the early hours of the same date (January 8th).

Nonetheless, my own freeze was the worst I have seen in this part of Dublin since I started collecting temperatures about 15 years ago. As I look at the dark rags that were once leaves on some of my tender evergreen specimens, I’m thinking: you were lovely while you lasted, but now it’s so long Solanum, toodle-oo Tetrapanax and adios Echium.

But maybe not: some frost-slaughtered plants have a habit of resurrecting themselves in springtime, and putting out new shoots from lower down the stem, or even from beneath the soil. The fact that the weather was quite cold before this month’s assault meant that evergreen plants had already partially shut down, and were barely ticking over. If a warm spell had preceded the freeze, leaves and stems would have been lush and full of sap, and far more vulnerable. So, there is a faint hope of a spring resuscitation. In the meantime, I’ll leave most of the dead foliage in place, as a buffer against further frosts in the coming months.

If your garden is full of possible plant corpses, wait until spring before you remove them to the compost heap. Do a last test for signs of life before jettisoning them: scratch the top layer of the stem with your fingernail. If you reveal green underneath, the plant is alive.

The ground can be lifted by frost, especially around newly-planted shrubs and trees, so when it thaws, gently press the soil back into position. And, although it’s a bit like bolting the stable door after the horse has legged it, do consider protecting vulnerable plants when frost is forecast. A loose wrapping of horticultural fleece will offer some defence. Sacking, of either burlap or polypropylene, will also do the trick.

The cold of snow is less damaging to many plants than that of frost. Snow tends to act as an insulating blanket. It may, however, do damage with its weight, breaking branches, and causing clipped shrubs and hedges to splay open. If possible, knock it to the ground with a yard brush. Where branches have been snapped, cut them cleanly with a secateurs, loppers, or saw to prevent disease getting into the jagged wounds.

The wind also has been unkind to gardens this winter, shaking and toppling trees and shrubs. Check newly planted woody specimens for wind rock at ground level: when a stem swings back and forth in the breeze, it wears a hole in the surrounding soil. If this has happened, fill in the gap, and stabilise the plant with tree ties and stakes, or by erecting a windbreak around it.

Where shrubs and small trees have been torn up by the wind, replant them firmly and prune off some of the branches to lessen the sail effect of the top growth.

Christmas quiz winners and answers

Congratulations to Frances Morris of Crossabeg, Co Wexford, the winner of our Irish Timesgardening quiz. She will receive a voucher for €300 from Mr Middleton Garden Shop, 58 Mary Street, Dublin 1 mrmiddleton.com.

We have a prize of a year’s subscription to Irish Garden magazine for the next three correct entries out of the hat. These are: Eileen O’Callaghan, Gail Roantree and Annette Kelly. Several of you got all the answers right, including the usual suspects whose names I love to see each year. Thank you for entering.

And now, the answers:

1. Iris unguicularis, Helleborus niger, and Jasminus nudiflorumbloom in winter.

2. “I paint toes” is an anagram of “poinsettia”.

3. The Irish garden festival in the Phoenix Park is called Bloom.

4. The “Chelsea chop” is where certain perennial plants are cut back in late May to make them grow back shorter and bushier.

5. Larch, swamp cypress and dawn redwood are deciduous.

6. The greatest concentrations of anthocyanins in tree foliage happen in autumn.

7. Mycorhizzal fungi grow in association with plant roots.

8. Samuel Hayes lived at Avondale House.

9. The white flower in the photo was Leucojum vernumor snowflake.

10. Ted Hughes was writing about daffodils in the quoted poem.

11. The Habanero chilli is hotter than the Jalapeño.

12. Swedish landscape architect Ulf Nordfjell won the award for best show garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2009.

13. Galanthus nivalis, Cerastium tomentosumand Symphoricarpos albusall include "snow" in their common names: snowdrop, snow-in-summer and snowberry.

14. True: stamens and anthers are male parts.

15. Francisco Cupani is believed to have introduced sweet pea to Holland and England.

16. The Co Wicklow garden designed by Monsieur Bonet is Killruddery.

17. Seeds in order of size, smallest first: common foxglove, tree peony, horse chestnut.

18. The plant in the picture was an aroid.

19. ‘Silent Night’ is a fictitious rhododendron variety.

20. Radishes are propagated by seed.

21. The national floral emblem of the United States of America is the rose.

22. England also has the rose as its national emblem – and, as some readers pointed out, Iraq, Bulgaria and the Maldives do as well. Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Iran, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovakia also consider the rose as their national flower.

23. ‘Red Russian’, ‘Black Tuscan’ and ‘Redbor’ are varieties of kale.

24. The botanical name for rosemary, Rosmarinus, is from the Latin "ros" (dew) and "marinus" (of the sea).

25. The snowdrops ‘Primrose Warburg’ and Lady Elphinstone have yellow markings on the flowers.

26. The keeled slug eats potato tubers.

27. The chateau with the vegetable garden in the picture was Villandry.

28. There are no moles on the island of Ireland.

29. Triandrus, Tazetta and Poeticus are classifications of Narcissus or daffodil.

30. The common names of Stachys byzantina, Valerianella locusta, Chenopodium albumand Raoulia eximiarelate to sheep: lamb's ears, lamb's lettuce, lamb's quarters, vegetable sheep.

31. The Cherokee rose, Rosa laevigata, is from China (and Taiwan, Laos and Vietnam).

32. A gardener rogues (or rogues out) plants that have undesirable characteristics in order to keep a strain of a variety uniform and strong.

33. Varroa mite is a pest of honeybees.

34. The runner bean was introduced to Europe over 500 years ago from south America.

35. The Cork-based British garden writer who is the holder of a RHS Veitch medal, and is often known as the “Vegetable Queen” is Joy Larkcom.

36. Cherry and plum trees are pruned in early summer to avoid silver leaf.

37. True, lime raises the pH of ordinary garden soil.

38. The grand house and garden in the photo was Bantry House.

39. Peppery is the odd man out.

40. Dianella tasmanicaand Billardiera longifloraboth have purple berries.