How to save frost-damaged shrubs and plants

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Q. Some of my shrubs are looking tatty, with scorched looking patches on some leaves. How can I tell whether they will recover? I garden at the coast and have a collection of hardy fuchsias that I fear may have succumbed to the extreme freezing temperatures in January.

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A. Don’t give up on any plants yet. Wait at least until the end of the month or early April. My main Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata) shrub shows frost scorching on some it its upper leaves, but I fully expect it will live and return to full beauty after a bit of judicious clipping back of the most damaged leaves. My hopes are less bright for a completely browned, old heather plant.

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The problem with the mid-January freeze-up is that it followed a far warmer than usual December and early January. In my garden, growth buds had already begun to swell on some shrubs, making them vulnerable to damage in a hard frost.

Your hardy fuchsias should be all right. In harsh winters, the plants temporarily relinquish their status as shrubs to behave as herbaceous perennials, dying to the ground.

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Leave the fuchsias for a while yet. Some are naturally late to leaf out in spring. If you want to check on whether the stems still have life, gently scrape away a limited bit of bark. If you see green, there is life in the stems. Browned areas indicate dead tissue.

Even if most of the stems seem dead, leave them a bit longer. Some may have survived and will leaf out.

If all the established stems remain lifeless into April, look for fresh green stems arising from the crowns of the plants. Then cut down at their bases the old stems and train a selected number of the new shoots to form the framework of a new shrub. Mulching with a nourishing compost will help to boost the health and growth of the newly developing plant.

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