After several hard freezes in the Tucson and Green Valley area, you may have landscape plants with frost damage. While it may be tempting to cut off what looks dead, it is important that you do not rush to prune.
The reasoning behind waiting to prune frost damaged plants is quite often it is hard to tell if the branch or other plant part is really dead until the weather warms up in the spring. Pruning off green wood by mistake often leads to more plant stress and possibly can either impede or slow recovery time. It is best to wait until late spring, especially citrus, as it takes that long for the plant to send out new leaves and branches.
Tired of dealing with frost damaged plants? This is understandable as who wants to look at an ugly, stressed out plant? The best solution to this is to only choose plants that are hardy down to 10 to 15 degrees. This minimizes maintenance as well as plant replacement, should our temperatures dip down below 20 degrees. Something that happens at least once a year if not more often.
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