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January 14, 2009 : Winter Damage To Date
I took some Friends of the Garden (FOGs) around the garden early this morning to examine a bit of the winter damage caused by the cold and heavy snowfall of the preceding few weeks. Many thanks to the horticulturists who suggested highlights to visit. Also, a thank you to the FOG "tour volunteers" for recording notes, typing them, and seeking feedback / suggestions for future tours.
For this week, I was both the tour guide and videographer, so the video isn't as dynamic as I hope it will be in future postings. Anyway, here's the video snippet of some of the tour:
Here are a few notes (as compiled by one of the tour attendees) from this first FOGs Walk n' Learn.
Location 1: Courtyard & Fence just east of the shop plant centre -- off the main walkway
- Modest snow damage to the Arbutus which had been winter pruned and new shoot growth allowed. There is also some frost damage.
- There is vole damage throughout the beds and the sub-shrubs and perennials will require spring pruning.
- The Nandina is totally brown and will need to be cut right back and allowed to regrow.
- Holboellia vine on the fence is very robust and together with the weight of the snow has brought down the fence
- Some lost branches from the hemlock
Location 2: Moon Gate
- The load of the snow on the Sinocalycanthus pressed it down and revealed a young Schefflera alpina planted by Peter Wharton and apparently totally healthy
- Distylum racemosum has again suffered major damage due to its dense foliage and requires a lot of maintenance. This shrub is due for removal
Location 3: Food Garden
- Broccoli was removed from the Food Garden due to its very strong smell as it rotted under the snow
- Cauliflower was also rotten - unable to withstand the freezing temperatures.
Location 4: Physic Garden
- The yew hedge was almost pushed to the ground by the weight of snow, but rebounded "like a Russian gymnast"!
Location 5: Alpine Garden
- Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' has lost several large branches and will be removed.
- Pinus thunbergii also lost large branches and will probably also be removed.
- Genista tenera was so badly damaged with frost at the centre it has to be removed and will be a great loss to the landscape at that point in the Garden.
- Araucaria angustifolia was planted last year and is still only about a meter high with little root growth - it is completely brown.
- Hebes are not looking very good but will probably survive.
- Leptospermum rupestre has lost several branches and been quite severely pruned
- Eucalyptus coccifera has seemingly responded to the cold weather using its fire response to produce many tiny branches from the main trunks (from cold winters in previous years)
- Grevillea victoriae has been damaged but will survive.
The scent of, possibly, the Azara was very pleasant and strong and the Anna's male hummingbird and his friends were very much in evidence around their favourite grevillea.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at January 14, 2009 4:43 PM
Comments
Posted by: Moya Drummond at January 19, 2009 12:34 PM
As for the Alpine Garden and further to Daniel's comments: I've been pruning and removing a lot of material in the last week or so. The Pinus thunbergii referred to is one of two; it is a relatively young plant and not the large specimen at the top of the slope, which is in fine shape.
Araucaria angustifolia has been damaged, but will likely recover. The growth point is still green as are the inner leaf parts.
Leptospermum rupestre which was damaged and has been pruned is an arborescent form, which is located next to the small pond in Australasia.
Another form is prostrate, on the opposite side of that pond. Quite a different plant!
Hebes: several species and cultivars are dead, even those assumed hardy, such as H. salicifolia.
H. pinguicifolia is, of course, untouched.
Eucalyptus coccifera has again suffered major leaf damage and will likely defoliate again.
This is weakening the tree, however I believe it recover. Some other species are heavily damaged and will be cut back in coming weeks to spur new basal growth.
Wollemia nobilis is a small specimen, 30cm. It suffered leaf tip death, but should recover.
Callistemons and Leptospermum (grey-leafed species) have suffered major bark split and are being cut back to healthy tissue.
Several Olearia x waikariensis have major broken branches. They will be pruned soon. O. macrodonta is once again killed back and also will be heavily pruned.
Several old stands of Gaultheria mucronata are thoroughly frosted (highly unusual for this species) and are being cut back and/or removed.
And I'm still finding new plant damage on a daily basis as I work through the garden.
Posted by: Brent at January 20, 2009 7:42 AM
Please share your comments about the write-up and any accompanying photographs. Telling a story about the subject of the write-up is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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UBC Botanical Garden Blog is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department within the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at The University of British Columbia.
A note from Ian Gillam, Friend of the Garden
It comes from several species of Podocarpus and seems to be from the leaves. Never having noticed it before I wonder if it's due to frost damage as some young growths show browning.