Have 5 Bottle Brush's, which i have cut back and fertilized as well as a lime tree in our yard, which i also covered, pruned, and fertilized as well, that don't look particularly well at the moment due to Uri. How long should i wait til i replace them, or plant something else to see if there is any hope they come back?

My bottle brushes all died. Cut them back but seeing no growth as of yesterday. Have bottle brushes outside my workplace and they are showing new growth. Pretty sure if you haven't seen any growth yet, they are done.

I think bottle brush is hardy to ~10*F. I actually just planted a few. If I lose em in a decade no biggie to replace them again. It's not like they need to be babied every year.

My bottle brush in Houston are all toast.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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I think bottle brush is hardy to ~10*F. I actually just planted a few. If I lose em in a decade no biggie to replace them again. It's not like they need to be babied every year.

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Eh.

Bottlebrush trees are pretty sensitive to cold weather and only have a cold hardiness into the mid 20s.

Mine have been knocked back 2 out of 5 winters even with covering. They are dead and gone now.

Ok, I was thinking the dwarf shrub variety which claims hardiness from 10-20 degrees.
No personal experience with the tree variety.

Even the small shrubs have an "*" next to all 7 and 8 hardiness zones. They need to be planted shielded from north winds and covered during freezes. This will not guarantee survival. They will not regrow from the base if frozen back, which makes it critical to prevent the upper part of the plant from dying.

I lost my bottle brush and an oleander here in Houston. I'm not that concerned because I was strongly considering cutting digging them up and replacing them with something else but now I'm not just considering it, I'm forced to. I may just cut them down at ground level and leave the stumps/roots and let whatever I plant grow around them.

Another post to confirm that the smaller shrub type bottle brushes definitely kicked the bucket. We live in BCS and lost them all.

As for lime trees, I can definitely report that my key lime tree is toast.

My dwarf looked terrible but they are sprouting green now.

Regulars still look awful, not hopeful but giving it another month.

All small citrus seems a loss but also waiting til summer on those.

My three lemons also dead. 1 started growing again from the graft at the root but it will never produce a decent lemon. Digging all up this weekend.

Palms I'm praying and hoping and giving it more time.

Not hopeful on the Queen, 4 of the 5 pygmies, the 2 big Mexican fan palms everyone keeps saying will be ok. Time will tell.

Anyone have a resource on pruning lime trees? I have one that has produced very well over the last few years, but I have not done much pruning. I don't want to screw it up.

dr_boogs said:

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Another post to confirm that the smaller shrub type bottle brushes definitely kicked the bucket. We live in BCS and lost them all.

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You may well find that if you cut them back to the ground, that they might re-sprout and grow back. I have three large bottlebrushes that have died off back to the ground twice. Both times they came back.

I had to cut them back to the ground again earlier this month. Still waiting to see if they come back from the dead once more.

Thanks for all the advice and the situations y'all are in as well.

Any thoughts on jasmine? I have trimmed back but not seeing any new growth. The vines still appear to be alive.

I'm in Houston and I'm seeing signs of life on ours. I fertilized it and put soil amendment down.

BwdAg said:

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Any thoughts on jasmine? I have trimmed back but not seeing any new growth. The vines still appear to be alive.

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What kind?

My star Jasmine has some die back, but is bouncing back strong. My neighbors Carolina Jasmine is already blooming.

BwdAg said:

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Any thoughts on jasmine? I have trimmed back but not seeing any new growth. The vines still appear to be alive.

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My jasmine looks deader than a door nail, but the vine is green internally.

There's a cold-hardy version of bottlebrush. Here's a link with more description

https://www.wilsonbrosgardens.com/Woodlanders-Cold-Hardy-Bottlebrush.html

I planted some after my first plants got zapped with a cold spell between 10 to 15F.

I covered these before the big freeze; we saw temps around 2F. A little "freezer burn" near the tips of some, but they're doing fine and putting out new growth.

Had some bottlebrush in the backyard +-15 yrs that died w this freeze in Houston. Did have a couple dwarfs that survived in the front yard but may replace them just bc they are likely lopsided now.

Silky Johnston said:

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Anyone have a resource on pruning lime trees? I have one that has produced very well over the last few years, but I have not done much pruning. I don't want to screw it up.

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I always tell the people I've grown lime trees for is prune them to make them tree like, cut the sucker growth out and cut back some of the internal limbs. You can wait for blooms and cut back some of the suckers that don't have them or just go ahead and clean out as needed since it has produced.

We purchased a new on since it does look like mine is toast. I never expected to lose power that long or would have wrapped the hell out of the trunk. Bonus, I did buy a blood orange to get rolling and still have some seeds from my original that I'll grow back.