Las Cruces Palm trees and Cold Weather

In my previous post I mentioned the large number of plants that died during the first week of February. Due to the extreme -degree weather. Read the post here Plant Damage

The damage won't be fully assessed until early spring.  Usually around mid April.  We are getting tons of calls from customers, citizens, and landscapers asking about what folks can plant that can tolerate the extreme cold.

However in this post I will write about plants that did survive and how this might influence your future landscaping needs.

Reports from customers all throughout the southwest claiming temperatures in their backyard were about -12 degrees.  True native plants and trees seemed to fair much better than non-natives.
Here is a small list of plants from around the Mesilla Valley that you might consider using as replacement plants.

1. Cresote Bush. Still green and growing.
2. Honey Mesquite trees and shrubs. Still dormant but should recover nicely.
3. Spanish and Sword Dagger. Still with green fronds as sharp as needles.
4. Texas Mountain Laurel...some light damage but will look good once spring arrives.
5. New Mexico Pinon. As evergeen as ever.
6. Desert Willow. Still dormant but should start seeing green in late April.
7. Rio Grande or Western Cottonwoods. Dormant but will leaf out in late March.
8. Yellow Bird of Paradise.(Not the Red Bird of Paradise).
9. New Mexico Privet.
10. Bear and Deer Grass.
11. Soap Tree Yucca.
12. Red and Yellow Tip Yuccas.
13. Chinese Pistache trees.  They can take alot of abuse and very drought tolerant.

If you live in or around Las Cruces and plan on replacing your frozen shrubs and plam trees it might be a good idea to print this list out for future reference.

Need more information please visit our website at guzmansgreenhouse.com

Thanks from Paul