We recently had a run of freezing temperatures. But winter’s not over. Temperatures fluctuate from cold to mild throughout our north Florida winters.

It’s wise to wait until warm weather is here to stay to do the following.

• Prune cold damaged plants
• Fertilize your lawn
• Plant cold sensitive plants such as tomato, impatiens and tropical hibiscus

Pruning: Pruning immediately after a freeze unnecessarily removes live wood and stimulates new tender growth that is easily injured by the next freeze. Also, cold injured leaves and branches help protect the rest of the plant when the next freeze strikes.

The more tender landscape plants such as banana, cassia, ginger and tropical hibiscus may have been killed to the ground. Don’t give up on them too soon. Some of these plants require warm soil temperatures before they produce new growth. This may not be until April or May.

Individual woody stems on some plants such as azalea, bottlebrush and citrus may split during a freeze. These injured branches are subject to ongoing dieback in spring and summer. It’s best to wait until they begin to die before removing them. When pruning, cut below the split into live wood.

Fertilizing Lawn: Wait until your lawn is completely green before fertilizing. Our lawns begin to green and resume growth because of longer day length and warmer temperatures of spring.

For our warm season grasses such as centipede, St. Augustine and zoysia to efficiently use fertilizer, consistently warmer nights are required. The best indication that this has happened is when your lawn is completely green. That’s the time to fertilize, even if that’s not until April or May.

Fertilizing before soil temperature is warm can result in fertilizer waste and lawn injury.

Planting: It is a gamble to plant cold sensitive plants such as tomato, impatiens and tropical hibiscus too early due to the potential for frost or freeze injury. These plants can be stunted by cold soil temperatures, too. That’s why I usually wait until early April to plant. Refer to this Interactive Map of Average Last Frost Dates for FL.

Here are links to publications with more information on timing in growing your north Florida lawn, landscape and garden. North Florida Gardening Calendar, Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide, Best Management Practices for Home Lawn

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