DENVER — As the crabapple trees approach their full glory, customers flock to garden centers to buy them. They are tough, as witnessed by their ability to thrive and bloom after a very cold winter. If you do plant a crabapple, keep it away from driveways and sidewalks because they can be messy.
Other fruit trees, such as plums, apples and pears, also appear to be blooming well and will likely produce fruit this season.
All is not looking well for other trees and shrubs. Oregon grape holly was hit hard by the subzero weather. It may need to be pruned back quite a bit. Roses are also struggling - even shrub roses. Give them a few more weeks to see if they leaf out. Then cut out dead canes and prune back as necessary.
If your hybrid tea roses look dead, they probably are. Unless you protected them with a rose collar or by mounding soil over the base, they may be a lost cause. Hybrid tea roses are grafted onto wild root stock. The graft is the knot near the base of the plant. If it dies, that's the end. Don't be fooled by new shoots springing up from the ground. These are from the root stock. They'll produce a terrible thorny mess and won't even bloom.
It takes me many weeks to carry outside all the plants that I overwinter indoors. I've begun to take out any plants that I know can tolerate night temperatures in the forties or even high thirties. To prevent sunscald, I'm putting them on the shade patio as they acclimate to the sun. I'm not taking out tender plants such as coleus or sweet potato vine yet. Know your own conditions to see if some of your plants can go outside.
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