Question
We had a freeze in 9b back in Jan/Feb and I am wondering if I've lost my 4 trees. They were planted in the ground among boxwoods and azaleas about 2 years ago and have thrived. I just went to give them a light pruning to remove the dead twigs and I am not seeing any green.  I scraped some of the larger branches with my nail and I am  not seeing any green there either. There are no leaves at this time and they have been given osmocote and regular watering. Do you think they are gonners?  Thanks in advance, Denyse

Answer
Hi Denyse, I too have had to remove many of my plantings due to cold damage, and you are correct in checking for the Cambium layer showing green, it is a tale of the tape (as I like to call it), if  there is no green just above the root/trunk junction, then it is in fact dead. In fact there were several that I had to wait on, for they showed green initially , only to show brown several weeks later. Nick