Texas Olive Froze at 25F or More

Q. I have a Texas olive tree that may or may not have survived this past winter. We have had the tree for several years now and it has always bloomed and grown. I don't have any new leaves or blooms except the suckers on the bottom.  All our other trees like our sumac, Palo verde, and fruit trees are doing fine.  But not this one. Is there anything I can do at this point beyond just watching it?

Texas Olive, Cordia boisieiri, hardy during the winter to about 25F, about the same winter temperature as Myers Lemon.

A. That particular tree, Cordia boisieri, is native to the desert southwest Chihuahuan desert and survives to a winter temperature of about 25F; around the same winter temperature as Myers lemon. Because it’s from our desert southwest it is considered xeric in its water use. Lots of good that does you if it is winter killed or severely damaged. 

A better choice might be Littleleaf cordia, a smaller tree and found growing on East Flamingo in Las Vegas.

A better choice might have been another xeric tree from that area such as little leaf cordia, Cordia parvifolia, which seems to survive to a slightly lower winter temperature. I suggest in the future, permanent trees in your landscape should have a minimum winter temperature of 20F.

Suckering from the base is a good indicator it died to the ground, or the trunk was severely damaged. You do not need to replace the tree unless it looks horrible. It is grown on its own roots. Let one or more of the suckers replace what died. Suckers grow very quickly if the roots were not damaged.

If a tree does not normally produce suckers at its base, the production of suckers can sometimes indicate the trunk is damaged either from borers or sunburn or both!

If you decide you want to keep it, water deeply and infrequently and fertilize it in the spring. Two handfuls of tree and shrub fertilizer about two feet from the tree each year will be enough. Wet the soil, create a slit in the soil with a shovel about 6 to 8 inches deep, drop the fertilizer into the slit, step on it to shut it and water it in. Xeric trees grow rapidly with water applied to them like mesic trees. You will have to search to find this tree at local nurseries.