Why frost catches Valley properties off guard
Most winter nights in Greater Phoenix stay above freezing. A few don't, and those nights tend to show up in clusters, a few cold mornings in a row after a winter storm moves through. Low spots, open turf areas and properties at the edge of the Valley usually run colder than a parking lot downtown, so two communities a few miles apart can have very different nights.
The other catch is plant choice. Many common area landscapes were planted for summer color and heat tolerance. Plenty of those plants are frost-tender, and they're often right where residents and prospects see them first: entries, pool decks and the leasing office.
Watch for Frost Advisories and Freeze Warnings from the National Weather Service in Phoenix. When one is issued for your area, it's time to act, not time to start planning.
Which plants need protection
Walk the property before winter and make a short list. On most HOA and apartment sites, the usual suspects are:
- Bougainvillea, lantana and yellow bells, which often die back on a hard freeze
- Young citrus and other recently planted trees that haven't built up a canopy yet
- Tropical accents like hibiscus and other pool-area plantings
- Frost-tender cactus and succulents, especially the tips of columnar types
- Potted plants and new fall plantings, since containers and young roots have little protection
Established native and desert-adapted plants usually ride out a Valley freeze just fine. That's one more reason they make sense for large common areas.
How to cover plants the right way
Covering works by trapping the heat the ground gives off overnight. Done wrong, it doesn't help much, and sometimes it hurts.
- Use frost cloth or breathable fabric, not plastic. Plastic touching leaves can transfer the cold straight to them
- Drape covers all the way to the ground. A cover that stops halfway down is basically an umbrella
- Cover in late afternoon or early evening, before the temperature drops
- Uncover mid-morning once it warms up, so plants don't overheat under the cloth on a sunny day
- Move potted plants under an overhang or against a south- or west-facing wall
Damp soil holds heat better than dry soil, so a light watering a day or so ahead of a cold night can help. Just don't water the evening of the freeze.
Don't forget irrigation and backflow
Plants get the attention, but the most expensive frost damage on a commercial property is often to the irrigation system. Above-ground pipe, exposed drip tubing and backflow preventers are the parts most at risk.
- Wrap or insulate exposed piping and the backflow assembly before the first cold snap
- Check that controllers are on winter schedules. A controller still running summer times in winter wastes water and keeps soil soggy, and our irrigation team can reset them
- Avoid early-morning watering on freeze nights. Spray that ices sidewalks, steps and parking areas is a slip hazard
- After a freeze, look for cracked fittings, split drip lines and wet spots that weren't there before
A cracked backflow preventer usually means a repair or replacement and a new test. Our guide to a failed backflow test explains what happens next, and our backflow repair and installation service handles freeze damage.
Turf, new plantings and pool areas
A few spots on commercial properties need their own attention on cold mornings.
- Frosted turf: keep mowers, foot traffic and crews off grass while it's still white with frost. Frozen blades break easily and leave brown footprints across overseeded lawns
- Dormant Bermuda: brown Bermuda in winter is normal and isn't frost damage. It greens back up when the weather warms
- Fall plantings: new shrubs and trees planted in October and November have small root systems. A layer of mulch and a cover on the coldest nights go a long way
- Pool decks and courtyards: tropical plantings here are usually the most frost-tender on the property, and the most visible. Put them at the top of the cover list
Make it a plan, not a scramble
On a large community, covering plants is a crew job, not a one-person job. Agree on the plan with your landscaper in the fall so nobody is making calls at 4 p.m. on a freeze day.
- A map or list of the beds and trees that get covered
- Who brings the frost cloth, where it's stored, and who puts it on and takes it off
- How the landscaper will be notified when a Freeze Warning is issued
- How the work is priced: included in the maintenance contract or billed as extra
- A quick post-freeze walk to check plants and irrigation
For apartment communities, give the leasing team a heads up too. Frost cloth over the entry looks odd if nobody knows why. For HOAs, a short note to residents keeps the board from fielding a dozen emails about it.
After a freeze: wait before you prune
The day after a freeze, damaged plants look terrible: brown, droopy and crispy. The instinct is to cut it all off. Don't.
The damaged growth actually shields the healthy wood underneath from the next cold night. Wait until the cold weather is behind you and new growth shows in spring. Then prune back to where the green starts. Many plants that look lost in January come back fine by spring.
If a frost-damaged entry bed is the first thing prospects see, a quick cleanup of fallen leaves and debris helps it look cared for without cutting into plants too early.
Plan for fewer frost headaches next year
If the same beds get hammered every winter, it may be time to change what's planted there. Swapping frost-tender plants in key spots for tougher desert-adapted ones cuts winter work and usually saves water too. Fall is the best time to plant in the low desert, and our Phoenix commercial landscape calendar shows how winter care fits into the rest of the year.
Get a frost plan for your property
Pro Turf maintains apartment communities and HOA communities across Greater Phoenix, from our home base in Mesa to the rest of the Valley, with year-round landscape maintenance and 24/7 support. Contact Pro-Turf and we'll walk your property, flag what needs protection and put a simple frost plan in writing before the next cold snap.
