I have a wax leaf privet tree in the front. It’s about 7’ tall and is in a spiral. Today I looked and the leaves are a full brown with a slight green tint. They’re usually a super deep green color. Should I have covered it this past week? I’d hate to lose this one. My son named it and loves it.

probably should have.
i covered my lemon tree and it ain't looking too hot either.

We are looking at a big kill off of the shrubbery.

We need King Author (of the Monty Python variety) to return with a nice shrubbery.

A day late and a dollar short.

Time will tell if it comes back and how much of it. I have several sages and others that got bit. Even a live oak's leaves are browned off.

Dang it. Sucker wasn’t cheap either.

I used to have a lemon and orange tree. Mine had to have a small green house and heat to survive even mild winters.

It’s cool that your son named the tree. I hope Twisty makes it!

Poor poor Twisty

give it time..............in a week or so scratch at the bark and see if its green.

Mine up here in Durant look just like yours.

Bring me a bush!

Fingers crossed for all your shrubs. Don't get too hasty with your removal. There could be some life at the roots.

Oh it’ll be dry and crunchy before I even think that!

A lot of plants will lose their leaves after this cold snap. Look for green growth at the tips. I bet most come back. I redid my all of my beds this fall. I sure hope most can pull through.

Bet it’ll pull through, give it time.

And not too expensive.

Bullfrog, you do have a couple of positives in this situation in that it is planted in the ground and planted near the house. It is safe to go ahead and scratch the bark of the Ligustrum and would recommend doing it in a couple of spots, one middle of the tree and another higher. As long as you see some green on the scrapes you will be fine. Depending on how far up we see green will determine options for you.
The Loropetalum you have planted around the Ligustrum will probably drop all of their leaves but that is normal. Once you get past the freeze concerns for your area you can prune those back to about half their size and they will flush back out.
Post some pics when you have a chance and good luck!

-Z

Thanks y’all. Crossing fingers.

Yeah, a lot of foliage was burned last week by the cold.

I bet that one comes back though.

We lost a medium sized mountain ash up here last Oct. due to a below zero spell while sap was still running, lots of small trees all over town died due to it.