Wait until the plant starts growing when it will show you what's live and what's dead.

By the way, don't use fertilizer. It won't help.

Definitely not hardy in this part of USDA 8 so I always wonder about talk of it being a great success in Zone 7 (seems to be yet another hot climate shrub that gets taken down by temperatures somewhere around 10 degrees F). Cutting back a shrub does not help it grow better, cutting back shrubs is something people do to make themselves feel better. Fertilizer is called for when there is a deficiency of minerals in the soil, and because it is used to correct a limiting condition can in fact be quite helpful when applied to struggling plants - it all depends on exactly why the plants are having a problem. When plants are damaged by drought fertilizer salts can make things worse. Otherwise applications of it can promote growth at times when this is just what is needed.

what jean said... all the potential damage has not shown yet.. so do nothing ...

lets see how the plant reacts upon budding out ...... and then cut back to the living parts ...

once it leafs out.. you might be surprised.. how little need be done ... badly damaged leaves.. usually just dry and fall off on their own ... or are hidden..

they will be stressed... not hungry.. no fert ...

ken

There is no way for someone who has not even visited the site to know what the nutrient situation within these plants may be. And if there is ever a time of the year when shrubs are "hungry", it is the spring.

Yes what Dave said is correct. After the prior winter (i.e., 2013-2014), many of the broad leaved evergreens at the NCSU arboretum looked completely awful, or even outright killed in a couple cases. Although the absolute low was only 7F, the prolonged, repeated freezes dehydrated various tender plants.
This winter was even worse here, though probably not as bad as the prior one down there...but still very bad in comparison to the other past 20 winters. (besides 2013-2014!)

When it gets that cold here is also when various "hardy" trees and shrubs drop like flies. After the 1990 winter stalwarts like hardy hybrid rhododendrons and holly-leaf osmanthus stood out for not being damaged, with there otherwise being across the board scorching of broad-leaved evergreens - and also some soft climate evergreen conifers such as coast redwood and Deodar cedar (California Christmas tree). It seemed afterward some of these last species had even died. As with other things in life it is the negative occurrences that have the last word - I don't care how long something grows here without serious incident if one day it burns up it is not "fully hardy" etc. Such terms have no practical application if they are to be bestowed upon plants that are prone to serious damage on occasion - that killer winter could come the same year examples of these are first planted.

If Loropetalum dies back in the Southeast when it gets below about 10 degrees F. - as it appears to do here - then it is not in fact a Zone 7 hardy plant.

Well, I would generally give lorapetalum (and there are hardier and less hardy cultivars) a zone 7B rating on the East Coast.

There's leaf kill, then there's tip dieback, and then there's die-to-the-ground, so there are really all levels of 'damage'. Here in zone 7a, many died to the ground, but some like Zhuzhou Fushia only had minor tip damage.

But yeah, I'm sure there are a number of local nurseries that are re-evaluating their guarantee policies after the last two winters here in the East.

The newer lorapetalums have not been on the market all that long (EverRed, etc.) and so have not been thoroughly tested through everything a zone 7 could throw at them.

'New' cultivars are the lifeblood of the horticultural industry and are often rushed to market to grab what money and market share they can.

An update: They are still sorry looking, but I see signs of life, several leaves are sprouting on the shrubs. I am hopeful they will all recover. Interestingly, the ones I fed with Espoma Hollytone are doing the best.

I will definitely mulch them heavily in the late fall this year. Thanks to all for the replies.

Fertilized plants have a higher salt content that makes their cell sap slower to freeze. Of course, you can never make plants hardy beyond their genetically determined limits, with or without fertilization.

Hi!

I am also in NC about 20 miles west of Raleigh. We had an established border of lorapetalum that was probably about 6-7 years old. We also started noticing freeze damage last month, but all of ours showed no life---we finally decided to just take them out yesterday, and they all were dead. We were disappointed as they were really beautiful last year. Last winter was the harshest I can remember in 25 years.

We were disappointed as they were really beautiful last year

This is why it is a bad thing to tell people plants that aren't completely hardy are completely ("fully" etc.) hardy. Most people buying and planting nursery stock aren't Zonal Denialists and other experimenters who take occasional failures in stride.

Sorry to jump in here, but I'm in the Triad of NC, and my loropetalum hasn't budded out yet. I protected its base really well! It also did fine after the winter before, and this winter was no worse.

Do these grow back from the roots? If I haven't seen buds is it just toast, or could it re-sprout you think? Or just bud out late? Maybe? Thanks for any thoughts.

Don’t fertilize until threat of freeze in past. Don’t want to promote new growth which could subsequently die in a freeze.

Couple of things that were not mentioned or overlooked. Hardiness is not dependent entirely on winter cold tolerance.....summer heat - or lack of it - is also a factor. Loropetalums do not fair well here in the PNW because we have very cool summers and the current season wood does not ripen sufficiently to withstand winter cold. Hot summer climates - like the southeast - are much better suited to this plant but even a colder than typical winter there can produce foliar damage. However, it is not fatal and rarely even very disfiguring after a full growing season.

Also, pruning a shrub during the growing season, especially early on, encourages growth. The more you prune, the heavier the shrub grows.