yyou have a tree that is going to be significantly retarded in food production.. ergo vigor is going to be limited to the 1/4 inch strip .... it might take a decade to return to vigor .... you MIGHT be better off... cutting the whole thing off ... just below the danmage ... and letting it resprout some vigorous new shoots.. and then pick the best one or two and let them grow like rockets.. since there is no damage to the root zone ... wouldnt be surprised if you dont get one to go 6 to 8 feet by fall ... as compared to the one struggling for the next 5 years.. barely alive.. mending the trunk .... give it a go .. something new to watch and learn about ... its an experiment either way .... which do you prefer to learn about .... i will bet a buck [no pun intended] that you will have more trunk damage to watch heal ... so i vote for truncating [god.. another pun] the damaged trunk .. and watching it grow like a weed .... ken

I hadn't heard anything about it until I saw this thread. Gosh, the poor thing. No friends, no family, and cold to boot! They need to move it back to Florida, but I sure wish I could see it first. I must have been a skeptic since birth because when I was a little kid I thought manatees were just "another dinosaur hoax." I'm a little smarter now. I think they are fascinating critters.

I was just thinking the same thing! Oh, Joan you make me homesick. I grew up on a small lake in WI. I hadn't visited any of the photography forums in a while, I'm so glad to see that Joan you're still here posting those beautiful pics.

note that it is an aquatic .... can you deal with that??? ken https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Justicia+americana&t=ffcm&ia=about