What to do about black trumpets

The cold weather hit (into the 20's) at least three times. I covered my plants each time, but the trumpet lilie shoots are shriveled, wilted and dead. Will the flowers come next year or should I count the bulbs as dead? I am still covering the dead shoots each time the temps dip into the low 30's (along with my other surviving varieties). I live in upstate NY, zone 5b.

Your bulbs are not dead. Your unfortunate experience is shared by many lily growers, including me. I know how very disappointing it is to have no blooms after waiting. But the bulbs are not dead - they are protected by the soil. One year every one of my 25 regales was frosted, and did not bloom. They looked like mush. The next year they were back. In fact, when this has happened to me the flowers were even bigger the next year, because they did not expend energy blooming, and got two years of care.

Give them the care, and you will be very pleased next year.

Donna is right. Don't cut them back until the foliage goes brown.

Let them grow and then cut the top mushy part off, and leave the green part until fall. They will come back bigger and better next year, in my past experience.

Thanks for the input. I will just leave them alone for now.

It froze again last night. Friday Night we had frost but I kept Thursday nights covers on the lilies.
I didnt have an ounce of energy to cover Sat.Night and didnt see the warnings until I was in bed with Ibuprophin.

ge1836
You must be having the same weather we are having. I now have a garden littered with pots, straw and evergreen boughs that I take in and out. In fact they are predicting snow on Tuesday! I did notice that the dandelions are capable of growing and flowering, despite the weather. I wish all the bending down and taking off the covering gave me a smaller waist!

We need a dandelion gene in all plants so they can withstand early spring weather.
Snow doesnt agitate me as much as frost does.
Our snow is due to be mixed with rain.

Upon careful examination this week, the lilies that were up when it was really cold seem to have a reddish-black leaf or leaf edge.

Dark red-black leaves are a reaction to the cold.

Many of my lilies have a burnished appearance but otherwise look good.

Yeahh I have that too.It disappears by May.