Cold snap acomin'

Our low temp was supposed to be 26 and it was 36. Whew!

llilyfan, hope everything makes it OK. It's so disappointing to wait so long for flowers only to have them aborted before they even bloom. Sounds like (luckily) the weather predictions were wrong for most of us.

Thanks for the kind sentiments goldfinch4,
it is kind of normal for us! We are the lowest yard in the neighborhood...........so guess where it is going to frost first! We were only supposed to get down to 34, but all the towns around had 30 or 31 so I assume we were similar.

I really do think everything will be okay, nothing is big enough to have buds yet and that is the most delicate time for frost damage. Only bloomtime will tell.

Day before yesterday, it got down to 26F. Most of my lilies are hardly peaking, so no problems there. But I have trilliums up, among many other things. Trilliums sessile, pusilum and cernuum laughed at the cold. Trillium luteum leaves, after two days, are still slightly droopy, but other than that they look good.

Searched and found this thread when trying to figure out if I needed to protect my lilies. Every time I check the weather, they change the projected low. I'm thinking (hoping) they'll be OK without protection. Will post here to let you know what the temp was and if I experience any problems later with the lilies. I have some asiatics, L. regale, L. speciosum, and Casa Blanca.

Well, had a light coating of frost this morning. Wasn't supposed to get below 34 deg. so I didn't have anything covered. When I get home this evening I'll have to check for damage...hopefully there won't be any.

Monday night was supposed to be our worst and it was 36 (forecasted 26). Last night was forecasted (last I looked) for low of 36 and it was 30.6. Everything looks fine though.

So far everything I have up weathered the frost just fine..............including the blooming bleeding hearts.

Everything came though alright. Spread 10 big bags of mulch on my big bed with the peonies and lilies an who knows what else in it and have 20 more to go. I'll start marking out my new lily and peony bed as soon as I can get this mulch down. Almost ran over my son's hearing ear dog with the lawn mower this morning. Both my kids are deaf, my hearing's bad and now the dumb dog's lost her hearing. I don't believe it. I started teaching her ASL this morning. Thank G-d for my garden!!!!

Yehudith, please remember to keep the mulch away from the crown of the peony. The eyes of a peony should not be any deeper than 1 to 2 inches below the soil. Mulch will count as soil. :)

I think we all thank God for our gardens, sometimes more than others. :) LOL

Diann

Good luck, yehudith ~ teaching ASL to doggies is fun and pretty easy.

(Giggle) I was picturing a dog signing . . .

Trillium luteum has completely recovered. Uvularia grandiflora no problems, but the stems with flowers at two-thirds final size stage croaked at 26F.

Sorry Lefty.. That sort of thing is always sad.

Not so bad. There were only a few stalks that keeled over, out of, say, two dozen. And the other clumps weren't as far along, and didn't freeze at all.

This morning we woke to snow flurries and frozen water outside. We're under a frost warning for tonight and then it's suppose to improve. Sure hope so since my lilies are all coming up.

MollyD

Well, it didn't get as cold as expected...got to high 30's. So far, plants look fine. Will know for sure when they bloom. Hopefully, that was the last frost warning this spring. :~)

Guess we've all had more than our share of the winter that doesn't want to end. Molly, sure hope it didn't get too cold by you.

We hit 30 and water outside again froze but plants seem okay. I think radiant heat from the ground is protecting them at this stage.

MollyD

well, I mis spoke earlier...............most of my trumpets are showing damage. How extensive I won't know for awhile. I at least hope they are able to put out some foliage to feed the bulbs. 2 years of no nutrition may do them in completely :-(

Aw Sue, I'm sorry...

My King Kong froze out last year, I mean it turned to mush and I see no sign of life there near that marker. These cold snaps sure are tough on them.

So far the bigger stems are firm, but the leaves are showing quite a bit of mushiness and yellowing. dang.........I was really hoping to see 'Serena Green' this year!

mags, I have quite a few 'no shows' this spring, I'm not giving up hope yet! Maybe your King Kong is just pouting and won't come out to play till it really warms up. I hope so anyway.

My 'King Kong' is up about 4". The bottom of the bulb was 12" down.

A rabbit chewed of a 'Silk Road' last year in early spring, but a stem actually appeared again. There is hope. Actually you want lilies to wait till this late since average last frost is May 7 +/-

This message was edited May 1, 2008 1:24 PM

Lilyfan,

Don't give up hope on your trumpets' eventual reappearance. My Amethyst Temples were anemic for several years because the frosts were damaging them every year. When I finally figured it out and protected them from late frosts - BOOM! -they were magnificent. I had some I didn't know were there.

Donna

Thanks Donna, next year I'm going to err on the cautious side and cover if it is supposed to get anywhere near 35! Right now I am just hoping for some leaves to feed the bulbs at least a little, I hold no hope for blooms.

Some of my bulbs that got froze last year and turned to mush never showed up again all summer, but they are back and looking good this year. Wonder if they will have better blooms than normal? I was just glad to see them still alive.

susan

So far most of my frozen friends from last years' freeze have made a return. There were some caulaties I wasn't expecting though, do to the incredible show they put on last year.

My favorite asiatic shows no sign of returning. It was absolutely breath-taking last year. Only trouble is it was a seedling.........maybe just maybe it will still show some sign of life yet this cold wet spring.

Well, it's my turn for the freeze warning tonight, and all my lilies are up in varying degrees, along with one clematis which got blown to bits today with 60 mph wind gusts. The grape hyacinth foliage looks pretty limp too. Hope everything makes it through the mid-20s forecast for overnight till 9 a.m. I thought last spring was bad, this one's proving to be just as bad. We had snow yesterday. That hasn't happened in years in May.

Revclaus, how did you do? It's Round-up day here and it's rainy and cold. brrrrrrrr....

The temp got down to 29, not quite as bad as was expected, and everything but the one clematis is fine! And even then, the clematis just has a lot of dried out leaves that will soon be covered up by new ones. Even the buds on one of the others are fine, and the one shoot just newly emerged from the clematis I thought was finished made it through. I had covered it with a clay pot. It even grew an inch! Lilies are all fine, and grape hyacinths too, even though they looked terrible after the strong winds. I'm so grateful! Thanks for asking.