Freeze won't hurt the buds, but it may cause the leaves to turn a dull yellow or just fall off. We had 28 last night - Totally frozen this morning. The maples are still green, and they look fine. Also, a young yellow birch is still green, and holding its leaves after the freeze.

you arent really going to get a good color show.. until 3 to 5 years after transplant ...

otherwise .. as i have said before.. dont worry about them .. its natures way .. whether you like it or not.. its october ......

ken

The tree will be fine. They have been preparing for winter since mid-summer. Ken is right. Generally takes a few years for normal fall color to return, but even then it can be longer in some circumstances. Plus things like late fertilization etc and delay or even prevent fall color change. At least that has been my experience. For this reason, I don't fertilize the lawn after June. Dry weather also seems to push things along as well. Poor soil also seems to force an earlier change as well.

Basically, don't worry, your babies will be fine.

Arktrees

I thought I was going to find out the other night with a forcasted low of 24 degrees. I checked the foreast at 10:30pm and it still had 24 forecasted on every site. Including updated 9pm webcasts.

I did have my doubts as it was 38 degrees at that point.

Low and behold the low was 35 degrees. How the heck can you be off by 11 degrees that close in time?

I must admit I was grateful. My tres have a life line yet for fall color!

Most times the duration of the freeze will impact what happens. If it hits 32 (which technically is a freeze) for an hour, it'll have little impact for hardy plants. I've already had 30 and 31 degrees in mid-Sept and it did nothing to my decidious plants. They are just now taking on some color almost a month later.

Fall color for new transplants is completely random. Some show their best colors due to the stress and other show NO fall color even though they are known for a good display.

For example my 'Jelena' witch hazel (planted spring 2011) didn't have any fall color last year and isn't showing any color yet this year either. On the flip side my 'Girard's Purple' and 'Arnold Promise' had/have glorious fall color.

Thank you everyone for responding. I am so thankful!

Ken, you and Arktrees are right on the money about not getting a good color show so soon after transplant. Because WOW, talk about the yellow on these Hornbeams being appallingly UNDERwhelming! I was flabbergasted and thought what the hell is wrong with them, they grew as much as 3 1/2 feet and yet they put out such a puny yellow?

All the pics (yes, of mature trees) I saw online showed a SPECTACULAR bright yellow that would rival Big Bird.

I'm glad to know it's because of their youth.

Whaas, thank you so much for giving me more information about freezes and what to expect. They said we would definitely get below freezing tonight. I don't know how long it will last, if it'll only be an hour or all night. I guess we'll see..

Freeze products from NWS are geared towards tender plants, like whaas said they usually aren't very harmful to deciduous trees adapted to the area.

One other thing to note, at least for mature trees, is that usually the first freeze is a radiational freeze, which means temperatures are coldest right near the ground and warm up the further above ground you get. Thus it could be 25 at ground level but 35 in the tree canopy.

ILT, do you have a cultivar of Hornbeam? In general their (assuming you are talking about Carpinus betulus) fall color isn't reliable for the species.

Another example, take Carpinus caroliniana. You see some with poor yellow fall color and others with outstanding red color. In short, seedlings will vary in fall color. A grafted plant or strain will be more more reliable. Hopefully I used the "technical" terms appropirately there.

This is just one other element to consider with fall color. Its not just about whether (and weather) its a recent transplant.

Hi Whaas. We have 15 European Hornbeam Fastigiatas. They look a little more yellow today than yesterday. Or rather more of them have started turning yellow. I had no idea their color was unreliable. At least I know now and can change my level of expectations.

I don't believe we had a freeze last night. It just didn't seem that cold outside this morning, and there was no frost on the ground either. We don't have an outdoor thermometer yet, but intend on getting one.

Thanks, Famartin, for your additional information on the freezes. I wasn't familiar with the term radiational freeze so I appreciate that.

I'm not sure if the cultivar 'Fastigiata' was selected for good fall color or not.

Here is a just a quick look at one source's mention of fall color.

Autumn Foliage
Fall color is yellow to yellow-green
not impressive
leaves held late into the fall

No, we didn't pick the tree specifically for its fall foliage, just its screening ability, and (to me anyway) its beauty. I wasn't impressed with all the online sources of information when it came to these specific Hornbeams. None of them got the growing speed right at all. They all said either moderate growth or even slow growth, now that's a laugh! They grow fast, and for a hardwood, that's pretty amazing if you ask me.

Hopefully they do show off for you eitherway!