My crepe mytles look toasted. Is there a chance they will put back out this year?

My kiwis were toast when I looked this morning. I could smell them as I opened the front door. I have two purple pineapple lilies that were just starting to come up. They are planted about six inches from each other. The foliage on one is totally limp while the other is just fine. The foliage on the outside of my hot lips salvia is also toast while some of the inside leaves are okay. All the new greggis that I had recently planted and COVERED last night are toast. Two gorgeous maples in pots which were going to be focal points in my side yard, one a viridis the other a bloodgood are also damaged. The foliage is completely limp and I expect that it will turn black in a day or two. Some hosta were damaged while others were just fine and some of my iris that were close to bloom survived while others in the same bed have the stems completely folded in half like someone tried to break them off. Its was depressing to walk around this morning and view all the damage. Like Linda I had made that same walk last week and was excited at the prospect of my third spring here and all the promise it held. I shook my fist at the sky this morning. It didn't make me feel any better though ha. Adele

Adele I feel your pain!

Yes it was a depressing morning for all of us. I look forward to this time of year so much. My heart sunk when I stepped outside and saw what mother nature had done. I spent the rest of today almost in mourning. And to think I have family coming in town in 2 weeks just to see what an NC spring looks like after 7 years of me raving about how beautiful it is this time of year.

Guess it was just not meant to be. Still keeping my fingers crossed that my roses (covered in buds) make it through one more night.

Question though - I'm sure the oak blooms got nailed by the cold. Does that mean few if any acorns? Do I need to stock up on bird seed to support my squirrel population? ha!

We left to go out of town yesterday so I was interested in seeing how my yard fared. We have a huge tent-like structure set up over the blueberries and had my mom cover the clematis (it's budded out) but other than that left everything else. According to our digital them. the low here was 29.7, so not as bad as it could have been.

All my ogr's are fine and not even the buds show damage. The only things I noticed is every leaf on the chaste trees are toast (they'll bounce back), the hydrangea is pretty droopy and a few fronds on my ostrich ferns are blackened.

At my inlaws (20 minutes from Wilmington) it got down to 24 and everything was pitiful this am. Their entire yard is azalea's and every single one was totally fried. There went the Easter pics of the kids.

Everything I covered except the hydrangeas are toast. All the azaleas have lost their blooms.
Spring is my very favorite season and it seems it ended before it truly started.

Coming in this morning to the nursery I work at, I expected to have horrid tales of woe. We had sheltered the expected casualties in the barn: Hydrangeas, loropetalums, and soon-to-bloom native azaleas, but, everything else was on it's own.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. It was only about 1% of the plants that suffered. I really was amazed at their sturdiness with that immediate temperature drop. Of course, this second freeze tonight will tell...

The worst injured: Big Leaf Hydrangeas (Native one's fared better; Oakleaf, no problem, Arborescens, bit of burnt leaves); Wisteria tips bad, but bloom buds OK; Japanese maples: UH Oh, new growth wilted; Vitex: new growth gone, but it's time to cut them back anyway, and the bud scales OK, so they'll leaf out again I expect. Tricyrtis were mushy, but, they benefit from a trim or two before fall bloom, so OK. Lespedeza: Toast, but, again, late bloomer, so will recover. New growth on many shrubs was burnt,, but,they'll recover. Bottlebrush Buckeye didn't like the cold at all, gotta figure out how to deal with that. Callicarpa japonica, new growth, toast, but, time to cut them back by 1/2 too, so they'll be fine.

Honestly, I was amazed to see how well most plants fared. Pretty strong fellers! I'll weigh in here on the buddleias; by delaying your cutback to Dogwood Bloom time rather than a month earlier, you'll avoid the flush of tender new growth getting damaged by late frost.

Amazing plants I thought would be damaged, but Not: Salvia guaranitica, Salvia leucantha, Eucomis (not phased at all), Phlox paniculata, and, daylilies. I really thought they'd have some burn, but all look fine.

Let's say a li'l prayer for the next two nights, though.

Looks like we fared better up here in Ohio - we had 20 last night, but we're at the stage where daffodils and peaches are the only things really blooming yet.

Lilacs won't be blooming this year though - got fried
No peaches this year
Apples look OK - the buds weren't open much yet
Tulips tattered but OK
Red and Silver maples won't produce seed this year - but the flip side is they'll have denser leaf canopies

twisted limbz, it's exactly like you described out right now. After midnite, 35 degrees and I stepped out on the porch to this overwhelming smell of autumn. The damaged leaves, the burst plant cells. It's a true aroma.
This will be the last frost of the season, it must be. We'll trim off the damage and life will begin spring again.

Now..why couldn't it have happened BEFORE the darn elms flung a bumper crop of seeds in every bed??

hairmetal4ever ,

"Lilacs won't be blooming this year though - got fried "

I have 2 lilacs in flower now.

Not up here in Ohio they won't be. The young flower shoots are mush.

25 min. from the beach newport/morehead area: yard looks like someone is sleeping out there with all the quilts/sheets en such. anything 40 or below degrees I don't take chances anymore. zapped outer leaves of cole crops [cabbages, etc.] taking chances and they are supposed to be hardy to freezing temps. covering spinach, brussels too. left turnips to their own and they did ok uncovered a few nights. lost potato leaves but only a couple. radishes ok, onions ok. cover peonies and roses all budded out and ready to go. a little extra werk pays off. sorry to all of you who lost stuff but if roots are in tact, some will come back even if mush now. crinum freezes easily but still produces. cilantro loves this weather and my tummy loved a cilantro pesto drizzled over chili rellanos, cheese enchiladas and salad with homegrown lettuce. YUM

crepe myrtle and hydrangias are singed. The leaves on 2 fig trees look toast although I had wrapped them. Half my azalias that had already started to bloom or were just opening are zapped, but the ones on the north side which are slower, the buds look fine. The top half of my japanese maple looks bright red like in fall, the other half OK. I have yet to remove blankets from cannas and herbs. many of my plants are tropicalesque and are just beginning to sprout out of the ground (gingers, elephant ears etc), so they were easy to cover with plastic pots.
Last night they announced 25°, but we got away with 35. Whew!

One interesting thing to note with all this damage. I had just planted a fully leafed out Syrax about 5 days before the cold snap. I had also just purchased some of that foliar seaweed spray and one of the benefits stated was that it increased a plants ability to withstand frosts/freezes. Mixed some up and sprayed the tender new leaves on the snowbell a day or so before the freeze. Well, it appears to be true to a certain extent! Every plant/tree around the new Styrax was totally fried- the Styrax itself did suffer some damage but was the only one that didn't lose everything. I think that stuff really works!

Dottie- I hate that you know that smell, but yes that's exactly it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kelp Spray

Well the Kiwi's are toast, so are the redbuds and Japanese snowbell. It bit the hydrangeas pretty bad (had cover on them) except the oakleaf and it looks unfazed. My largest hydrangea I had even double covered with the floating row cover and it's bit pretty bad but I'm hopeful that it didn't get the buds. I was surprised that it got two of my ferns, the Braun's Holly and the tassel. The wisteria is bit but the buds look ok and may still come on out, won't know for a couple days I guess. It also got a mum that has the white edge on it, but I'm pretty sure it'll come back out. Roses look fine, even the kerria is OK. Peonies, salvias, the Jap maple 'bloodgood' and clematis are OK too.

The huge white azalea was just about to that glorious stage, brown now. Dogwoods were bit but the toadlilies and hostas (both covered) are OK. The figs and bananas are still undercover either in a building or under the house and they're all leafed out and looking good.

It's sad, but there's still plenty to enjoy and more popping every day it seems.

I haven't been able to do a thorough search yet, but I think we faired okay. One of the lantanas I planted last week looks very iffy, but the other one looks okay. Out of the 6 roses I planted, one looks like it is a complete casualty and the other 5 still look pretty vigorous. I had divided and transplanted about 25 liriope and all of them seem to look okay. All of my tulips have lost their blooms so they were a definite casualty, although my two young cherubs kept trying to pull the petals off of them anyways, so I really don't know how long they would have survived, frost or no frost!! My hydrangea which I covered throughout, seems to look okay also, THANK goodness.

I will cross my fingers as I continue to survey the property and I hope that everyone else has faired well too.

In Pineville, NC. We covered everything but still suffered some damage.

The leaves on 2 of our little J. Maples look like mush. Have been watching a thread over in the Maple forum with great interest.

Slight damage to hydrangea and canna. I think the canna will be ok once I cut off the damaged parts. I will wait till this weekend to do that though so I can see how they stabilize. Strangely enough the canna is right next to an elephant ear which had started to come up. No damage to the EE. Odd...

I hope this is the last night we have to cover things.

i uncovered about 1/2 of my stuff today. figured the kiwi which is black, ain't getting no blacker. then some things that showed no damage uncovered, i uncovered their brethren, like the roses and clematis. the thing that surprised me the most was my jap maples are showing some damage. not completely- but drooping & puckering. i don't know if they'll recover, partially recover or have to releaf out fresh. but what i'm most bummed about is the damage to our japanese persimmon. i doubt it will have flower buds n the new growth it'll have to put out. it's droopy & green still, but i'm pretty sure it will blacken. we sure are going to miss that fruit this year! interesting thing on the kiwi is that it has new growth popping out that was undamaged, but the stuff that was further along is black mush. i don't think we'll have any blooms or fruit, since my buds were already well out. maybe if some of the new growth has buds, but i doubt it. the trifoliate orange has drooping new tips, though still green, and i think they're gone. the rest of it looks fine. the newest stuff on the loropetalum looks droopy, but most seems fine. about 1/2 of the buddleia growth on each, and some of the azalea flowers got blasted. bummed that some of the blueberry blooms look brown- but only 1/2 way up (i didn't uncover; this is only on the stuff where the cover shifted). we covered the blues up pretty well, so i'm hoping much of the already set fruit will be ok. nothing's obvious now, but i guess time will tell. the hydrangea looks like it fared ok. the pomegranate looks good, at least what's under the box. the bottom where a few branches poke out was fried- so i'm really glad i covered it. what didn't show any burn and surprised me, was the parts of the pears we didn't cover. i'm still leaving the rest covered tonight, because i don't want to lose already set fruit. our min/max says it got down to 30 thurs, 30 fri night, 27.8 sat night & 33 last night, so i'm hoping tonight will be just a hair above freezing.

i just ck'd the extended forecast for the next 15 days and there's no days even close, so we should be ok after tonight unless something changes drastically. i guess now i know what to cover more intensely & with christmas lights in years down the road for freezes.

Twisted limbs:
You're so lucky. My styrax japonicus was toasted :(. Completely wilted. There is 1 green bunch of leaves left...everything else looks like frozen lettuce lol!

Was out of town all weekend. In the Western PA area there were no leaves on the trees, no blooms, no color; all grey and dreary with snow showers/flurries all weekend and snow accumulation in the mountains. Driving back it was good to see leaf growth and green on the trees and shrubs with sunshine!. How can 500 miles make such a difference?
Losses here in Raleigh; new growth on Crepe Myrtle, Butterfly Bush and Hydrangea. Azalea Blossums all fried. The perennial bed and newly planted hostas faired well. The rest we shall see! Was it that bad here?........Dianne

After the fact, if I knew it was coming I would have gotten a few more outdoor extension cords and drop lights. We put one in the middle of the largest group of azaleas under sheets, it worked great. I wished we had one to hang on all the azaleas and in the tulip tree and japaneze maple.

Well, I give up. Got home from work Monday evening thinking the forecast was for the low 40s. (O.K. We can do that.) NO. All of a sudden it's back to 34. Which means 32 or even 30 out here where I live. Well. Dh took most of our boxes to a friend who is moving today. We don't have the stuff to cover everything up. And it's dark already.

I give up. If it is just supposed to be destroyed, it will be.

I just noticed while washing the dishes this evening that all the new growth on our many american hollies have turned limp and black. This is the time of year about half their leaves turn yellow and fall off so they are quite gruesome looking right now. Adele

Hi Ralph! How's Raliegh? Can't find your email address. Combine Fri. night cold with a fire that leaves everything exposed and you have my Sat. morning! Looks like everything is lost. Herbs, lavenders, citrus, vines, gone! Hoped I could salvage a few things, but so far it doesn't look too good. All thanks to someone with an ax to grind.

The pieris looks like hell and there are some azalea blooms that have probably seen their final sunrise, but I've finally decided to just live with it. I was a Floridian for most of my life, and the only thing that changed in the fall was the color of the tourists' shirts. I love to watch the seasons change now, and I guess losing a plant or two every year is the price I pay. I find, however, that the more native plants I put in, the more success I have. But truly, anything that wasn't killed outright by the freeze will be putting out new growth in a couple of weeks, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I think it's called spring.

MAC

Does anyone feel like this will help their plants that are more accustomed to cooler climates? Maybe my lupines will really put up a show this year. Last year they survived the heat but didn't bloom. This year 1 plant is still around and getting quite big. Here's to hoping.

My hydrangeas were singed a bit but not killed to the ground. I'm hopeful they can recover, but the growing tips seemed to take it the worst. The blooms on my azaleas are droopy, but still there. The "rose" petaled azalea suffered the worst. Everything else seems surprisingly well. My yard is fairly sheltered but I still fared better than I hoped. I hope everyones plants recover. -Ais.

It was 28 here this morning (just south of Chapel Hill). Of course, 2 sides (south and east) of my house are open meadow. I am packing up the covers, the bamboo tent poles, the clothespins and fabric anchors!

So, here's the GOOD news /i> report. I have indicated what was covered up.

The survivors:

Perennials/herbs:

clematis (covered up and looks great)
echinacea
rudbeckia
most salvias (except B&B)
Dutch iris (in full bloom)
Japanese iris (not blooming yet)
Siberian iris (not blooming yet)
agastache totally unscathed
nepeta totally unscathed
cottage pinks (in full bloom)
moss pinks (in full bloom)
hypericum (calycium is fine, hidcote and albury have some leaf damage)
daylilies
scabiosa (in full bloom)
heuchera (all are in no-frost areas in our garden)
tri-color sage (no-frost area)
purple sage (covered)
sage icterina (covered)
Spanish lavender (some buds slightly damaged)
coreopsis ('Moonbeam' and 'Heavens Gate')
gaura
euphorbia
canna (covered and barely showing green)
butterfly ginger (3 areas -- 2 no damage; 1 slight damage)
calla lilly (4 areas -- 2 no damage; 2 slight)
monarda
sedum
thyme
lamb's ears (all varieties)
ice plant
skullcaps
penstemon
gaillardia

Annuals (only ones planted):
snapdragons (1/2 covered. No difference)
African daisies (3/4 covered. Slight difference)

Shrubs/trees:

itea (may not bloom now)
caryopteris (minor)
deutzia (may not bloom now)
hepatacodium (minor)
roses (covered up and look great)
lilac (covered up and looks great)
nandina (slight damage, covered last 2 nights)
Lady Banksia (both uncovered, in full bloom)
Encore azaleas (uncovered, still budding, no-frost area)
abelia
gardenia (mixed, already had some with winter damage)
cotoneaster
willows (multiple varieties)
Kousa dogwood
Kwansan cherry (in full bloom, close to house)
weeping cherry (finished blooming)
Japanese Maple (still watching -- DH put a sheet over it that caused more damage than without)
arborvitae
cryptomeria
chameacyparis
sweet bay magnolia
southern magnolia
smoke tree
osmanthus (tip damage is slight)
hollies (tip damage is slight)

I'm sure I've left off quite a few things.

My thyme and cilantro are as happy as can be, and one of my rose bushes not only made it through uncovered with flying colors- it's actually been blooming through the past 4 days!!! That was a shocker. But, like others, my crepe myrtle is just so sad with all it's leaves burnt and crispy- just planted it last year too. I covered my hydrangeas but they are almost gone, most of the leaves are black and mushy (Sunday night finally did the trick), although a few leaves might be able to survive. The tips are definitely burned. My gardenia was putting out new growth which has also burned, although the mature leaves were fine. My zoysia lawn, which was starting to green up, has decided to shut down again and is distinctly browner, but at least that's just a matter of time to have it come back again. So glad I hadn't planted any of my seedlings yet!

Damage Report:

Confederate Jasmine - all new growth & buds are mush (but will bounce back)

Japanese Maples - don't look good, not sure how they will turn out

Buddleia - New growth is all shot, but they are tough so they will bounce back

Hydrangea's - afraid to take the covers off (PeeGee's are fine)

Hosta/hardy orchids/all covered perennials & bulbs - survived and look good

Azalea - all blooms are shot

All other perennials and herbs seemed to have faired ok.

My 40-year-old azalea, which was planted by my great-aunt and did not bloom last year, was FULL of buds out at the garden. All fried now. The little bush from a rooted cutting of the same had already bloomed and the flowers are mush even though I covered them.
My blueberry plants were going to produce fruit this year, or so I thought. Even though they were covered, the blooms got nipped. :( The newly planted ones are okay; I had pruned all buds when I planted them in the new bed.
The weirdest thing was that of the six day lilies in a terraced, hillside row, only one got frost-bitten. The rest are fine.
But the topper was the skunk-critter dug up my shade bed AGAIN, just to add insult to injury. There's one heuchera that has been flung and replanted at least four times now. AGH!

I noticed this morning that the cold seemed to have no effect on the aphid population which are attacking the slightly damaged growing tips of the carpet roses.
Darn it.

Should I be doing anything now to the plants that were damaged? I haven't experienced anything like this since I began gardening. Should I cut off the drooping foiliage or leave it? I wasn't done with all my spring cutting back and now I'm scared to resume.

As for trimming stuff, Shari, my garden elves advised me to let it all be for the time being. They'd done the heavy pruning back in late December, and the spring trim/mulch/tidying a couple of weeks ago. (Their two visits a year practically overlapped this year!) In this case, I'm going to do what I'm told - well mostly!

Amazing survivor here is my Lady Banks roses (two espauliaed (sp?) on the back retaining wall, one on the west fence. Those fragile looking, little yellow bouquet blooms really held up. Other survivors of note are a peony, two styrax trees (small in front, very large in back), the sturdy salvias and a few other assorteds. Gotta look at the bright side.

The walking wounded (short list) include three crape myrtles, a bunch of lorapetulum, most of the hydrangeas including the climber - but for some reason, the tallest and most exposed looks fine, as does the oak leaf. Front yard azaleas are toast - they were in full bloom - backyard azaleas of a different variety were heavily budded and I haven't had the courage to inspect them yet. Fothigilla got freeze dried at its blossom peak, weeping holly is crying buckets of wizzened new growth. Japanese maples, one big 'red, ordinary' and two small laceleafs, all look so sadly pathetic. Knock out roses show top damage - I will trim them, need to keep them in check anyway. Most emerging perennials look okay - I think, only time will tell.

I don't think I've actually lost anything - but this mild winter and pseudo-spring we've had was really a dirty trick. My yard was truly hitting its top stride this year - only to be frozen out.

Looking forward to next year - or as it is now, next month - is what keeps us gardeners going! And, I'm mighty glad I took so many 'stupid flower pictures' before the Arctic Express rolled in !

Planted three new redbud trees last fall. They bloomed and leafed out over the past few weeks. Last week we had frost, and today I see that the leaves have turned black! Is it from the frost? Will the tree survive and grow new leaves?

Thanks!

The redbuds will leaf out again.

My apple tree blossoms are mostly OK so there will be apples this fall. Love that apple blossom fragrance!

dibbit posted this in another thread and i thought it was great advice. what we were all asking:

The latest from the Master Gardeners/Polk County Extension agent is to wait at LEAST 3 weeks after the frost before pruning out any "dead" stuff from your woody plants (trees and shrubs) - 4 weeks would be safer. Then cut back until you get live wood - i.e.; the cambium layer just under the bark is green. If you REALLY can't stand looking at them, then you can carefully take off the dead leaves, but be REALLY careful not to damage the buds that will be the source of the new leaves - do it SOON, before the new buds start growing. Perennials, on the other hand, you can clean up now. Water if the ground is dry, DO NOT FERTILIZE, and keep a close eye on the plants that had to leaf out again, as they should now be considered stressed, and thus prone to disease and bugs in the next summer.

So far I see only zigzag mentioned loropetalum.
My 4 tall ones(trained/trimmed z/z) all look copper today.
They'd just finished blooming when the frost came.

Will they grow new leaves?

They will probably grow new leaves. My MIL's loropetalum has bloomed on and off since fall and kept getting zapped, and it would just put out new leaves and flowers and keep going. Woody plant stems aren't usually harmed by frost.

At my place there is at least one wild blueberry plant is covered with little green berries, so there will some blueberries in June this year. Overall there wasn't a lot of damage from the cold, except the Florida azaleas, the wisteria and the bearded iris. For the first time in the 11 years we've lived here none of the early and mid iris are going to bloom. I am still holding out hope for the late ones. About half of the baptisias were damaged, even those that were covered, but at least the peony was unscathed. I can't wait for that one to open.

I am so sad. I had dozens of buds on my Eden rose. This is the second year in the ground, so the first year of real blooming. i thought most of them survived, but I noticed yesterday that most of the buds have shriveled up. Boohoo

Wanted to mention the new trees are slowly leafing out AGAIN. The styrax is also leafing out of the base of the trunk/ground. Should i cut it off?

Gardenias and clematis armandi took the hardest hits. Looks like most everything else is starting to put out new growth. Redbuds, and wisteria have new leaves. Still waiting on a one of the ferns to recover (Braun's Holly) and J. maple/bloodgood. Hydrangeas are slowly starting with some new leaves at their bases.

A couple of my trees are sprouting from the roots as well as putting out new leaves on the existing limbs. I would wait a little while longer before cutting that Styrax to the ground.

hallelujah! my persimmon is finally rebudding out. the sweet cherry and figs are the only things left to rebud now. surprisingly, the mulberry is flowering again. lost all of our asian pears, though. the trees look good- just the fruit fell off.

Thanks shari! There is no way I'd cut it off at the ground. My question is should I cut off the suckers? B/c the tree is also leafing out at the top. But the suckers are much more vigorous. I don't want them to take away all the nutrients you know? If I cut back the suckers you'd think the tree would put more of an effort into the leaves resprouting on the tree.

Wow, I sure did misread that! I don't know the answer to whether the suckering growth is taking energy from the top growth. As long as it is leafing out I would think it would be okay to remove the suckers.

Jqpublic, what kind of a styrax is it?

jqpublic - both my styrax trees did fine (thankfully), but a crape myrtle and serviceberry which were affected are also suckering heavily from the bases. I am pruning the suckers for the same reason you cited - that they'll divert energy from the re-growth above, seems like common sense.

Styrax Japonicus "Emerald Pagoda". It is the styrax selection made by JC Raulston himself! So I know they do well in our climate. But the poor guy (planted last fall) leafed out and had buds everywhere!! Then the plant lost all but maybe 2 leaves...of which 4 buds were attached at. Oh well!

Even our 50+ year old Southern Red Oak lost 2/3 of its leaves to the frost. I've never seen that before :(, but that one is looking better although goofy. ;)

In my yard one large crepe mrytle (even though much smaller ones in pots closer to the house are fine) has not leafed out as well as a neem tree and all my vitex and lorapetalum. I lost a total of two salvia which surprised me since I planted many right before the frost and they were pushing my zone a bit. All the other perennials are leafing out again and looking lovely despite this cruel heat and not a drop of rain. It's always a challenge isn't it? Adele