Wow Nettie,

Where do you live? I don't think i've had the same freeze..I'm so sorry to hear what has happened(I looked at your home page and the beautiful photos) Do you really think you've lost alot? I went and looked at mine after reading your post and don't see any casualties; Though we are close to downtown.

So sorry!

Heather

Glad to hear you escaped Heather- I wondered why there weren't more postings on the subject this morning. I am a couple hours up I-94 in the Alexandria area. I heard we got down to mid 20's. We've made it through the past two weeks just flirting with the cold nights and everything had survived up to this point. Yesterday the wind and snow just had a bite to it that we hadn't felt since March. I watched the thermometer hit 29 before I went to bed and ran through my mind that if there was anything that I wanted to run out and cover- but what do you choose? I had a pot over a budded tree peony and a few of my really valuable hostas. I know things will live- it's just the setback and possible loss of spring bloom that bums me out.

I live in Grand Forks, ND. It got down to 21° last night :(

I looked at my crabapples this morning - they looked pitiful. I haven't had time to look at my perennials, but now I am scared to after reading your post. I'm heartbroken. Will they recover?

Ann, in ND

I'm definitely sympathetic. I've spent the last month and a half looking at every new speck of green in every garden so set-backs are very disheartening. Your gardens look so beautiful though, that
I'm sure there are lots of things to look forward to still...

It usually just causes dieback Ann, some of the stems and leaves will die but the plant will come back from the crown. Some of the buds get killed if the plant is a May bloomer like my Columbines. If that happens you just have to wait and see if the plant is vigorous enough to send up another flush of blooms. Irises can still bloom if the leaves get a little frozen- Daylilies will start sending up new growth from the center and should bloom in July/August. Hostas with emerging eyes will show evidence of leaf damage that you can trim off as they continue to emerge if it bothers you. I guess if you look on the bright side of things, it is still early enough in the season for a lot of it to bounce back and still bloom- it could have been much more damaging if a lot of things were in bud stage.

I'm bringing out the big guns since this will be the last night of this stuff. And I mean LAAASSSSSTTT NIGHT (pretty please, pretty please, pretty please). Well flowers are pretty!!!

I'm covering with boxes, pots, leaves, trash cans, sheets, and blankets. Mostly the bulbs with buds, columbines, lupines, lilys, peonies, blooming rhodies, and of course my 15 roses bushes I just planted.

Everything was fine until now. May I repeat myself, this better be the last night.

I have been working nights so I haven't done a walk-through but I think I have enough protection and micro-climate so things survived. I live in a small town with big trees and houses all around instead of a wide open farmstead, maybe this will be enough....

I have covered my tulips that have set buds and my roses. Some of my hostas are covered. But mainly I covered what has started to bud, the rest I am hoping will be able to pull through. I see that people are covering the columbines, hmmm I wonder if I should go out now and cover them, I am hoping htat they are protected enough in the yard by the surroundig lilacs, fence and dog kennel to get throught the night. I hope that this is it and we can finally have our spring back.

We are all in denial. Right now, as I speak, it is 28 degrees here. Five days ago, I brought 500 tomato, pepper, eggplant, and other tender annuals out of my greenhouse and back into my house (despite heating, it's just too cold to leave them there, we have had NO sun to warm the greenhouse during the day and keep heat in during the night). Though I've done this before (bringing plants inside), I've never done it so late in the season.

Good luck to all MN gardeners,

Kate

Nettie - sorry to hear your perennials took such a beating. It kinda surprises me that a temp in the mid-20's did so much damage. Like you said, they will recover but it is so discouraging. As for here, my perennials were up about 6-10 inches, too. Then we've had about 10 days (seems like 50) of daytime temps that barely eeked above freezing and night temps consistently in the 20's. Absolutely no sun. Only clouds, gloom and occasional snow. This a.m. it is +21 in the lower gardens. Can't say that much has been directly damaged by the hard freezes (except Fillipendula vulgaris which is totally brown after so many hard freezes). Soil temps have dropped to about +35(soil temps were in the 50's earlier) and this has resulted in almost everything starting to look a pathetic yellowish-green. I suspect this is because the plants are having a heck-of-a-time uptaking nitrogen in almost frozen soil. But...the good news? One more night of mid to low 20's and things supposedly will get much better.
I would happily forego a warm spell like we had in mid to early April that sends perennials into a full blown grow mode only to have them set back when the the inevitable unseasonably cold weather sets in later in the month.
Jan

Things looked much better after I got home from work yesterday- at 7:00a.m. they were dark green and crystalized and by the afternoon they looked like just the edges of the leaves were white and damaged but the crowns and buds were just fine. They look the same this morning as yesterday morning; I touched the stems of a cimicifuga and it was icy stiff. But after yesterday I am more hopeful that things will recover. Hang in there guys, we're almost through it.
Nettie

Nettie, thanks for the encouragement. I looked at my perennials after work yesterday and actually think they mostly look okay. I don't think mine are as far along as yours - my hostas haven't even stuck their noses out yet for example - so maybe they'll be okay. I sure hope yours are okay.

Ann

Well, I didn't have any damage on Sunday night, but with the expectaion of low 20's last night I covered everything I could. Think it may have been a mistake! The uncovered stuff fared better than the covered stuff! My delphiniums, cimicifuga, fritillaria and geum were all "popsicles" this morning when I pulled the blankets off! I am just bummed!

Linda

The stuff that was covered with blankets and plastic buckets seemed to be doing worse than the uncovered stuff too, but I checked at lunchtime and everything seems OK. The stuff covered with boxes faired the best.

I think the moisture accumulated on the blankets which nearly froze to the plants. The rocks did freeze to the blankets.

Everything here (Owatonna) looks pretty good, although our temp was 25 this morning. I dug out every flower pot and bucket I could put my hands on last night, to cover hostas with. My cold frames had 3 blankets on top and everything moveable was in the shed or the garage. I noticed some limp leaves on the north side of the lilacs and also on a few columbine. Plus some early ferns got nipped a few nights ago, but the smaller fronds (down in the mulch) look fine. Thank heaven that's over (at least for this week)!

All of my perennials look like they survived the night (Anoka area) but I have four lilacs on the west side of the house that had very droopy ends today!! :( I hope they recover. This will be their first year to bloom since we planted them in '03. The flower buds looked fine but all the new, green growth was saggy.
Kristy :)

Well, when I got home last night it looked like everything bounced back allright. WHEW!
So I will still have plants for the swap on Saturday!!!

(Kristy, good to "see" you on this forum!)

Linda

Thanks Linda! Glad your stuff recovered. I have yet to go out and see what my lilacs look like today!

Where and what time is the swap this Saturday? Is this the one at Marie's?

Kristy :)

Here I think it was a blessing that while the trees and shrubs were starting to leaf out, they were not as advanced as yours probably were. Still, I think it was the duration of the cold that could hurt: it stayed cloudy and windy with flurries and around 30 -32 all weekend. Then dropped to 18F sunday night (though luckily I think my yard was around 25). Now it appears Mother nature really wants to make this all up to us. The one thing I did cover was my arctic beauty kiwi, as it was fairly leafed out.

Saturday, in the cold and wind, I was planting cedars at my parents. I am hoping they come through the cold okay as they may have started to be in active growth (as they were likely shipped in from a warmer zone). You definitely work more efficiently and don't slack off when it's cold outside. When it's nice outside I plant one plant, take a minute break, do another, sit there and enjoy the sun, etc.

Glen

Kristy, I e-mailed you the specifics on the Saturday swap. Hope to see you there!

Glen, I would like to know more about your Kiwi...does it fruit?

Linda

Thanks Linda! I wish I was able to make it (I emailed you back)....but it's probably better that I don't make a bunch of trades when I'm not sure what I'm doing with my front garden as it is. I need to make some changes and I don't know where to begin. But I'll save that for another thread when I feel the need to whine and get input.
Kristy :)

No fruit yet. I planted both a female and a male kiwi in spring 2003. The first year, they grew very slow, probably establishing their root system. Last spring I had to move the female plant as she was in a soggy spot. They like well drained soil and I had no idea that water pours off the carport roof (on one side) and soaks the area.

The female, which was moved, didnÂt grow much last summer. The male didnÂt grow much either, but is now 2 feet tall and definitely got more Âbranches over the summer.

Last spring I had a single bloom, but it was on the male plant. Actually I was quite excited until I realized it was the male plant, which doesnÂt produce the fruit. As for the Âarctic beauty coloring of pink, white, green, mine has yet to develop these colors.

I am hoping this is the year it decides to grow. I am tired of looking at a bare trellis.

Glen

My garden suvived the freeze pretty well here in Eau Claire, Wi. The only perennial that suffered was the huge bleeding heart that was already in bloom next to the house. It just toppled over. The back part of the plant is o.k. It tried to brace the rest of the plant back up, but it just looked worse. Any chance that it'll pop back up, or should I cut off the wilted section?
Also, I lost all the impatients and coleus that I had started in pots in my greenhouse. So much for getting a head start.