Snow is not a problem and could actually SAVE some plants. It's like a giant blanket that keeps the real cold from getting down into your soil. Hardy plants, planted this time of year, are probably not going to have much problem with the cold. Marginally hardy plants may be a different story.

Moisture may negatively impact some plants during cold weather. The soggy, saturated soil we are seeing right now is hard on some marginally hardy plants.

The best thing you can do is stop worrying. Worrying will not help your plants one bit. If you do have losses, just make some notes for next year and continue on. Great gardeners are the ones that have lost lots of plants.

If that is the case I am a fabulous gardener! It's just quite depressing to think that I finally own my own home and moved a few dozen very loved plants and now I just don't know what is going on with it. Oddly enough not long after I posted this as the snow melted I went and looked and my crocus is still blooming. I have purple and yellow. My hyacinth looks good and the daffodils seem unaffected. Now I just hope the perennials are going to make it as well.

What I learned about perennials is that I had no idea of the amount of drought some of them tolerated and/or needed in summer and fall. There's a book by Pamela Harper called (something like) 30 years in a perennial garden. She gardens in Virginia zone 7 which is a bit warmer than you are, but she writes well and extensively and summer-wise is very close to our growing conditions.

Some of your plants may need a bit of special care to make it through winter; OTOH, plants like peonys might be your next great obsession. You do need some Lenten Roses to get you through the blahs of winter and The honeysuckle fragrantissima would also be a great and fragrant surprise for you.

Now I did transplant some peony's, but like I said within a couple weeks we had snow. So I have no idea if they are going to be ok, mainly because they didn't have time to get established before going dormant. I have honeysuckle that pops up in the Japanese boxwood. That has been here for years, but I have no idea what kind it is. I was dying back when we moved in so in the spring I will be able to identify what kind it is. I am kind of excited to see what all is here. I know we have some sort of daffodils around the mailbox, but I have no Idea what kind they are. I have a hosta but I get a feeling its in the wrong spot. I will have to evaluate it as spring progresses.

Since Chris brought up this topic, I thought I'd report out on my experience with the recent ice, snow, and sustained cold temperatures. I am in Blount County. I had many bulbs starting to come up when the icey weather hit (included some planted in the last couple of months). Most of the hyacinth leaves got browning on the tips, but the narcissus, snowflakes, and bearded look untouched. I will say that, except for the crocus, the early blooming bulbs are about 2 or 3 weeks behind. I am a little worried about an amercrinum I have, because I probably didn't mulch it enough. I'm sort of assuming that all of the perennials are ok. My three roses look very good (New Dawn, Old Blush, and Rise-n-Shine), as do all of my other shrubs. I'm thinking the bulbs, the roses, the peony and some others really liked the cold and snow (although maybe not the ice!). I had several little seedlings in my unsophisticated :) cold frame, in preparation for the East TN Plant Swap, and they look fine. The *only* thing that I'm concerned about is my newly planted fig (it looks *very* dormant) and a beautiful 10-12 foot magnolia (probably grandiflora) that was planted by the birds. (I will post separately about what happened as I need some advice with that.) I hope others fared as well. -- Kim

The hyacinth that I planted in the fall looks kinda bad, but what was already here is fine. I was talking to the lady I bought my house from, and she planted the bulbs about 6 years ago. I think those will be just fine. With the bulbs I put in I have the hyacinth up and the snow glories but the Daffs and the tulips I see nothing yet. I know we have a long established Peony that should do fine. The honeysuckle that grows in the boxwood's is a nuisance. She has been trying to get rid of it for years and its persistent and aggressive.Now I personally like honey suckle a lot more than boxwood's. But the box woods serve a purpose. I am thinking about cutting them back pretty hard, the bottom is woody. But that is a different topic. I also have 2 very big ornamental peach trees, a pear tree and a sad and pathetic Honey Crisp apple tree.