Hi Esther, yup Ruh-roh is right!!! In Windsor, Ontario we will see a low of 28 F. I don't know what that will do to my hostas that are already in leaf. Don't know if it is worth it to cover them with landscape pots or not.

"Realfeel" temps frustrates me. What will the actual temps be? I plan to water everything thoroughly in the afternoon before the temps drop. There is too much to cover.

As I wrote, the NWS predicts a low of 34 degrees Friday night for Baltimore. That's not "realfeel", that's what they say the thermometer will say. I hope it doesn't go down that low, for my hostas' sake and for all hosta people.

Yep, low of 28 predicted here for Friday. My hosta’s are already rough looking from previous frost damage so I guess this freeze might as well finish off the first flush of leaves. I’ll cover some of my favs along with the Hana matoi Japanese Maple and the Acer campestre Carnival. Just what I need, additional garden work!

Sorry, Mac. Here in NC, we will have a weekend low of 35. We have had heatwaves to 100 in previous Mays. It was 88 degrees this past weekend.

OMG!! Here in Milwaukee as well===>>>predicting low thirties tomorrow and 27-29 degrees F on Friday !! What to do, what to do??? Too many to cover as utog has said! 🤬🤬

I have the same situation in Indianapolis..our forecast says 30°..😢

In eastern ND we'll be below freezing a few nights in the next week. Luckily my hostas are just barely coming up, so they should be OK. I did jump the gun and plant flowers in pots, but they can come in the garage on cold nights (when I planted last week, the 10-day forecast didn't show any freezing temps).

Here we are forecast to have lows of 32 for 3 nights and 26 for Friday night. Oh what to do! I only have so many sheets and pots, definitely not enough to cover everything. Is it even worth it to try when it can get down to 26? The past nights with lows of 34, I have been thinking "Well that is OK" at least it's not freezing. I guess time to do what I can and hope for the best. The ones which turn to mush hopefully they will be strong enough to put out new leaves.

Good luck everyone, like many of you I can only cover so much and then hope for the best.

Beth, have you already suffered quite a bit of frost damage? I sure have but mid Michigan might be different. And now that they are starting to recover we have a hard freeze on the way. Our poor hosta’s.

Last weekends 70 degree temps sure didn’t help the situation. At least it’s not as bad as a few years ago when we had a couple of March days in the 90’s causing everything to flush out early only to be hit with some hard freezes in May. Losing some hosta’s didn’t seem so bad when people I know lost entire orchards.

Plan for the worst and expect the best...... and hopefully our hosta‘s will not only survive but will look wonderful before too long. Worst case scenario, I’ll need to buy new hosta’s!

We had a little reprieve last night. Forecast to be 34°, I protected a few things just in case. Woke up at 5:30, Accuweather claimed it was 33° outside but when I got up to check, it was 48° by the house and 42° down in the cold pocket (yes I actually went outside and moved the thermometer). Same thing at 7:30 when I woke up again - AW: 33°, House: 46°, cold pocket: 41°). I've never seen them so wrong before.

I wonder if the cold seeped down from up north and stayed in the valleys leaving us up on top of the hill a bit warmer. Wish I could check the NWS for how far south the cold seeped last night.

Mac, I changed my location to SE Michigan. Also we tend to be a cold spot, the elevation is high here. It is nice during the summer but winter we get cooler then spots around us.

I am thinking I will cover the leafed out ones and any new from last year first. Then depending one what’s left, I will cover all that I can.

This is becoming a Sophie’s Choice moment for me......which hosta’s get protection and which don’t! Ok, not as dramatic as Sophie’s choice since I doubt any will die, but it’s the closest I’ll get to winning an Oscar 😃

When you guys all say covered, what are u covering with. Here in zone 4 it will be very cold but my hosta s are only showing 1 inch pips, do they need to be covered.

Yours should be fine. If anything, some of the first leaves may be crinkled near the tip. I wouldn't bother.

I managed to cover almost everything with, pots, burlap, lightweight batting, straw and even some plastic bags on small pips. My neighbor/garden helper, Bert even brought all his pots to cover the hostas as well. Some of my pips are 5 inches tall already. Last night the temp dipped to 32 for a brief time but tonight Sunday and Monday is predicted in upper 20s F.

We're supposed to get 3" of snow tomorrow. I'm glad my pips are only barely peeking through! the columbine is further along, that might bite it.

AnnKH, 3 inches of snow? Oh no!

My husband just asked me if I was going to cover Liberty with double sheets. Hmmm, I think I will! It is looking so pretty as it unfurls. (That's the only hosta that he can name! I regret not taking more photos of it before today. Not sure how it will be after this cold snap. (I probably would have taken a million photos of it if it were in my backyard! But I feel self conscious about it in the front yard.)

Sorry, I meant to add my post to another thread in the Hosta Forum. I think I'm tired from trying to cover up as much as possible of my garden! Anyways, it is unbelievable that Covid-19 has cancelled all my gardening events. And now it wants to routine my garden! Just not a good year.

I hope the cold temperatures will not be as bad as predicted and our gardens flourish once again!

Here’s part of what I could get covered In the front.

Backyard

That looks good djacobz!

Here's what my front garden looks like tonight:

djacobz and newhostalady..you two are so well prepared for frost!..I hope you have zero damage..you both deserve perfect hostas for your thorough covering jobs..

Low tonight is 35 degrees, but you all have me worried.

So worried about my 3 clematis plants. The one not pictured off to the right has SO MANY buds on it. They have never bloomed well because they’re all prune type 2 and rabbits have enjoyed just biting the bottom of the stem the last 2 years and killing the whole plant, so I’ve only had a few blooms later in the summer.

But most of the hostas are covered. The ones not covered are on the side of the house no one sees and already have a ton of frost damage so I’m giving up on them this year.

Side note: My neighbors have to hate me with all of the blankets, towels, and tarps everywhere. I’m the crazy plant lady.

Sydney, those same neighbors will marvel at your garden and ask what your secret to great gardening is.

Thanks @undertheoaksgardener7b!

I think I may have just come up with a new covering strategy. I think I’ll just start buying tons of old pillow cases at Goodwill. I grabbed a couple tonight when I ran out of blankets. Pillow cases are the perfect size to pop over most of my hostas during a freeze, and they’re light enough that they won’t break the stems. I’d only need like 50ish pillowcases and they’d be easy to wash (Unlike fleece blankets) and easier to put on then giant tarps. Might look a little nicer too?

Good job on the spring frost protection Sydney! I like your idea of using old pillowcases.

Well, temperatures since about 10 p.m. have been 30 degrees F. We are supposed to go down to 28 by early morning. I'm worried about what I will find tomorrow.

Not quite ready to uncover my hostas.... pic taken a few minutes ago. It should begin to warm up, in about an hour, to a balmy 1C.

Good luck, everyone. I am checking on your posts every day.

My hostas are on wire shelving units on the balcony. No way to cover them as if they were on the ground, and I'd be afraid of crushing foliage. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed. Last night, at 4 a.m., my outdoor thermometer registered 34.4 degrees on the balcony. Plants looked OK today. I hope they continue to do so after tonight.

Since the cold sinks and you're a little warmer, I'll bet you will be fine. 31° predicted here Monday night so I'm going to cover very little.

I have given up covering plants since I covered a hydrangea with sheets and all the tips froze where the sheet touched them. I just take a few garbage cans and cover special plants. I have lots of leaf damage from critters this year. What does everyone use for slug control? Looks like a bunch of mine have holes in them already*?

I did a 10% ammonia solution just a week ago. Now I wonder if I’ll have to do that all over again. I was going to begin to uncover today because it’s predicted to hit 32 F degrees but only for an hour. Monday night the same. But today it’s raining so uncovering things today is not an option. I guess we can’t out guess Mother Nature!!