our forecast has dropped from 30° to 28°..I'm bringing the pots into the garage (easy fix)..for the rest??..my favorites are already pretty big..even my garbage cans aren't wide enough for Blue Angel..I'll be waffling about sheets and how to prop them up throughout the day..🤔

We are expecting some 32 degree mornings and a few days of colder weather - in the 40s again, then slowly warming up after that. It's already been a cool, windy, gray spring for the most part. My hostas are just unfurling and I'm hoping they will be okay. If it gets colder than that, I have some milk crates some gallons pots I can turn over on some. Since none of them are all the way open just yet, they are a good size to cover. But there's a lot in the garden that I'm not going to be able to cover up, so they are on their own. I have no pots that will have to come in.

Here on the north shore of Boston we are getting hyped up predictions of SNOW!!! from some forecasters who depend on the number of clicks they can generate. We are getting more reasonable predictions of cold upper-30's nights from NOAA which does not need clicks to generate supportive revenue. I choose to believe the less dramatic forecasts.

My hostas are almost all up, in various stages of unfurling. If we do indeed get a frost one night, there will be some damage here and there. I bet it doesn't happen. If it does, oh well. I have too many hostas to mess with the stress of worrying about it. This spring has been a colder one than usual, so I guess snow is not out of the question.

My pear tree is dropping its tiny white pedals; you can see them in this image. It's usually warm when this tree blooms and it gets covered by bees, but not this year. The bees don't come out until it warms up, and I've seen very few.

But we've just had two warm-ish days. I'm banking on no snow and no frost.

Boston area here too and not as far North as you are. Very pretty garden!

I have a Male Holly that is covered with flower buds this time of year, and usually when they start opening, the shrub is covered with bumble bees. I've only seen like 3 bees so far. The flowers are just starting to open and now here we go with another cold week. So, just a delay I guess.

Well, now NOAA has rain interrupted by snow coming in tonight, 100% chance of the rain. Not sure about the chance for that white stuff. It should turn back into rain afterwards, before I wake up. I'm still not going to do anything in preparation for this.

My neighbor who is up much earlier than me said there were snow flurries this morning!

I see you all have beautiful gardens. The weather here is also dipping below freezing. It may be as low as 28 degrees F. tonight. So I am covering as much as I can but I only have so much supplies.

Here is a sample section of my garden and how I covered it last night.

I am using pots lined with newspaper (in some). I have a lot of yogurt containers and I made a hole on the bottom of them so a ground staple could go through (for my minis). That way they wouldn't move or blow away. I am using metal plant stands or wooden stakes to keep the bed sheets propped up. Using a couple of boxes, but since many stores aren't open, they are in short supply. I will also use garden stakes to help hold up the sheets. I am on my way outside to continue covering the plants. It's so cold out there!

My plants grow better in my front yard than my back yard due to tree roots. But I am the only one on my street to cover up their plants! I am embarrassed about doing it. I much prefer having a lovely backyard garden so I could have some privacy!

Good luck to all who are experiencing the cold temperatures! Hope your gardens come through just fine.

I feel sorry for all of us!!..all of the time and trouble to cover what's possible to cover..the worry of the ones who can't possibly cover everything (I'm in this group)..good luck to everyone..

Raining and 40F on my back porch @ 1am. Not too bad yet.

@ newhostalady = in our neighborhood, barely anyone gardens at all. They mow from one lot line to the other and that's about it, so I am always the only one that does a lot of things. [g]. I'm used to it. All my full sun is in the front, so my best garden is there too.

7:45a - We have been switching back and forth between rain/snow for about an hour. Mostly rain, and no accumulation on the road or the lawn. but it is 32F on the back porch.

There's snow in the air, along with rain, and it's May 9. The temps have stayed above 32º here on the north shore of Boston. I don't expect cold rain and snow to harm the plants. I just took a quick walk outside. The leaves look fine. However, it's supposed to be windy the rest of the day. If the temps rise, I still think my plants will come through unscathed.

Frost or freezing rain would do harm. So far neither of those have happened here.

Tonight's forecast doesn't look good though.

I hope the rest of your gardens are doing OK.

I had a few gallon containers and 5 gallon buckets that I turned over a couple of plants, but I didn't have that much and nothing to cover roses that are over 3ft already, except I may have some fabric for tonight, when it's supposed to be colder than last night.

I keep waiting for it to warm up a little today.

10:30a Sun came out for a few minutes and it's now 42F.

well the forecast was right..they said 28°..turned out to be 27°..broke a 73 yr old record of 29°..right now it's 48° and sunny..everything looks ok..some slight cupped leaves but in a few days the truth will come out..

Things are looking fine here today, also had a low of 27. The humidity was low, I’m guess that played apart for no damage. Ok, Mother Nature, let’s play fair now!

Sherry

Sherry..I'm pleasantly surprised!!..for the moment I feel like I dodged a bullet..my tree canopy..my plantings are dense (I have very little open area)..I haven't cleaned up my leaf litter..I think these conditions helped me..and I agree that in all fairness you shouldn't have any natural catastrophes this year..

Just heard the forecast for tonight. The snow/rain seems to be behind us, but weatherman said we are getting a 'hard freeze' tonight. 28F tonight by 10p. And the winds have been in the 40-50mph range today and will continue in the 30s tomorrow. So that wind chill sure doesn't help. I'm not going to be able to cover everything, but I'm going to try to do the rose bushes and not sure what else I'll be able to do. Very crazy weather.

it's not my intention to "rub salt in anyone's wounds"..some post frost pics taken 3 hours ago..did I escape?..Great Expectations is not the greatest survivor Lol..the leaf in front was limp and curling under..

We ended up using a lot of gallon pots and 5 gallon buckets to cover over plants that I just didn't want to take a chance of losing. Not that I really thought we would lose any of them, but the garden was just at the point of everything opening and the plants were all pristine, so I didn't want them to end up looking all raggedy either. Then we used sheets and bricks to cover the roses.

@ 6a it was 30F on the back porch. By 8a it was already 40F and the sun was out. We're working on removing everything. The roses are a little worse for wear to have a sheet sitting on them all night, but, not that bad and I think after a day in the sun, they will probably right themselves.

It's supposed to warm up and no low temps in the overnight forecasts for the next week. I hope everyone else has fared as well.

We fared just fine. I hope the rest of you have plants that survived without notable damage.

kind of funny 😀..I'm not tech savvy enough to redo it..you could say hostas instead of plants..I'd say thinking about hostas instead of talking to my hostas..and we could add covering hostas..and uncovering hostas..Lol 😂

Temps got down to 25 Friday night, I covered about 25 hostas (out of 150) with pots. When I checked them Saturday AM. most looked pretty good but as the day went on and today, not so good. Most of the ones leafed out are drooping to the ground and curling. The ones covered fared a little better but not much. Looks like we might have another night of near freezing temps. :(

old_dirt..I'm sorry 😢 ..I was 2 degrees higher..so not quite as nasty..Great Expectations is standing a little better but I think the worst leaf has a permanent crease..if you look super close quite a few have some wrinkling and mild discoloration..that could be from an earlier frost in addition to Fri night's..the lows for tonight and tomorrow night say 37°..looks good after that..good luck..

Old Dirt - sorry about a 25 degree temp overnight. Terrible.

I haven't gone back out there and checked on everything again. They looked okay this morning.

So, what happens to these plants that are damaged by the cold? Do some of them grow new foliage?

Crazy weather. This spring has been so windy too. That doesn't help with the low temperatures either. The 7 day forecast looks warmer and I can't imagine having more low temperatures in the 2nd half of May.

I did get some cold damage on a few emerging hosta 2-3 weeks ago when it snowed twice in three days. I have some ugly leaves from then, just hoping they will be hidden when everything finishes unfurling

sherry

Sherry..I think most of us (maybe all of us) have some cold damage..but it's better than hail right?..

They should leaf back out. I had a Stained Glass that got frosted to mush and came back with more eyes albeit smaller.

I feel your pain, guys. We had a hard freeze in April, and there was no way to cover everything. Several hostas froze to the ground, nothing but mush. Most have recovered, but if you have Frank Lloyd Wright, Old Faithful, Guacamole, or Mistress Mabel, cover them up. Those are still pretty much just stalks.

We have a freeze warning tonight, but almost everything is leafed out and too big to cover. Fingers crossed the station that said 37 is right and not the one forecasting 31.

Nicholsworth, that chart is so funny (and true)! It gave me a good chuckle!

Madplanter, good luck with tonight's weather. Hope it really will be 37 in your area.

So far for me, my hostas have a bit of frost damage, but not too bad. It is supposed to go down to 34 tonight (but feels like 28). What does that really mean? Does that mean if I go out I should bundle up more because it feels colder? Will my plants get frost damage because it feels colder than it really is? I don't know!

I am not covering anything tonight and hoping we will get the bit of rain they predict.

We all seem to be covering our plants with pots, sheets blankets etc. I have to wonder whether the frost blankets that you can purchase would do a better job of protecting our plants? Anyone have one?

Prairiemoon, too bad we don't live closer to each other. We could be the two crazy plant people on the street! (I would love the company!)

newhostalady..don't you love the small slice of time they called "other stuff" ?..as if everything else other than gardening is worth just a little bit of time..Lol..I hope by the end of the week my cold weather is over..

Yes, I love it nicholsworth. The "other stuff" definitely deserves a small slice!

So I didn't cover my plants tonight and now I am worrying about my Liberty in particular. It is almost leaved out and so beautiful. And tomorrow they are calling for -4 at night. I hate this weather!!!!

newhostalady..covering has issues too..uncovered plants start warming up as soon as the sun is up..and the rain can reach them..plastic touching plants is bad..fabric is good..unless it rains then the plants can freeze to cold wet fabric..I read that the best thing is a cardboard box over the plant..then fabric over the box for insulation..then plastic over the fabric in case it rains..I'm confused about it all..

I feel for all of you still dealing with colder temps and your hosta might be affected. I like to see which hosta fare better than others. I truly love to garden, but sometimes life gets in the way and I don't want to fret too much about it yet. (Maybe later down the road, when I can buy ridiculously priced hosta or many of them at one go). I have noticed some of mine have some freeze damage from earlier in the year. I have pinched off the wilted leaves and the hosta do just fine. I've also had hosta I couldn't find and a few seasons later, come up again. Go figure!

I was all set to relax last night with predictions of 38°. Around 6:00, the forecast changed to 33°. Oh carp! Well, too late now and its pouring down rain and what's that - Hail no - actually more like sleet. First forecast was correct. It only got down to 37° last night. At least by the house. I left my other sensor out in the rain. Oops. And now they're predicting 29° tonight. I may end up covering more than I originally planned, but not as much as Friday night.

Obviously, the longer it is below freezing, the worse it is for the plants. I'm wondering if the second or third day in a row of sub-freezing temps (even if only an hour or two) is worse than the first as the ground has gotten colder and can't protect the plants as much.

Frost blankets work OK, but still only a few degrees of protection. It's harder to get them placed without the wind blowing them off and still keep some separation between the blanket and the plants. Just covering plants with a plastic pot with holes in the bottom (top when its upside down) seemed to be worse for my plants. I've heard the air movement helps and the pots hinder that and the cold just seeps in through the holes anyway. I use pots like that to hold a piece of the frost blanket over the plant and a rock on top to keep it all in place.

Plants don't care about wind chill. Just the actual temperature.

steve..isn't it confusing figuring out what's truly helpful?..what you said about the first day of freezing temperatures with warmer ground versus second and third days with colder ground sounds logical..my coldest night came after a nice day..and the temperature improved soon the next morning so my uncovered plants could warm up as soon as possible instead of waiting to be uncovered..it's difficult deciding what to do..

Nicholsworth, cardboard box + fabric + plastic sheet = a lot of work! Does sound good though. Confusing, yes. Boxes here are harder to come by. For example, the grocery stores used to have a section with boxes so customers could use them to carry out their groceries. Not now. There's liquor stores---too small and there's a limit to what you can take. There's only one grocery store I know that restocks during the day, and if you are there at that time, you can ask for boxes before they immediately flatten them.

Steve, you are doing a good job at protecting your plants. I'm glad that plants are not affected by wind chill numbers and that it is the actual temperature that is important. I can't say that I have found turning plastic pots upside down as plant protectors do any damage (as long as they are removed during the day). I plug up the holes with tape or (my new way, this year) using tape to hold a small section of newspaper in the plastic pot. Perhaps that is better than plugging up holes? The newspaper would allow for some air flow and increase protection if draped down the sides too? I don't know.

It would be interesting to know what the ground temperature was a few days ago compared to today and how much that has changed. This reminded me of the late Mr. Peterson, former President of the AHS. He said we should measure the temperature of our soil in the spring. It would tell us what temperature our plants (hostas) begin to grow. Air temperature was not the determining factor for growth. He said our properties had differing soil temperatures and that is why some areas began to grow later than others. So measuring the soil temperature would be interesting information to know and learn from (for spring growth and frosts).

I didn't cover quite as much as I did Friday night, but I still got a lot covered. Good thing too, Although, it was only 31° in the cold zone for about an hour (2° warmer than Friday night), I found a frozen leaf on an uncovered Hosta. I also noticed more damage from the last few nights when I was covering than I previously thought. I knew it was going to show up later, but I was hopeful. I think the previous cold days made things worse. Four nights ago they may have handled 31° OK, last night they needed the protection.

The weather man is saying to cover up again tonight. My concern now is that there are too many cold nights in a short period of time. Just have to keep plugging away and keep our fingers crossed. Before you know it, we'll e struggling with weather that is too hot and dry. [g]

Looks like mine did ok last night even though it was the coldest night yet this month. I have given up covering plants since I have too many to try and save. If I do cover up a few, i have several extra garbage cans that I turn over and protest "special plants". It will be 80 here in a couple of days. The extreme swing of temperatures has me worried about some of my shrubs and Japanese maples. There is only so much they can take.

80° on Sunday here. You mean I need to worry about my JMs and other plants now too? Hopefully the rain will help. It was so much easier gardening in southern California. Although, I couldn't even grow Hosta and JMs there of course.

This supposedly is the last night I will have to cover up. I am tired! I was hoping the weather would warm up just a bit, but the forecast is predicting colder temperatures tonight than previously. It's been a challenge dealing with potted hostas too. In and out they go. The winds have been unkind along with the temperatures. I've held back on watering, but then the leaves have tended to almost wilt. I've been afraid to water with these cold temperatures even though many of the potted hostas are leafed out.

I was thinking about what Nicholsworth said about having a box insulated with a sheet, fleece and plastic. I think that would be a good insulator. You get a box, staple on a sheet, then fleece topped with plastic. That's a lot of work and it would be difficult for most people to store.

When I take a look at the sheets I use for covering up, I can see there are thicker and more tightly woven sheets. My in-laws had some really good strong cotton bed sheets. We still have some of those but have used them for different purposes. Maybe when the stores open up it would be worthwhile to have a look and see what the thrift stores have?

It's been cloudy, cold and windy today, in the 40's. Now (at 4:20 p.m.) the sun is coming out to tease us with a bit of warmth!

I'm having a cup of tea and reading Gardenweb..I put the pots out today and I think they're out for good..our low tonight is 45°..from now on the temps climb higher..finally!!..

if only all of us had a barn..we could build and store plant covers..big and small in large quantities..extra pots..tools and equipment..but in the real world most of us organize constantly to store our garden items..

I am doing the same!

A cup of Lady Grey and seeing what is going on. It is cold here 53 degrees and damp. A barn would be nice. I have a small spot in the garage and another small spot in a shed to store some things but really it's not bad. I might be looking at the barn and thinking "you know if that barn wasn't there, I would have more room for hosta."

It's only 45 here (but feels like 40) so 53 sounds good to me! Looks like you both are in the clear for tonight. Twenty-eight expected for us and then it gets better.

I remembered I have a quilted plastic tablecloth that I sometimes use to protect my dining room table. I wonder if that would be a good frost protector---plastic on the outside, fleecy on the inside? Not sure they even make them anymore.

Came inside to warm up and my son made me some green tea. I made myself a cheesecake for Mother's Day and I had a piece of that. I swear after the frosted nights are over I will have to go on many walks to wear off that cheesecake!

newhostalady..that tablecloth has good covering qualities..it has insulation and repels water..another idea that I've heard..coolers..can you imagine owning and storing the hundreds of coolers that we would need?..it would be impossible..

the weather forecast I heard last night said you might want to cover up plants, it was going to be cold. I didn't cover a thing and I didn't even check the temperature this morning. Everything was fine that I didn't cover last time, when it hit 31 on the back porch, and a couple of plants looked worse for wear for having a pot over them. And reading the comments here, about what is the best way to cover them, I thought, I just wasn't going to bother. If they were talking about 25 degree temps, that would be a different story, but near the freezing mark for a short time early morning hours, seems to work out okay.

Steve, whenever we have extreme temperature changes, my JMS do poorly the next year. With all the ups and downs this winter, I am sure that mine will have issues this summer. I also lost a red-veined enkianthus that had issues with the heat last summer. It had a hard time adjusting to the garden and couldn't handle the exposure from the wind where it was situated. I had one for years in a more protected area but it died and now that area has hostas in it of course. Did you get all the hostas that you listed in your post or are some still on your wish list? Really like a lot of them and wondered where you found them. I am still putting together a list and I have to hurry before some of the ones that I want are sold out.

Well, in the morning yesterday, Tuesday, no frost advisory. Sooooo, I had Bert uncover all the hostas, then at 9:00 pm all of a sudden, frost advisory issued!! Arrrgggg! Well, too late! Fortunately, it only reached 32 F for only an hour. Everything looks fine. Even the hostas that didn’t get covered on Friday when it Dipped to 27 F look fine. What a lot of work!

I have a fair amount of damage on some of the Hosta I couldn't cover up but they seem to be bouncing back pretty quickly. I may have lost one that was on the way out before the frost.

Miles, I never thought the JMs might be doing poorly because of the previous season. Mine seem to have fared better without putting the frost cover bag directly over the plant. If I could hang a sheet with space, that did best. Seems like the frost bags just held the cold on the leaves it was touching while the unfettered leaves had better air circulation. At least with barely freezing temps for short periods of time. Plus the wind whipping the nag around did its own damage. I have 4 JMs that are basically starting over - 2 I planted earlier this year believing the cold weather to be over. A few that have a portion of damage, a few with very minor and many that escaped damage either covered with a sheet or micro-climate protected.

So far, I've only received one out of three Hosta orders (from Hornbaker). I made a new order from Green Hills that is coming next week, along with (possibly) Maple River Gardens. Naylor Creek always seems to be last for me (so why not order a few more from them too). I was doing good with only 25 new ones, but just added 10 more.

I have two Fragrant Bouquet in different areas in my gardens, they both look like major CARP! One was totally ravaged by rabbits two seasons ago and then beat up with hail last season. This same plant had bad frost damage This season and the fans that are there are small and deformed, I’m ready to toss it : (

The second one got the hail damage last season and now the same frost damage, small deformed pips, I’m ready to toss this one too. I’m wondering if I need to replace with a beefier leafed hosta or something else entirely, just majorly frustrated with them both.

Sherry

I did notice the fragrant ones seem to be damaged more than others. Could just be the fact they are planted in more open settings to get more sun.

I think you’re right, Steve. I run short on patience at times. I’m Seriously Considering replacing it with something non hosta, parish the thought ; (

Sherry