NE and Midwest need to get ready. Talking head weather people talking frost here AND 28 degrees. 28 degrees ain't frost; it is a FREEZE! I'm planning the container over the top method myself - does that work well for you? I've used tarps before - seems cold penetrates tarps - never been real happy with tarp method.

jimr66..so many of us have this problem 😢 you did a great job gathering containers to cover yours..maybe I can find more than I think I have..

I have over a hundred hostas. I just mounded dirt over

some of the smaller ones . I've never had to do this before, so I don't know if it will be effective or not. I hope it doesn't get as cold as they say. The sun is quite strong this time of year, hopefully it will ameliorate the cold somewhat. What can you do?

I will cover as many as possible with pots and Then I have some yards of burlap and lightweight batting for sewing, yards. I’ll do as much as I can!

What is the process of watering to prevent freeze damage? Wet the plants before the freeze or sprinkle for several hours until the air warms up? Does it work either way?

Jim, Will you be uncovering the plants today? In Ontario, the forecast is for a high of 5C and cloudy. Will you uncover only if it becomes sunny this afternoon?

Calling in ALL of my buckets, trash bins, garbage cans, recycle bins, cat litter buckets, plant containers. A daunting task starting this morning making me realize I have hostas everywhere, all over the place (but NEVER too many). Undulatas, plantagenias and lancifolias are on their own - sorry dudes ( I will regret that if I have to look at damaged hostas all summer) .

If it will be windy I'll have to put bricks on every container. An all day task.

For those with a manageable number of hostas, bed sheets draped over plants will help prevent frost/freeze damage. Leave them on a few hours the next morning until the sun warms them up, then uncover. As is obvious above, pots, buckets, etc are fine for smaller gardens. Avoid draping plastic over hostas, it does not protect the plants, and may even cause more damage.

I have over an acre of hostas, so what will I do to protect them? Nothing, there is no way to cover that many hostas. I may cover the 15 brand new ones that were planted 2 weeks ago, but the rest will have to tough it out on their own.

The good news is that even if a hosta freezes to the ground, it will send out new growth almost immediately. Expect the plants that are hard frozen to come back smaller this year, but by next year they will be back to their normal size.

Mae, it is supposed to freeze every night here until Tues. They will stay covered until then. It is going to be so cold, I don't think they will be doing much growing anyways. This is very disappointing for me. I ( as well as everyone here I'm sure) looks forward to this time of year. I'm not thrilled looking at a bunch of buckets......

Dhaven, good to know about the second flush.

Everything is frozen solid, even the ones I covered. It was much colder than forecast. It dropped to -5c. The ground under the ones I protected isn't frozen, but the new leaves are like popsicles. All my hemerocallis, ligularia, asiatic lillies japanese maples etc are completely frozen, complete disaster this year.

Jim, I am so sorry to hear that news. Like you, I tried my best to protect my hostas. I covered 104 Hosta with variety of containers filled with leaves...most are popsicles or ”at best” half frozen. The best container seems to be plain old cardboard filled with leaves. Plastic pails, plastic coated cardboard, bushel baskets unsuccessful. Hostas covered with leaves only are mostly frozen solid. Row covers doubled up yielded a mixed bag of popsicles and some ok. Location seems to have played a role. In areas where there was some moisture in soil, the plants fared somewhat better. It’s been a dry windy spring so the land is too dry. 13 hours of freezing temperatures proved to be too much.

I'm in Oshawa. I'm hoping things will reflush at some point. With covid, the gardens were the only thing keeping me positive.

And the garden will give us comfort again.

So sorry to hear of all this damage to foliage. At least there will be a chance to see it all rise again.

Wow. I'm afraid to look. It got to 26 here and was below freezing for 8 hours. I googled -5c = 23F for us southern folk. No reports yet from Wisc. people!

Looking out the window everything looks fine - of course it does, everything is in suspended animation. Only evidence of cold is birdbath frozen over. My Viburnum out the kitchen window was just ready to explode with fragrant bloom - hoping upon hope since it hadn't bloomed yet all the buds survived!

LAST YEAR's photo from 4/28/19. Snow covering Lancifolias, Undulatas, and Albos - all were undamaged (hmmm - maybe old timeys telling the whippersnappers lil sumpin sumpin). But snow is different from cold!

Oh Jim, I am so sorry to hear that!

Jim and Mae, I feel for you and the damage the frost has caused. I know what you mean, Jim, when you say the the garden has given you much pleasure, especially now with the virus and restrictions. I feel that way too. I haven't experienced a garden that has been severely harmed by frost, so I don't know if I have any helpful suggestions for you. I am thinking though that I would try to purchase some new plants to keep me busy until my garden could regrow.

You ask about what the effects of water would be on plants during frost. I recently posted on someone's thread an article about spring frost and damage. It is by Clarence Falstad III and was published in a hosta society newsletter. This is what he says about water:

"Water is also effective in many ways. Keeping your garden well watered early the morning before a frost may actually allow for greater radiation warming from the sun (if your hosta beds get direct sun). A dry garden will hold less heat than a wet garden. Irrigating during low temperature hours can also help. The warmth in the water can warm the foliage and surrounding air. Although evaporation of water takes energy and will cool the surrounding area, water releases a tremendous amount of heat as it freezes. Since hostas can tolerate (especially mature fall foliage) some temperatures below freezing, the heat given off during the freezing process can provide additional warmth as well. If you are not able to water your garden continuously during forecasts of frost, even short intermittent periods of a few minutes irrigation during the critical period will help by keeping water on the foliage."

I think you did a great job in covering up your hosta. In the future (hopefully it won't happen), you could add another layer (blanket? sheet? burlap? to everything you already covered. This is what Clarence Falstad III says:

"Two layers, such as a large plastic pot with an additional top layer of burlap, may guard against even lower temperatures. If plants are not too tall a few handfuls of dried tree leaves can provide yet more protection when covering the foliage."

Interestingly, Mae says her ground was dry. Was yours also Jim?

Newhostalady, it's been very dry and windy here. In my area (just east of Toronto) we've only had 2 decent rains since the beginning of April. It's also been much colder than usual. Over all a very strange spring. The one good thing is the hostas were quite far behind. So hopefully there will be something nice this year. I hope the 4 remaining frosts ( until Wednesday) don't ffinish off what's left.

Jim and Mae..I'm sorry too..I hope in the next few weeks the weather cooperates and your plants get a fresh start and take off..

Jim, I am closer to Toronto and Lake Ontario so my temperatures have not been as extreme as yours. The weather you describe though is similar to what I am experiencing----unseasonably cold with little rain. Many of my hostas are emerging but Liberty and one of my Rainbow's End are unfurling and quite large. I have several hosta pots I have been dragging into the garage and then back out again. They are completely leafed out and woke up earlier than ever this year. Sometimes, due to the high winds, the pots are returned prematurely to the garage. Today we were about 6 degrees C. Tonight -1 C I just want to get by these next few days and hope for warmth to come soon. I do hope mother nature will be kind to you in these next few days.

NHL, I always imagined you lived in Windsor...will have to adjust my thinking. I have a bad case of zone 6 envy. Also near-to-the lake envy.

Aw, Jim, I'm sooo sorry to hear of your plants getting hammered by the cold. I hope that a lot of them surprise you with a comeback.

Thanks Esther, (and everyone else), I will find out on Wednesday. 3 more frosts. Monday night being the worst ( -4 forecast)

So sad to hear of Mother Nature's fickleness hitting you folks so hard.