" ...but the zinnias in the front were coated in frost (it was kind of pretty) -- they didn't blacken, so they should be fine. "

I hope I am wrong about this, but I think your zinnias are not fine. I suspect they are toast. This a photo of one of my zinnias in the frost we had in a previous year. You can click on the pics to see individual ice crystals.

It looked kind of pretty -- for a few hours.

The ice crystals are kind of decorative in a closeup photo.

Our first frost date here in central eastern Kansas is approximately October 20, give or take a week or two. Are you located in Canada?

ZM

I know, early for frost here in SE Michigan! I ended up covering my newly planted garden bed with a tarp and brought all my potted seasonal mums into the house. I also picked all my ripe/nearly ripe vegetables amd brought them in as well. My pole beans only just started producing beans a couple of weeks ago, and I imagine the remaining flowers will die off; next year I'll be growing bush beans instead.

the result of frost .. often doesnt appear.. until the next warmish day ... freeze on the other hand... they can turn to mush .. but God help us.. thats a few more months away ....

if it remains cold the day after the event.. and it sure isnt warm out there today ... then its like having them in suspended animation in a florists fridge.. but the next 70 to 80 degree day.. bammo ...

i told corgi to wing it yesterday.. apparently she went for the full contact exercise option... and good for her ... peace of mind ... back in the day .. by this time of year.. i was getting tired and ready to wind down for winter ... who cared if ma nature took some stuff early ... the sooner i could clean up ... and not have to worry about those plants ... or course.. if you cut them back too early.. and they respout they could be in active vegetative growth ... then then get frozen .. which might lead to rot come spring ... but i digress ...

ken

I'm in Michigan, kinda sorta between Ken and Corgi (maybe about an hour away in opposite directions).

Well, when taking a closer look, the zinnias are looking damaged -- this afternoon the foliage looks not so great, and the New Guinea impatiens are wilted/mushy so I'll take those out later today, but the annual geraniums, salvias, ageratum all still look good -- either they didn't get nipped due to their locations or they can take a bit of frosting, I'm not really sure.

Re: Pole beans: You can start them inside 2-ish weeks ahead of planting out in late May to get a jump on the bean production, they should start bearing latter part of July if they really take off.

We had frost here in central NY state as well with white everything this morning. Early for us as well. It's supposed to be cold for another couple of nights and then a week of warmer temps. I protected some tender plants last night and again tonight so I can get that extra week out of them. Some indoors, some under frost covers. The mandevillas I didn't cover turned brown, but the ones under the "planket" (actual name of the plant blanket I have) are fine.

Frost is possible this evening in eastern PA, on the foothills of the Appalachians. It's unusually early (normal being October 20th), but everything's been so out of kilter I can't say I'd be surprised by anything...including the 80 degree weather we're going to get next week and the week following.

I’m curious mxk3, about your comment about taking cuttings from annual salvia. I’ve never heard of doing that. Which salvia are you saving?

North53: Mystic Spires. I also took some cuttings of Black and Blue as a back up but will try to overwinter those plants dormant (too early to dig for dormacy now).

Thanks mxk3. I was in the process of dumping containers when I read your post. So I quickly snipped a few cuttings of my salvia. I don’t know which variety it is but it really performed this summer. We’ve had several nights of killing frosts, but somehow the salvias survived.

I have found that frost won't kill the Mystic Spires -- the foliage eventually gets destroyed but the roots are fine unless they get frozen. So, I tend to leave them out there to get frosted to kill off any insects, then trim back and bring in the house to re-pot and grow the mother over winter. The Black and Blue are too big to grow in the window, so I went the pre-frost cutting route (and will try to over-winter in the crawl space once dormant to see which method works better).

I will be interested in hearing how you make out wintering them in a dormant state.

Mxk, you've overwintered Mystic Spires? I'm delighted to hear that. I'm growing it for the first time this year and love it. Do you grow it like a typical houseplant over winter?

I'm trying to decide what to do with my tons of green tomatoes. Any great suggestions?

Martha