I am envious of your snow! We haven't had a good snowfall in my area since 2009/10. Glad your trees made it through!

You could have had it! I hate snow! I was so afraid the electric would go out and I would lose everything. The electric did go out. but only for a few hours. The greenhouse only fell down to just below freezing, before they got it back on again. I'm afraid to go check the pomegranates and figs that are planted in the ground. But maybe they will come back from the roots, if they were badly damaged. The azaleas and bush honeysuckle, look bad. all their leaves were frozen. But the snow has almost all melted. Just a few places the sun couldn't get to.

Snow like that is not unusual for a good part of the country. I'm sorry, did you say where you are located?

Evan, Thank you for the beautiful photo. I can hardly wait for my yard to green back up.

Dave, I am in Southwest Arkansas. We very seldom see snow at all, much less 16+ inches.

I think the last time we got even close to this much was in 2000. It was a very serious problem. No electricity, no water, stores with empty shelves, in some areas. Some people had no way to heat their homes. But we made it thru, and today the weatherman says highs in the high 60's. At this moment my greenhouse is 82F with the door open. Love the sunshine!

I think you have a good shot at everything being OK. I may live in CA but our Januarys can be quite cold with nights being in the very low 30s... and sometimes below in the 20s. The figs go dormant and come back each spring; they are in large pots. The Meyer lemon is in a pot and doesn't seem to be affected at all, nor do the lemon, lime or Kumquat that are in the ground. Nothing is protected by greenhoused or even a covering.

I do hope you will be pleasantly surprised to find that everything survived with very little harm. Here's hopen'.

Kate

Had 16 inches of snow in Olympia, WA, but the temperature only went down to about 24° F, since this area is in a relatively "mild" climate of zone 8a. The snow began falling fast, staying around for about 3 days, but then after that began to quickly melt under some light rain.

A little further north in Tacoma and Seattle they only had 5 inches of snow, probably because they are in more of a rain shadow area. They got that cold air from the polar vortex but not the moist air blowing in from the ocean.

Anyway, despite all the snow (which is a bit unusual for this area) it was still a fairly mild winter as far as temperature goes.

Snow does have its positive aspects though for plants, it helps to insulate the ground and allows for a SLOW release of water when it melts. I don't mind the snow in February, HOWEVER, I do mind when it lingers for weeks on end in a frozen, icy state (even though our bottom basement minimum was a balmy 15F by Zone 7 standards). Starting tomorrow (can't wait!), I will be bringing out my largest plants from their winter shelter (Date Palms, Pindo/Butias, Oleanders, Cycads, Citrus, Jubaea). Once they get out, I will pile the snow on top of the soil and surrounding their containers to help insulate them from temperature swings and supply desperately needed moisture (keeping them hydrated in the winter is my biggest challenge). They will be in full, unobstructed, daylong, southern sun (in a microclimate due to surrounding structures) from tomorrow to mid/late November Been doing this for years, works for me.

My Keraji mandarin still looks like it has healthy dark green leaves.

It's planted in the ground, but not too many feet away from the house. I only put a paper grocery bag over it, and a 1-gallon container of water under there (to help resist freezing). I don't think the cover really helps much, probably only makes 2-4 degrees (F) of difference. It was only covered for the 3 or 4 days of snow.

I don't know of too many parts of the country where citrus can be completely covered in snow and still make it.

The leaves on the Changsha mandarin look like they have turned a very yellowish green. It was not covered, but was in a more protected spot.

(They say Keraji is supposed to be able to survive 12-14° F and Changsha 10-12° F)

The Bloomsweet grapefruit, planted close to the house, only covered with a paper grocery sack, also looks okay. Leaves don't look the healthiest deep shade of green, but still green and alive. It's about 2 and a half feet from the south-facing brick wall.

I'll also point out that in this climate, there were several things in bloom right before the snow, and right after the snow. Most of the winter season in this climate is more like a cold Spring.

Here's a winter crocus flower that popped up only 2 days after the snow stopped.

Here's the leaves on one of my Ichang papeda (citrus similar to a hardy lemon) plants, they turn very yellowish and pale and don't seem to handle the cold temperatures well. But that's what it looked like last year too, and it was later able to put out some new leaf growth at the start of June.