Sorry Utog, last year I had a bad snap of freeze in April??? I know know many of mine were leafing out, not just pips……

Went crazy covering them…..most were ok but some showed damage…..the American Hosta Society had an excellent article comparing different ways of covering the hostas by many growers and well known names in the hosta AMS. I received the article because I joined for $25. I don’t know if you joined now if you would have access to the article. I have it but would have to dig it out of storage.

debra

How is your garden, FL? My hydrangeas have activated growth points along the stems today and are starting to recover. Some are still all brown. I am optimistic about having lots of foliage and even some blooms.

Mine look worse than yours. They are limp, mushy, slimy and brown. I pulled off a a few and they are so gross (2nd only to slugs) I am just going to leave them to Mother Nature to take care of. The ones that are more under trees look like yours. I have very big pieces of booboo fabric form a bed spread company that I use for late frosts and next time I will lay them out for protection. I knew it was going to get very cold but didn't think about what it would do to the leaves. On the positive side the Veronica is blooming all over blue and wasn't phased by the cold.

this is common up here in the cold north .. if i didnt have frosst or freeze damage any given spring.. it wouldnt be MI ....

i wouldnt cut anything for at least a month ..

you arent a god.. and you dont really know what is damaged beyond use to the plant ... though if you have 20 or 30 years of experience.. you probably have a pretty good idea if you really need to walk around in your garden in march ....

whats your hurry to fix it anyway ...

if i am infringing on a private conversation.. then take it private ...

ken

Agreed that frost damage is just a part of life. In NC, it gets hot quickly and early. Last frost is early April, with spring heavy upon us as early a mid February some years. Tomorrow, high of 80’s. Lots of heat and moisture are a beacon to the many fungi and blights for which we are famous…If there is dead tissue on a plant, the blights can establish infections easily. It is a tough decision. Luckily, the weather is nice enough for daily garden rounds to assess the patients’/plants’ recovery and to reserve intervention based on daily inspection.

The bad ones. The damage is extensive. The one in my hand blooms on old wood, so will not bloom this year unless there were some dormant growth points that had not broken dormancy before the frost. The 3rd photo is the gorgeous white/green variegated, which should survive as a foliage only plant this season. It breaks dormancy too soon every year, so always gets injured. It has been slow to grow, likely related to the damage every late winter/early spring. It has never bloomed despite 4-5 years old. The last is a photo should the frost-killed growth points oozing sap, a wound ripe for infection.

Utog, I have one old wood hydrangea and I understood that they could be cut to the ground each year. Would that limit damage do you think?

debra

I agree, why are the weeds undamaged? lol

I am sorry about your damage. my hydrangeas seem to be ok. But i dont think my clematis will have a spectacular year. It was just about to have the big show. i covered it but waiting to see what it does. i missed

covering the toad lilies. they are complete mush. oh well

Debra, that is a great question for Ken if he is following. My MIL is the source of pretty much all of my hydrangeas, as clippings from hers. She always leaves the old wood in place to increase the blooms.

For FL, here are the ones under observation without plan to intervene. I expect the ones with black inside the opening leaf clusters are the frozen bloom tips.

My variegated one was the most leafed out and is the worst off. It was the furthest along and not tucked under the dogwood. My ferns had put up their fiddle heads and they are all frosted and bent over. There are a lot of hosta noses sticking up but they are okay looking so far. Everything just woke up too early this year.

I am 65 and have been gardening since I could recognize and pull weeds--grew up on a farm and we grew everything that was needed for the table except staples. We also had all of the old pass along plants that were very hardy. This is the first time I have had this bad of flower and bud loss. So I guess I've been lucky.

It was a bad freeze, but it sounds like it was even worse in your next of the woods. I am determined to look forward to a great growing season anyway. The camellias did fine aside from a few scorched flowers. These are from 2 days ago, collected 3 days after the deep freeze.

FL, my garden is about 1 week further along this year compared to last year per the photos on my phone. That also could have contributed to the extent of the damage this year, as the awakening plants are much more vulnerable than the dormant ones.

"I have one old wood hydrangea and I understood that they could be cut to the ground each year. Would that limit damage do you think?"

It would certainly limit stem damage due to cold....but it would also eliminate any possibility of flowering. Generally, the rule of thumb on these is NO pruning unless deadheading or removing any deadwood that remains after leaf-out.

As to the green and white variegated hydrangea (assume 'Maresii Variegata'), that is a very reluctant bloomer under the best of circumstances, typically grown more for the foliage effect. In my almost ideal hydrangea growing climate, this shrub bloomed very rarely for me.

GG, yes to everything you said!

My variegated hydrangea is always covered with blooms--but not this year. The Lemon Daddy is the one that gives only a few blooms.

Mostly my hydrangeas are recovering nicely, with the green-white variegated one still all brown without signs of recovery yet. For progression and curiosity, I left the dead tissue on the hydrangea from the last photo of bad ones 3/18/22. What has happened is the the entire stalk died. The bark is sloughing off and the stem beyond the injury is brittle, too light. This one blooms on new wood and grows like a weed, so the plant should be fine.

FL, she survived!

I am glad she made it. All of my others are doing pretty good and now have leaves except the variegated one. No new buds yet. Even the star and Japanese magnolias have had a few late blooms to open. Once it gets some growth I will know where to trim. One of my earliest hosta got shriveled bad. It was just tips but as they are opening they look very distorted. Every year there are new things to learn.

utog..spring frosts are a bummer for sure..🙁

I love macrophylla hydrangeas like most people..after reading for years on Gardenweb I've learned that even in GA, NC, SC and TN you can have issues..I was surprised and thought those states were foolproof!..I had a macrophylla at a rental house in San Mateo CA for 5 years..it was there when I moved in (79) and out (84)..I moved in at 23 and knew nothing about hydrangeas..I never fed it or pruned it..rarely watered it..it was fine..when we drove by on a trip in 2003 it was still there!..it seems to me that the PNW and northern CA are great locations for macs..NC would certainly be better for macs than Indianapolis (my home) but I think San Mateo beats NC..Lombard St in San Francisco has hundreds (?) of macs..I've learned a lot from Gardenweb..

we had a beautiful week..several days of 70's..I just saw a 7 day forecast..Fri night/Sat morn 21°..😥

NW, it seems that the PNW is the ideal climate for everything I love to grow. Maybe I should move there…
FL, the photo today is Maresii, the green-white variegated one. It has looked like death for the past 9 days, but shows the promise of life today. My saucer magnolias were fried by the frost, but opened a couple flowers yesterday. One day at a day. My hostas are growing like crazy, some deformed by the frost damage. At the rate that they are growing, I think the foliage damage will be minimal.

I had a great time during my 5 years in CA..but I missed having some warm weather..I wish I knew then what I know now about plants..I'd do things differently for sure..

I think I'd love Hawaii!..highly unlikely 😂..

in a tropical place I would sure miss hostas..

Frankielynnsie,
The forecast tonight is the one I have been dreading. 32 or lower for 4 hours with winds 11-15 mph, gusts to 20 mph. I have about 200 hostas with either long, green pips or unfurling leaves. The hydrangeas were finally recovering from the last freeze and the last hydrangeas to break dormancy just did so this week. I will do what I can. Good luck.
Raspberry Sundae earlier this week, Lemon Kiss, Valley’s Lemon Squash, and Montana aureomarginata.

Oh my. I am sure you are out covering everything right now. It is getting down to 35 tonight here so everything should be okay. I would lend you my big bag of bedspread cotton cloths if I could. It has been so windy here for the last week. My cherry trees have all bloomed out but the wind has blown off their petals so they didn't stay pretty for long. On a good note there are teeny tiny buds coming up on some of my worst hydrangeas so they will at least have leaves.

I have covered or moved to crawl space about 200 hostas and set the stakes for the hydrangeas that are most vulnerable right now. There is simply too much to cover. Now, ibuprofen and muscle relaxant.

utog..a lot of work but you'll be glad you protected them..my neighbor put buckets over his daffodils..I didn't cover anything..I'm sure in a few weeks when the leaves have unfurled on my shrubs and small ornamental trees I'll see frost damage..I'll just have to ignore it..🙁

Yes, dealing with pending frost is a nightmare for sure! Nothing is pipping here so far so the cold nights we are still having (21 degrees F last night). Soon though I should start to see pips. Last year in early April many were pipping.

debra

I meant, the cold nights we are having aren’t affecting anything at this point.

debra

Hopefully, the last frost has passed after 2 nights in a row. These represent most of the ones that weathered the frost in the crawl space. I just pulled them out to rest on the north NE side of the house tonight 3/29/22.

I am glad you were able to protect most of your plants. We were lucky and it only got down to 35. I am looking forward to the end of frost weather. Average last frost is April 15. So far everything is 2 to 3 weeks ahead of normal. It looks like the blueberries will not be having a bumper year because the cold hit during their bloom. The weeds are happy.

Ditto RE blueberries. Last frost date here is 4/12, though rare after 4/8. I am watching the forecast closely.

what is the hosta with the strawberry color stems called? the third photo

Happy looking flowers and hosta. Yours are a little further along than mine. I am enjoying the new leaf color on the trees. Reds, oranges and spring greens. Next will be all the wormies from the oak and pecan trees.

I haven't seen them yet but my hummies are back. Their nectar is disappearing. I need to spend some time sitting on the front porch so I can see them. But I am still doing a lot of clean up from fall/winter. Putting out mulch, pulling weeds, rounding up stray fall leaves. Got out the slug bait--there is a bumper crop of slugs already--ick.

Mamaham, Valley’s Lemon Squash. I love it!

4/4/22
Montana aureomarginata in foreground with Coast to Coast near the magenta azalea.
Illicium Florida Sunday with red azalea in background. The red azalea. The delicately fragrant azalea with still-dormant hosta Afterglow.

After the hail today. Boy, did I get lucky with minimal damage. I am so grateful. Unruly Child, Liberty, Montana aureomarginata, and Spartacus with fragrant hostas.

utog..hail??...oh no!..is there anywhere that a young hosta is safe?..

I read about issues in lots of locations..😞

NW, hail was not in the forecast. I was awakened around 5 am this morning to the pitter-patter noise of hail. Luckily, the stones were small, a little bigger than sleet. It lasted about 5 minutes, followed by lots of heavy rain. Large leaf plants are only safe under awnings or cover in hail. Most of my potted hostas are still on the patio next to the house. The oak trees have not leafed out yet. My hostas could have been shredded. I got lucky. I could not bear to check them this morning. My youngest son and my husband scouted the garden of their own volition and reported that the hostas seemed in damaged, even beautiful.

utog..so glad your hosta aren't shredded..the worst hail ever here was early in the season..my hosta were dormant..I was lucky..

I'm in the north Georgia mountains. We had a low of 31 last week. I had to work late that night and had to go in the next morning at 7, so just didn't have the desire to cover anything. The hostas that were up and significant didn't seem bothered at all. The older hydrangeas (that were there when we bought the house) were fine, the 2 I put in last spring got burned. Overall I was ok with the minimal damage we sustained.

I had been about 6 weeks since that frost. About half of my hydrangeas are ok and have buds, while the other half is still recovering with serious setbacks and diebacks. That’s what I expected or better than. Here are the bad: the white variegated one will live, the old lacecaps (reblooming and non-) are trying to recover. The reblooming ones took the hardest hit, showing 50-75% dieback.

My yellow variegated is doing great (2 photos, drape posts still in place), Tuff Stuff, and my mophead.

May 14 confirms that all plants survived and the ones that bloom on new wood will still bloom. The ones that emerge early and/or bloom on old wood took a hit resulting in decreased blooms for 2022.

What is the name of the yellow variegated hydrangea? Is it Omacha Variegata?

FL, it is! I bought one for my MIL at the same time. Of course, hers is spectacular today.

That is beautiful. Another for my must have list.

Rewards for our efforts, FL.
Tuff Stuff with blue NOID and hostas. Annabelle with Little Honey, Omacha in bloom, and the classic mophead. My mopheads have a much reduced bloom with only 10-25% blooms compared to previous years. The lacecaps that bloom on old wood took the biggest hit, with zero blooms and reduced leaf growth. This is a good reason to avoid monoculture, I guess.

All (32) but the variegated hydrangea have lots of blooms and it is going to have a hand few. It did loose 2 large sections from the ground up so it is no longer rounded. After it blooms I am going to figure out what to remove to restore it to a better shape. My others were under trees enough to protect them. I love hydrangeas.

My happy place under the oaks