Since I moved at the end of October, every plant I own is in a container and while they are grouped together in my tiny new yard, they are completely unprotected. What will be will be.

The coldest it has been for me was 15F yesterday morning. It is actually above freezing today (barely) and the temps are slowly climbing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It’s beautiful sunny & 20 degrees on my back yard protected thermometer here in Vancouver. High might be 28 & 15 overnight when the forecast changes to rain. So, we’re under storm watch for freezing rain from now through tomorrow sometime. Trash pickup was canceled for today.

I have a garden full of ongoing hardiness experiments! I've always done this in all of my (11) gardens, no matter what zone I've been in. Illicium Scorpio, Viburnum Chindo, Lindera angustifolia, Dichroa, Punica and various Cordyline are a few more that have not been through a winter in my garden. 14.8F has been the coldest so far but it will be colder tomorrow morning....and then the freezing rain and inevitable ice buildup, all day long tomorrow, before the temp finally goes above 32F again around 10pm. Things could get ugly as the damage gradually reveals itself over the weeks & months. But this is why I have 256 varieties, there will be plenty of beauty no matter how "brutal" the winter weather.

There are no interesting plants to show, but this is a leaf on the top of one of our frozen ponds. It looks like something from outer space.

It was 18 when I awoke and is now 22. Despite the reports saying it will warm up and be rain, I'll be very surprised if we don't get snow, and perhaps rain later on Wed or Thurs, and possibly more snow through the week. We are generally a bit colder than many places.

@SeniorBalloon That’s a very cool & photo worthy picture!

Down here the temp had risen to 28F by noon, and I started to get hopeful (that the rain might be unfrozen) but then it started to drop again after noon, now its 26.0F. And, the forecast has changed: subfreezing temps continue past midnight. Precip. -- in who knows what form -- will begin in a few minutes, at 2pm

Yikes! We’re still have weak sun & 29 F north of you but 35% chance of snow by 4 pm & 31 F predicted on our weather app. Like you I’m hoping against hope for no freezing rain!

Rain just started. Temp is 29. It's coming down and forming ice on everything it touches.

When we first moved here we had an ice storm. A bad one. Lost power and hundreds of trees came down, blocking our road in and out. Took me and 3 neighbors 4 hours to clear a single path out. We headed to Sears and bought a generator. The house came with a Gentran, we plugged it in fired up the generator and had heat (propane) and lights. Power came back on 4 days later.

Since then we've last power many times and we are well practiced at the routine. Still I hope it's nothing like that first one.

Been sitting at 32 for the last 48 or so, with very little fluctuation. We didn't get much snow, an inch or so, but despite a fairly steady rain, it's still here. Supposed to warm up today and through the weekend. Ready for it.

Weather Nerd Alert!

One thing I've gradually learned after living in the western part of the PNW for 18 years: The weather people/robots are never really sure how much snow/ice we will get, or even if it actually does happen. But, when it actually does happen, and it sticks, this always changes the forecast for several days after the event. Once the snow/ice is in place, the air temperatures will be much colder than they predicted. Snow and ice on the landscape dramatically lowers the temperatures until all of that snow & ice is melted. Kind of makes sense from a physics standpoint, it takes a lot of heat energy to change the temperature of water, and to change its state from a solid to a liquid. So, for days after a big snow event, it remains much colder than any of the forecast said it was going to be, and the snow lasts longer than expected.

Not exactly the same, but this year I learned the phrase Meteorlogical Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring. These are based on when temps/precipitation etc change, not when a calendar date is hit. I've always felt that this was the case and it felt odd to say Winter didn't start until Dec 21st, I mean, it's been wet and nasty for a while. Just didn't know there was a term for it

It is more or less back to normal in my location. Temps remain above freezing - although not by all that much at night - and they are slowly climbing. By the end of the coming week, we should be back to daytime temps in the low 50's and nights in the low 40's. Pretty standard weather for the end of January/February here.

Other than a very slight dusting of snow that vanished almost immediately and at least one day of some pretty fierce winds, did not receive any seriously bad weather. At least no ice storms!!

Currently 44F and with a slight misty rain falling.

We had brutal ice, there is a lot of damage. I will be planting a lot of new stuff in 2024! It's quite nice out there today, I think I'll go out and assess the damage. We have not left the house in 6 days! I hope your containerized garden fared well, Pam!

LOL!! I hope so too, Klark! But too soon to tell. So far, all the evergreen stuff looks OK but often it takes some time for cold damaged plants to actually croak :-) I will also be planting a lot of new stuff as well as I want more BLE's than much other stuff and I'm compiling a shopping list. I really hope all my JM's have made it through okay - they are the most susceptible to freezing roots and 15 degrees is well below their tolerance level.

BLE's took the biggest hit from the ice. Now that I know ice happens every single winter here, I'll have to think hard about what to replace them with, other, perhaps stronger species, or switch to conifers.

I give up - what’s BLE?

BroadLeaved Evergreen

Its been long enough now for the cold damage to show up. These are looking the worst: Pittosporum, Sarcococca, Daphne, Feijoa, Luma, Laurus, and especially Mahonia Soft Caress, which look dreadful. The ice damage was not as bad as I initially thought. Many things bent to the ground, but almost all are righting themselves. Only three plants broke: Magnolia Majestic Beauty - top half snapped off, Magnolia Inspiration - one branch snapped off, and Arbutus Marina cracked apart at ground level, but I put her back together with a bolt though the trunk and a tall stake + ropes holding the stems & branches towards the center. I'm really pleased that Illicium Scorpio and Viburnum Chindo are looking very good, I was expecting them to really suffer after almost 24 hours below 16F, and a low of 14.9F.

PDX was 29 hours below 20F, low of 13. Feijoa here has historically re-leafed by 1 June after similar cold snaps. Bloom density might be affected.

Can't tell yet, but the hellebore flowers look like they took a hit. I always cut back last years foliage, and this year did it a few weeks before the frost. Wondering if they would have provided some protection. They look kind of melted. Maybe they'll come along.

Just took another look around and these are also in rough shape: Cyrtomium falcatum Rochefordianum, Drimys lanceolata, Crinodendron patagua, Myrtus communis tarrentina and Cordyline Torbay Dazzler.

Hellebore flowers seem to be unaffected.

My 2 Hellebores look fine - lots of buds on them. I did lose a hinoki shrub - about 3.5’ tall. Maybe an obtusa or gracilis can’t remember. It was in a pot for many years & I put it inground @ 5 years ago. Its branches grew upwards & the heavy ice on the ends of them broke many of branches on front of plant right at trunk. Total loss of appearance. I cut the branches off & sent them out in yard waste & will dig up plant when it’s not so wet out. My Kalaidascope abelias which are somewhat evergreen all did a major leaf shed from the cold but I’m pretty sure come spring they’ll sprout new leaves. Also my 2 sarcococca are doing great - in full and extremely fragrant bloom! This is NE Vancouver - @ 300’ elevation

My two Sarcococca (ruscifolia & confusa) were all budded up and itching to bloom before 'The Blast'. After, the foliage has taken a major hit, about 50% browned. The flowers were probably reduced slightly, but with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s lately they are both blooming profusely, and also super-fragrant! Daphne odora will be just around the corner.

As far as I can tell, my only fatalities are two recently potted herbs. And "fatalities" may be a bit extreme :-) They are alive but they don't look good. The parsley is as limp as a wet noodle and the rosemary is a disconcerting color. They should recover but NBD if they don't.

I am surprised that things look like they did as well as I think they did....considering everything is in a container. My collection of maples and clematis are budding up nicely and my pittosporum - County Park Dwarf - looks untouched. But then I've had experience with that shrub and very cold temps in a previous Shoreline garden and it's always come through like a trooper.

I will be adding to my brand new garden a lot this spring and mostly BLE's. Since temps like we experienced earlier this month are uncommon and ice storms here are really rare, I refuse to worry about it and will pick what I want!! Including Mahonia 'Soft Caress', Klark :-) I've used it in a number of client designs and I love the look.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) Hi gg - just a thought - while I don’t disagree with you that the weather we recently experienced is really uncommon & rare, I’m in the camp that things are changing because these ’rare’ events are happening more often. I am a climate change believer & the ”heat domes” we’ve experienced the last couple summers reinforces my belief as well as these ice events & late spring snow events. Because of that I now look for plants with lower temp hardiness for winter & lower water requirements for summer. But, I also agree with your approach of ”…refuse to worry about it…” Me too!

Didn't someone once say that if you haven't killed a plant variety three times...?