We had 20F two months ago, and I was SURE that my beets would do fine. But they were almost seedlings, just a few inches tall, and the greens were devastated. The plants all resprouted leaves, and the beets recovered entirely. I too assumed my parsely would survive, but the small plants were mostly killed. No question that very young and immature plants are less frost tolerant.

I am so sorry. Yes, this swing weather is worst than just cold or heat. I am now considered 8a. but sometimes the low temps are zone 6.

It is heartbreaking when it happens. I am sorry you are dealing with it but the plants will recover. Been there, done that.

Yes, all will recover except the parsley which needs to be resown and I'm not certain if the epimediums will releaf. If they don't, they'll be dead. Seven plants, all starts of my favorites from my old property.

That's terrible, I'm sorry. Our weather also has some wild swings, although I'm in 5a, so things are just now starting to turn green, the lilacs just have tiny little leaves and they are usually among the first.

Years ago my area was 5, and last frost date was about June 8. Now they've changed the designation to 5a and last frost date is May 20. Last year I started planting on May 5 and nothing was lost to frost, but a couple of years before that we had a frost on Mother's Day and lost the peaches and the cherries, both of which were in bloom and a few tomatoes, although I covered them to protect them.

This year? It snowed today and will be 27F tonight or lower, then we'll have a string of days with low in the 40s, but I sure don't count on putting anything outside until mid or late May because it just is so inconsistent.

I do hope the plants from your old property recover, some things are just not possible to replace.

Annie

Thanks, Annie. I haven't had the heart yet to take a really close look at the epimediums.

When I moved to this part of West Virginia over 50 years ago it was zone 5A. Now it's nearly 7 except when we have these swings--almost no winter/no snow, but sometimes swings to around zero for a few nights. This last winter, we had colder weather and more snow than we'd had in 10 years. Summers used to never get much over mid 80s, no humidity and you never needed an air conditioner. Now we get into the 90s, it's humid, and you do need an air conditioner.

Laceyvail... Just awful! We have not had a 20F night. The lowest temp here has been 30F one night...two in a row actually. Maybe with the wind chill it was colder. I hope you are able to cheer yourself up with new plants. :-) Very discouraging about the epimedium. Those are not easy to collect and are not cheap. Many of mine were eaten by rabbits and they haven't come back. *sigh* If it's not one thing it's another.

I have been trying to focus on the later garden here, just so as not to depend on an early season and then the plants get zapped by a cold couple of nights. I did go out and cover a few things, and i brought 3 pots of a shurb I had just dug up into the front entry where the temperature is usually 10 degrees higher than the outside temperature. Not a lot of room in there, and it doesn't help if everything is in the ground.

Good possibility then that we might have a late freeze still to come, after we've had a week of 70s. So thank you for the warning. I'm going to keep my eyes open.

I feel your pain. It’s like that every year here. Supposed to be 14 tomorrow and all my perrennials have begun to wake up

SO frustating. My fingers are crossed that we stay above 40° at night from here on out.

The daffodills and forsythia were fine. The iris are blooming as well as the Krume azalea, Pink Pearl. I am going to have to grow the Black Turkey fig in a pot instead of the ground.

laceyvail, I was afraid that one of my epimediums was a goner but it has recovered nicely. I hope that you have the same experience.

Betsy, did yours get his by a freeze too? Most of mine look like they will recover, but I'm not sure about 2 of the weaker plants.

laceyvail, I'm glad to hear that your plants may not have taken a fatal hit. As for our world, I was sent a quote by one of my favorite Indigenous authors, Robin Wall Kimmerer:

“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

Getting your hands in the dirt just helps with a lot of things.

Annie

laceyvail, we have had too many swings in our temperatures--too many freezing dips, then too warm, then more freezing dips. That is hard on all of us and apparently plants don't do too well with it either.

I am still not sure whether I have a lot of damage or not. I did see that there were few living buds on my Oakleaf Hydrangea, which surprised me. It is in a windy area of the garden. I cut the whole thing down to the ground a month ago and I'm hoping that it will come back. It was old and the main trunks were in bad shape and I just didn't think pruning was going to work. I have another Hydrangea that I can see is completely dead.

Today I noticed that my Itea is not looking like anything is growing on it. Another surprise and that is not in a windy area. Maybe it will show some growth later? I did lose one or two roses. A couple of others are barely coming back, while two are just going gang busters and are already leafing out all the way up the canes. And they are in a windy area too. Beverly and Julia Child. I did have a couple of dead canes that I pruned off but they look healthy and vigorous.

I lost a Gaura, that doesn't surprise me. I thought they were only hardy to z6 and I've been surprised by the many years they have come back.

The daffodils are amazing this year. There are so many flowers on them! And I spent a little time cleaning up in my front bed and the hyacinths are wafting fragrance. All this cool weather and rain have kept the bulbs looking fresh. I think Saturday it's supposed to be 75F and I'm hoping the sudden change won't cut their pristine display short.

I would be interested to know what plants are survivors and are coming back vigorously for everyone? Maybe we can all start increasing those plants that can tolerate these weather changes better?

For over 20 years epimediums have never been harmed in my garden, but the weather swings have gotten really nuts. I'm not sure we can predict what will hold and what will fall anymore because so much depends on when and how much it swings. One winter some years back, after very warm weather in February and then back to what would be normal in February, I lost a very large Arctostaphlos, several Deutzias and some other shrubs that I no longer can remember.

But when these swings happen, it reminds me never to attempt a Japanese maple.

I did have a lot of damage to my Japanese Maple a few years ago. I planted that 30 years ago in a 3 gallon pot and that is the first time it has had any damage. I lost a lot of small branches over the whole tree but it just looked less dense. Two people in the neighborhood had the same 'Bloodgood' Japanese Maple and they had enough damage to have to prune the tree back in a way that looks unnatural. This year will tell how it will fill out after last year's pruning. So I guess the damage was in 2023?

I probably shouldn't say this, as it may piss folks off.........but this is one of the reasons why I love living in the PNW. Although we normally typically enjoy mild weather, it can get cold here. But both the cool down in fall and the warm up in spring are gradual - no big swings in either direction.

The downside is that our summers are cool compared to much of the country so the growing season for annuals and veggies is short, especially those crops like tomatoes and peppers that rely on heat to develop well and ripen. Same with fruit trees - one needs to make sure you pick the correct varieties that will ripen in cooler temps and within a few months time.

But there is virtually no concern for things like Japanese maples or broadleaf evergreens, even grown in containers. Even temperennials or tender perennials tend to winter over easily. I have buds on my overwintered snapdragons already!

Gardengal, you are indeed lucky, but perhaps only for now. Climate change continues.

Oh, I don't doubt that it will continue. And while I can likely expect increasingly warm summers and drier conditions, I doubt late spring freezes or wide temperature fluctuations will occur.

It is becoming well known that climate change is disrupting the polar vortex and jet stream, in which cold air usually just swirls around the poles. When that happens, the polar vortex dives south, and brings frigid conditions to places that don't expect it. Here in central Texas, we usually get freezes every other winter or so. These are rarely bad freezes. But for each of the last three winters, we've seen temperatures drop into in the teens or lower, which is very very unusual. Disruption of the polar vortex has been blamed for that. The process is not well understood, but seems to have to do with the warming of arctic regions because of climate change. That warming disrupts the vortex, and sends the still quite frigid air careening south.

Well, now we're getting high summer weather again--days in the high 70s and 80s and nights in the high 50s. Could certainly still get frost--or freeze.

Yep, today's temp will hit 87F and we will be in low 80's for the next 8 days with low 60's at night. I won't rule out a surprise dip down into the 30's again before May.

Late frosts and even freezes were always common in WV springs. But we didn't used to have summer temps preceding them--spring yes, but not summer.

Yes, it did not swing from 80* to 10*. I am cutting down my beds anyway, so the things that do not survive will not be replaced, except for figs and they will go in pots now.

Gardengal, you don't need to live in the PNW to see the protection of a maritime influence. In the East, the still cold Atlantic keeps things in check, so heat is not usually followed by killing cold. This also means that severe storm season events (i.e., TORNADOES) are also a rarity, but freezes are OVER. It was still 84 F today despite a cold sea nearby, all my tropicals that can tolerate some chill are outside, no concerns.

Several years ago we had a week of near 90's in March, highly unusual here. My Actinidia kolomikta(s) leafed out and flowered. Then we were plunged back into normal freezing temps. The vine later leafed out again but close to no fruit. Summer is not supposed to come in March!

Everything that was normal is now passing or gone. We're in unknown territory.

So true, life is stressful enough without the sanctuary of our gardens being undermined. We have had 3 years of extremely hot summers and drought conditions. I was happy that we had a lot of snow to replenish ground water. I can only say no matter what the weather brings certain plants will be pleased.

Getting back from a trip so catching up w/GW, but completely agree w/LaceyVail. Due to an additional light frost we had (temp didn't actually go below 32F, but it formed all the same) this has been the worst spring ever. By far. I'm especially worried about my Ginkgo 'Princeton Sentry'. It will probably be ok, but the new growth, only 0.5 to 1 cm emerged, has been burnt to black, which is disconcerting! Some new leaves on magnolia have black edges, but, again, I think they will be ok. But just the pattern of continued swings is what annoys me. There's never been this kind of 'double jeopardy'.

Annoyingly, it wasn't enough to kill the damn jewelweed seedings that are coating the ground in my shade garden! I guess they evolved to be slightly freeze resistant. (would make sense, they evolved right here!)

"Gardengal, you don't need to live in the PNW to see the protection of a maritime influence."

"In the East, the still cold Atlantic keeps things in check, so heat is not usually followed by killing cold."

Well, not to belabor this, but we're talking about very different levels of marine influence. Martha's Vineyard is probably the most marine influenced municipality along the east coast (in the sense meant here) and the all time record low is -9F. Even quite recently they went to something like -6F which came as a nasty surprise to someone with probably the best private collections of rhododendron species on the east coast. Similarly latitude on the west coast? Crescent City, CA: all time record low of 19F!

EDIT: in fairness, yes, I'm alluding to a different thermodynamic situation. It's true the northeast coast is prevented from warming up to a degree, by the cool water. As is the PNW. This is because heat mostly (but not always!*) comes from the south. And that water is cool in spring. Alas it is not nearly as prevented from cooling down, 'cause cold air come from the N/NW, and all we have up there is the frozen tundra Canada! If we made Canada vanish, we would have a climate much more like Australia, except then the midwestern 'breadbasket' would be a desert.

* - However about once every couple of years, a very odd thing happens when there's an onshore flow in the southeast, and high pressure centered offshore of NJ. It wraps around clinging to the Appalachians. Probably, downslope warming several times in the mountains. Boston can be 95F while, say, Charleston SC, is a cooler, but muggy, 80F! Similar strange setups can take place in the west, warming Seattle way beyond its chilly summer averages.

It especially irks me when people in coastal New England, or even more ludicrous, Nova Scotia for cryin' out loud, say they are 'warmed by the Gulf Steam'. At that latitude, the Gulf Stream is always hundreds of miles out to sea. If anything, they are cooled by the Labrador current. The meaningful influence of the Gulf Stream ends around Southeastern Virginia...I might give it a stretch to a bit north of there. But if the GS truly clung to the east coast all the way to Nova Scotia, those area would be warmer in winter, *on average*. Albeit still prone to arctic outbreaks, which would kind of be worse in a way. At least they stay chilly in winter now, as 41 points out.

While the PNW --and specifically the area west of the Cascades-- has had an historically wonderful climate for gardening, there is no denying that the heat event of June-July 2021 and the cold event around January 13 2024, happened. This isn't something that is going to happen in the future, it is here now. There has been dramatic climate weirding here just as much as any place in North America.

This is Dan Hinkley's Windcliff: http://www.thedangergarden.com/2025/03/windcliff-visiting-during-garden-fling.html Major devastation in January 2024, about 10 miles from gardengal48, also on the shore of the historically protective, Salish Sea.

When it comes to climate...everywhere, All - Bets - Are - Off

But even in this new, weird, gardening climate, there is nothing I'd rather be doing than gardening, and no place I'd rather be doing it.

Yes, I miss the 'old' climate. The older you are, the more of a reference you have to measure by. And I often feel like there is nowhere else I'd rather garden than right here in New England. I love the seasons and I don't mind a shorter growing season. I look forward to a break from gardening in the winter. And nothing I would rather be doing than gardening.

I thought I was losing a number of plants due to the late cold weather this spring but a lot of things that were slow to show new growth are catching up and I think I might still see them come back. I am trying to save myself the frustration by focusing more on garden plants that are not affected by late spring temps. But...really it's everything all season that is challenging. Drought and heat later are no picnic either.

But I'm hoping to focus on evolving with the weather. Using season extenders, noticing when I have a plant that defies the weather and growing more of those, planting spring bulbs that bloom later in the season.

I was just noticing that my daffodils are spectacular this year. Did I already say that? [g] I have never seen so many flowers on them. I have no clue why.

April and May - best gardening months of the year... and June too! I'm going to get as much out of it as I can despite the challenges.

I grow (and kill) a whole lot of stuff, all with my own untender hands so the vicissitudes of a changing climate are just one more thing to deal with (or not). Having the attention level of a mayfly, I am continually amazed at forgotten plants springing into life...and conversely, the MIA plants are...well, frequently forgotten. It is often only when I hear or see someone else's specimens when I think...'hmmm, I am sure I had that.

I will say - no matter what the weather throws my way, life in all its forms still keeps on abounding. I have, just yesterday, steeled myself to chop back an enormous clematis I bottled out of tackling last year...and looking apprehensively at the ramping life outside my window, I am honestly glad of a bit of climate murder going down.

Here's some pics below from yesterday, it's still warmer than normal here and no temps below 50F is in the long range forecast, hopefully no future cold snap surprises.

Peas are doing well.......

2 rows of spinach below (fall planted row on the right, spring row on the left). Have picked the fall row 4 times and will 1st pick the spring row today. The Broccoli planted in-between these rows is doing well and there's no sign of buttoning up...

Just to the left are the Cabbages...

Below is the gambled row of corn I planted about 2 weeks ago, the unusual recent warm temps kept the seed from rotting in cold ground (Ambrocia variety). Will thin out soon.

My 2 cheatin' tomato plants....

Lastly, the Pears are shaping up nicely, will need thinning out soon.

oops, meant to post this on the garden tales thread......good enough.

" the cold event around January 13 2024, happened. This isn't something that is going to happen in the future, it is here now. There has been dramatic climate weirding here just as much as any place in North America. "

I have not found this to be true. A least not in my undoubtedly somewhat sheltered microclimate. I had NO freeze damage from the January '24 cold spell but it only got down to 29F in my location, which is hardly earth shattering. And only for a single night. My entire garden is in containers - arguably more vulnerable to cold than inground plantings - and I lost nothing to cold that winter.

I have to reemphasize that I do not find cold to be the issue for me. Certainly I will be looking ahead to warmer and drier summers but I am not convinced that increased winter cold is a problem I am going to have to deal with.

btw Klark, in a previous garden, I lived less than 2 miles away from Hinkley's Windcliff :-) Now it is closer to 20 miles as the crow flies. And obviously in a more protected location, which I think is the nature of living on a small island surrounded by the moderating effects of the water.

Hinkley's garden is amazing, I hope I can visit it one day.

I only skimmed that post, but I take as a possible interpretation, based on terminology "storm" vs "freeze", is that plants were damaged just by wind or wind and salt spray? Is salt spray a thing that can happen in the Puget Sound? It certainly can along the east coast.

The garden name - Windcliff - gives a pretty good interpretation of the situation. It is sited on a cliff (about 100' tall) but with a full exposure to any high winds. The storm in question - Winter Storm Heather - affected a wide swath of the PNW with Oregon (Klark's location) experiencing the worst in terms of low temps and winds and ice storms, none of which were present to the same degree in the Puget Sound area. Geography plays a huge role!

Salt spray can be present here but I believe less of a factor within the shelter of Puget Sound than it would be if exposed to the open ocean waters. And many of the waterfront properties are high above the beach, with therefore less chance of salt spray being a damaging factor.

As I said, I experienced zero plant loss as a result of this weather event.

Vgkg - You’ve got a lot going on there! You are way ahead of me. I think you are off to a great start.

Really interesting article today in the NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/climate/temperature-swings-climate-change.html. It says that a new study shows that rapid swings in temperature, as in from heat waves to freezes, and the reverse, have increased in the last few decades. Not clear what is causing this. To early to simply pin the blame on climate change, but that may be involved.

"Because the quick changes in temperature give communities and ecosystems little chance to respond, they may pose greater challenges than heat waves or cold snaps alone, said Wei Zhang, an assistant professor of climate science at Utah State University and one of the lead authors of the study."

"Sudden temperature changes can disrupt the growth of plants, posing challenges for agriculture." Sudden frosts can seriously damage plants that think it's warming up, and are sending out shoots.

Dan, you make a great point. Harder for plants to adjust to the swings. Harder for us to respond in an effective way. Although I keep seeing garden shows where more than ever, I see guests who are using hoop houses. I would think that might be a way to respond.

Has anyone noticed the change in windiness? I used to enjoy a good windy day once in awhile and thought I lived in an area that had wind infrequently. Now, it seems to me that windy days are becoming the norm. Any month of the year, the weather forecast is including an hour by hour visual of how high the wind gusts are and what direction the wind is coming from.

I have a Corylopsis that looks like the late freeze might have killed it. It was leafing out, and there's still no sign of regrowth yet. If so, it will be the first time I've had a plant actually die from a late freeze. It was smallish and planted last spring, but I'd watered it...it closed out last year looking good. Other things that had some leaf injury are visibly continuing to grow.

I hope your Corylopsis makes it, David. After I posted my fears for my Fothergilla, I realized that the little Halesia had really taken a hit--leaf and flower buds all blasted. I think, but I'm not yet fully sure, that I'm seeing a little green that should be leaf buds again. Still worried.

Corylopsis timidly returning but I won't feel it's out of the woods for another couple months.

I hate to bump unless really necessary, especially a depressing topic but I cannot underscore how unprecedented this event feels; at the same time, it feels like it could have been much worse. (I'm reminded of the anecdote I've share many times of large collection of [mostly Asian, of course] magnolias experiencing extreme dieback, sometimes killing an entire 30' scion, from a late April freeze back in the 2000s. That was somewhere down south; human inhabitants of the southeastern US love those warm winter days, but they fool plants that are used to the Siberian high pressure system of East Asia, that keeps winter and spring chilly, until it doesn't)

Here is a Nanking bush cherry. These brown, now totally dead stems had been flowering before the light freeze. It had no actual winter dieback at all. (what you'd expect for a zone 5 plant that only saw low single digits F)

What is truly mind blowing? Both of my bush cherries have SOME developing fruit on them!!!!! The freezing temps were so erratic they fully killed some branches, but lower down, more sheltered branches not only survived, but so did the developing fruits.

The same thing happened to a Rhododendron japonicum. Some of the original stems, now 15 years old and pushing 8' high, were totally killed back! Luckily, a couple lower, smaller branches remain. So, although it could have been worse, it was by far the most damaging spring freeze I've ever dealt with in almost 40 years of gardening. Not that laceyvail needed the corroboration, but worth recording for posterity.

I do have the wonder if the drought stress from last year has somehow made stems extra-susceptible to this sort of thing. If so, just really bad timing and I hope this combination never happens again.

I started this thread about my fears for my fothergilla. Now the fothergilla has leafed out well, but turns out the real damage was to my still quite small Halesia 'Wedding Bells'. It was about to flower and the damage was hard--of course, all the blooms are gone, but so are most of the flower buds and it's leafing out very, very sparsely. New growth is coming from the base so the plant will clearly live, but I think much of the older growth is dead and it may well take another two years to redevelop properly.

David, I'm afraid this kind of weather, with vast swings and out of season temperatures, will continue as long as global warming does, for years until it slows some many years in the future. Even if we were to stop today pumping carbon into the atmosphere, we have set in motion a vast planetary system that would take many, many decades to settle down. And we're not stopping today, are we?

Well I’ve certainly done well with plants that seemed to be affected by the late freezes this spring. I had a few things I was keeping my eye on that I thought might be dead. Nope.

Some of them are just late arrivals that I always worry about and forget that they leaf out late. Like my Itea. It has a few dead stems on it, but it’s fully leafed out and looking good. My Hibiscus ‘Berry Awesome’. One of my favorite shrubs. Last fall, it was dry and the shrub turned brown before it went dormant, which it never has, and I thought for sure the late frosts would have been too tough for it considering the state it was in last Fall, but…nope it’s coming up the same as it always does and it’s actually a week early.

I had 3 small quart pots of shrubs that I bought at a plant sale last year.. I dug them into the vegetable bed late because I never got around to planting them. 2 of them showed up right on time and the other, I almost threw it out thinking it was dead and even that one came back…just a little late. I dug up a Clematis and potted it up late last summer and had to dig that into the veg bed too. Over the winter, I noticed it froze and then when we had the warm ups and rain, it filled with rain that just sat there on the top of the pot. Even that came back and is looking great too.

Roses…I have decided that roses are the easiest and most dependable plant I have in the garden. They are amazing. Not only did they come back but two of them leafed out all the way up the canes. Two of them were moved in the fall and they looked dead this spring. Then they finally started to show some life. Now every one of the five roses I have are growing gang busters. Dense, shiny foliage, new growth coming from the base.

The only plant I see that actually didn’t come back was a Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ that is actually only hardy to zone 6 and I normally always buy at least hardy to zone 5, though I am in zone 6.

The crazy spring weather along with some staffing problems, affected a garden supplier I made an order with back in December. I ordered bare root shrubs and trees from FEDCO. I always order roses bare root but this is the first time I’ve done shrubs and trees. Well they sent them late and I was worried about them because they were already leafing out when they arrived. It’s looking like they are all doing fine. One of the trees looks questionable but the other two are doing fine. And the shrubs and perennials just took off as soon as they were planted and watered.

I’m sure the weather is going to continue to be challenging. I find more damage from the hot months with no rain than the late frosts. It’s already looking like we’re going to have early heat, so onward and upward. Just have to keep trying to adjust and try to be proactive. Maybe stock up on plants that are hardy to the lower zones and more drought tolerant. Next I need to do more work in setting up some system for watering during drought. I have rain barrels, but I want to do more with that.