Ooh. I'm sorry for your losses. That has to hurt...

Dude, as with the conifers, you have my every compassion. Been lots of loses the last number of years due to cold, drought, heat, and late freezes. Whatever the mechanism, it all amounts up to dead plants.

Arktrees

Drought also occurred to me on your conifers forum post. What a disgrace, or, shame. I'm very sorry Will.

Dax

Whaas, my friend, I am truly sorry about your losses this past winter. What a frickin buzz kill... Thanks for sharing your failures with everyone, though. Very educational for us and those who will stumble on your recent topics in the future.

Whaas,

What kind of low temperatures did you record there, and did you have snow cover during the coldest periods?

We had at least 27 days when the temp fell below 0F, and 5 of those were between -17F and -20F. But we did have consistent snow cover which may have mitigated the effect of those temps (in fact, we set an all-time record for consecutive days with snow cover).

I'm sorry........that's really a significant loss.

THAT is some list you have. Sorry to hear about it.

What's interesting is both the Metasequoias and the Fagus sylvaticas are supposedly zone 4 hardy. In my mind anything zone 6 hardy should survive our -10F lows we had this year. I suppose there is another issue with the frozen ground not accepting moisture for a long time but I dunno.

Was your winter THAT bad that your zone should be changed to 3 or something that should kill them two or do you think the tree's ratings should be changed or do you blame source location or what? You have quite the investment of time and money in them trees and no doubt others do also.

It must have been quite a harsh winter if all those european beech varieties died off. What about the straight species, have you tried that one to?

Gents/ladies, as with the conifers just wanted to share the experience thus far. Hopefully I'm not coming off as complaining, although its a bit disheartening so its nice to see the comments.

At the end the day I think its a combination of persistent cold and long term, deep, frozen soil. Any shaded areas are frozen solid so they might be going on frozen for 6 months straight. I can tell plants are stripped of moisture and dessicated.

For example the bark of my Exclamation London Planetree is flaking off.

Whaas, I think these posts are more helpful in a way than the perfect day, perfect light pictures the rest of the web gives us. I always ask or mention when my nyssa or ilex dies back or my fagus or picea crisps up over the summer.

To me, I want to find that information when I am planting and planning as much as the patent holder's claim it grows whatever size I wish from zone two to ten or whatever.

Also you assessment of what did them in may be right on. So far my metasequoias have tolerated everything except for drought and compacted soil.

Will:

I was just out surveying the damage in my yard. One loss that really surprised me was Taxodium d. 'Peve Minaret.' It's in a sheltered location and was planted 3 seasons ago. I suppose there is a chance it may produce some buds on the trunk, but I am not hopeful.

I lost a Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Gold' a few seasons ago that was well established...I have subsequently given up on European Beech entirely.

Sorry for your loses. Seems like the past few years have been one challenge after another from Mother Nature.

Don't give up yet. My Peve minerat is the only taxodium or dawn redwood not awake yet and I'm pretty sure mines still slive

I'm surprised at some of those, whaas. I'm sorry to hear about all those losses.

Metasequoia is often zone 4 rated as is European Beech.

I used to live in Ohio and both metasequoias and Fagus sylvaticas survived the winters of '77, '85, and '94 for the most part (not saying there weren't some losses).

However, that was a zone 5b (6a on new map), and you're a cold zone 5a, so that little difference could have been the kicker.

This post was edited by hairmetal4ever on Sun, Apr 13, 14 at 23:42

Sorry to hear it. This was a real relentless winter. I have yet to check all mine.

And it's the winter that just keeps on giving...... the death grip. LATE freeze this morning. While it won't be as bad as 2007, it will be bad. 18F this morning on the day of the average last 32F day at the nearest reporting station. I checked one thing before leaving this morning Acer japonica 'Acontifolium', and as expected "FRIED". So much for coming through relatively undamaged.

Arktrees

25F in Chicago this morning with half an inch of snow.

Covered my Japanese Maples last night...fingers crossed.

Seems like america got all winter this time, because we had almost none in europe. Even here in scandinavia we had only three weeks of real winter, all the rest was rainy, windy and autumn-like. Spring was very early and march was warmer than in many, many years. I don't think I have lost any tender plants at all this winter.

Personally, I think I rather lose stuff over winter and know that it is gone, than to have it growing in spring only to be killed.

Sorry folks, I'm just slightly miffed today.

Arktrees