Ditto here too. The hosta that were leafed out are on the ground. I expect the ones with the biggest pips will have significant damage. I hope the ones just up an inch or so won't be harmed - guess I'll know shortly.

All my perennials are limp, daylilies laying in dark green mounds, Japanese maple leaves are all thin strips of foliage and probably the hydrangea with the buds forming won't bloom. An inch of snow at Easter didn't sit very well with anything.

Isn't gardening fun?

I have not looked at mine but I don't think they were up. If they were they were covered by the foliage that I left on.

I guess for once I'm glad I'm in Minnesota. While we had a couple of 80 degree days in March it wasn't enough to bring them out of dormancy.

Most of mine seem to have gotten minor damage. Maybe because I don't have much shade around here so have planted most of my hosta under shrubs. My June is under a tree formed blue priness holly and is fine, etc. The worst hit one seems to have suffered damage on one half, while the other half seems fine!
Hopefully the worst is past.
Annette

My stuff is still covered up and will stay that way until Tuesday. I need to see evening temps in the mid-40s before I'm uncovering a bazillion hostas! LOL

My var. pagoda dogwood is toast..>UGH. My laceleaf Japanese Maples all look melted as well as various other perennials. Most of my daylilies are near the house on the southern side so they fared pretty well.

My hydrangea look awful and all of my lilacs that were just getting ready to bloom are black.

PRETTY! :D

I've been pretty "over" the hydrangea macrophylla for a while now and I think this last freeze did it for me! I Think they are going to go "bye bye" - except for Lady in Red - her foliage and stems are the highlight of the plant!

My hydrangeas are black, but they will be fine. I love mine, so I will put up with this. I didn't even go check the lilac!! Guess I'll see tomorrow, it was looking great last time I checked it.....

Annette

Tonight will be the coldest night for us, low in the teens.
Weatherman said it may be the coldest for this date in 37 years. I only had a few eyes showing here. I guess they knew it wasn't safe to sprout yet - lol
The robins have been back over a week and the ground is frozen, so we've been soaking raisins to soften them and putting them in the feeder.

My hostas are coming up! Not all yet, so I don't know whether I have any losses. What I'm happiest about is that all three of my Great Expectations -- two in pots and one in the ground -- have made it. Being the enthusiastic but ignorant newbie that I am, I didn't know when I bought those GEs that it was considered a bit iffy.

Others up so far: Brim Cup, Lakeside Black Satin, Dorset Blue. All just up maybe an inch, and no damage whatesover -- at least I don't see anything. I think they'll be OK, as they hadn't gotten up very far when the cold hit.

Also so far so good on my flowering quince, the buds of which were just beginning to show their color. Also no damage to my bleeding hearts. Hydrangeas look fine. Peonies are coming up fine too. Primrose foliage looks great.

I think the coldest nighttime temperature was something like 29. Some of you must have had it much worse.

One more week of this is what I've seen forecast. Then -- spring! I can't wait. For one thing, I've got a daylily shipment coming to me from Florida next week!!!

We hit 22 last night...20 the night before...23 the night before that.

Daylilies that are up seem a bit tattered, but OK. Hostas were just unfolding their first leaf - the leaves are mush but I think the inner growth points will shoot up some more leaves. Tulips look OK, Hyacinths are mush, daffodil leaves alive but the flower stems are limp. Weeping cherries are in tight white bud and surprisingly look turgid. They might well pull through.

I don't have any hydrangeas, but my neighbors are toast as are his lilacs - no blooms this year for either. :(

Peonies are about 2" and red, no real leaves growing yet and appear 100% fine so far.

We got down to 23 last nite. Third cold nite and two more to go. Thus far only one half on one hosta shows serious damage(probably from the first cold nite with gusty winds that blew a blanket partly off. I covered all hostas with a sheet and then a comforter. The largest and most expensive ones were covered with a cardboard box lined with newspaper and covered with comforters. There are about 18 comforters out there. So the yard looks sorta crazy.

The flowering shrubs are all brown, but couldn't save all the blooms. I would rather save the hostas. (by the way, I went to the thrift shop and asked for the dog bedding bags. You can get an old comforter that is too gross to put on the floor or a bunch of smaller blankets for a dollar. When cold is finally over, I plan to wash all the comforters and donate to rescue.

It got COLD here Saturday night....around 24°. It was an all-time record cold for April here in Central SC. All of my oak and hickory trees are covered in dead wilted leaves. It is very depressing. All new growth of all shrubs in the garden is wilted and dead. I think my hostas are fine though. I covered all the ones in the ground with black flower pots and they came through the cold great. All the containerized plants (over 600 pots) were snug and warm encased in a layer of ice from the sprinkler I ran on them all night. The ice even protected fragile new hosta leaves from the cold. I am so glad most of my plants are OK. I just hope the oaks and hickorys recover.

I can see eyes from the house but I'm afraid to go out and check!!!

With another week of this weather forcast I may not go out in the garden till May first!

Connie

I think my hostas are ruined. :( Sorry, I'm a newbie here, just started growing hostas last year. All of them were up! I had seven plants, all looking tall and happy, just starting to leaf out. They now look like frozen lettuce.
We had a full week with temps in the low twenties and teens.
Can anyone tell me if they might recover?

Well,after 4 years of hosta growing,it is over!! All hostas,whether covered,or not are gone! "Global warming",has finally taken it's toll!! All the hostas I showed you earlier that were up are now gone! I will never show you all a pic of my garden again,because I aggrivated you during our brief spring. I feel this is my punishment for teasing you when your hostas were not up,yet. Maybe I'll see you next year,maybe not! I think I'll switch to connifers and trees,or holly shrubs. Apparently NC is too harsh a climate to grow hostas in! The only thing that survived the freeze were,Mayapples,Trilliums and native ferns,oh also my Jacob's ladder didn't even flinch! Maybe I'll just let the woods go back to it's jungle state as it was before I started the garden. Seee Ya!! Phil

Aw, C'mon Phil. I'm sorry you are so down right now. Please cheer up. You know your hostas will come back eventually. You're not being punished...it's just Mother Nature! I, for one, enjoyed your "teasing" AND your pictures. If I was one of the complainers, I was just being "playful". I'd hate to see you quit something you so obviously enjoy.

Char

Oh I'm so sorry all. The saddest thing for me is our huge northern magnolia is now one big brown mess.

ccombs1, how does a layer of ice protect the fragile hosta leaves? Once they thaw out, aren't they as lifeless as thawed frozen lettuce? Just curious.

Connie, I'm with you, I won't be going out for a few more weeks. Its just not worth the heartbreak.

Phil!!! Say it isn't so!! You didn't tease us in a nasty way...there is no punishment involved here. Its not the hostas' fault...you can't desert them now. They'll be back and although they may smaller this season, they'll be beautiful again. But I think you're right, its the global warming (to think that less than 100 years ago they were worried about and getting ready for another ice age!!!!) that's to be blamed.

Freezing in the mud...PIM

The theory on "ice blanket" protection is that the plants can survive freezing or a few degrees below, but not much lower. The ice actually keeps them from getting extremely cold even though, of course, they will reaching freezing temps. Fruit orchard farmers do it all the time.

I tried it half-@ssed the other night by running the irrigation at 4am, though my primary goal was just to keep the sprinkler heads from cracking without going to the trouble of draining the system again. It didn't work for my hostas, but maybe because they didn't get completely encased in ice. I dunno.

What I do know is that I saved a bunch of hostas with cardboard boxes, but the ones I didn't get to are mush. The Jap Painted Lady Ferns are mush piles, too. I have (had) a huge one, and it's an especially sad sight.

I went out today, if you havn't went out yet..
Just DON'T do it, your heart will sink...
May 4 and 5 I have a garden show that I sell
some of my plants so I can buy more.
I don't know what I'm going to do now...
Do you think I should cut them off,
(the wilty stuff) and make a cold frame with
with plastic and some light bulbs, ??
What do you think???

Folks, they will recover.....Sit tight... wait for the real spring to get here, the new flushes of leaves will come up. They may not be as pretty as usual, but they will survive.

Have faith!

Update! One hosta did make it through the winter!! It was my Little Miss Magic,who I brought inside the house,because it is a mini,and in a pot. Phil

playinmud, kines has it right. the ice kept them safe. A few leaves on some of them are limp...but for the most part, they are all perfect. I am so happy that worked!! I will make sure to install sprinkler heads in all of my hosta beds and do this every time a freeze is in the forecase. YAY!!

Phil, I brought 28-30 in the house. They are gorgeous! I actually dug mine up though...and am so glad I did!

Doesn't your Little Miss Magic just put a smile on your face? :)

Hey, the cold snap is over folks - SPRING IS HERE! LET'S GARDEN!

Well, let's see. Several of the early birds were a few inches high, unfurled...the tips are a little dark and there are some dark spots along the length. All eyes under 1" seem OK..."Invincible" proved not to be, but I wasn't real good about everything covered during the 5-night freeze. Savannah has a crease in one leaf where the cover nudged it...seems all of my fragrants (along with Wolverine, all the various Undulata and AM) are well along.

Jury is still out on the azaleas and lilacs and clematis and day lilies.

Becky

This is the first time I have dealt with hostas. We have had several warm weeks and all my hostas were bloomed and very big. I was out of town during our freezing nights and they are not doing so good. Some of the leaves have turned a pale creamy color or browm and the other leaves are very limp but still green. What do I need to do? Should I cut them back and how far? How do I get the green leaves to perk up again? I read somewhere to give them nitrogen? 24-4-8 fertilzer? I am not sure if that is right. Please give me some advise.

Uncovered them this morning and all seem to be doing fine.
The cold isn't over here yet. Only in the low 40's today and 30's predicted for overnight again. Rain tomorrow and the extended forcast predicts low 30's for a couple nights later in the week.
I'll cover again tonight. Can't quit now.....

Janet

I just went out to some plants I had dumped a large amount of leaves on top of. It was about 12-15 inches right in the middle of a large clump. They sort of mounded like a little volcano, now this deep pile is about 6 inches in the middle and 1-2 inches on the edge. The eyes on the edge have come up and burned or killed while the ones in the middle under the deep leaves have not come through.

Mulch and leaves are your only real protection against late freezes.

I agree. For some of my hostas, I covered them w/ leaves and/or mulch only. Others, I filled a nursery pot w/ mulch and covered. The ones that had the mulch + pot over them were in worse shape than the ones that had mulch only.

Interesting.

The ones in my kitchen look fabulous!

Covering with leaves only works well if eyes are just a few inches up. My Sagae was 2 feet tall when the freeze hit,and even though I covered it with a tent made up of a painter's drop cloth on top of a framework,it still is fried! It will be back,but I'll never see the promise it had earlier,this year! It's enough to make me sick! And yes,Andrea, Little Miss Magic is perfect! The cold snap is over after last night,but many,many hosta are toast! I have over 200 of them,and this will be the worst year in 4! Phil

I uncovered all our hosta today as our temps are now suppose to remain above freezing. I had wrapped newspaper around some of the hosta that had leaves unfurling before covering w/plastic pots. Some others didn't get the newspaper. Those that were wrapped in newspaper before placing the pot came through the freeze perfect! That extra bit of insulation seemed to make a big difference. I think our lowest temp over the past week was 26.

Ccoombs1 says: "All the containerized plants (over 600 pots) were snug and warm encased in a layer of ice from the sprinkler I ran on them all night."
OMG.....over 600 in containers? Remarkable! Do you have any pictures taken last summer? This I have to see.
Thanks from another container gardener.
Michele

Covering with leaves only works well if eyes are just a few inches up."
Hostafreak

The point is to cover them early and hold back emergence, once it starts they will not stop. Like in Jan!

I may be clearer saying don't allow the soil to warm if possible, that is the point of mulch.

Last year I had a problem with deer eating my hostas. They'd chew them right down to the ground. This happened about 3 times. They'd grow back and be just as full as before. Having to cut off all the wilty mush from the freeze shouldn't be any different. Right???????????

I remember last spring MI, OH and many other states went through a real hard freeze. I think it happened later in the spring than what is happening now. All of my "early" ones looked like TOTAL mush. If I recall, Ken said that many of his were hit hard too. The good news is that killer frost was forgotten soon after it happened, beautiful pics of perfect hostas were posted and the next crisis for conversation for the season were slugs, HVX and Nematodes.

michele...I'll see if I can dig up some pictures. They are not in pretty containers....just nursery pots. I started collecting years ago when I knew I was going to move. Now we are moved, and I am working on turning untamed forent into shade garden. Once that's done, many will go in the ground.....finally. I'll always keep some in pots though, because it's much easier to trade that way. LOL! Not all of my pots are hostas either. There are hydrangeas, spirea, loropetalums, crape myrtles, viburnums, etc. All are named varieties. Plant propagation is a hobby, so lots are things I grew from cuttings. SOOO many need to be repotted.....but there is not enough time in the day.

Not to bad on my hosta's. A week ago I put compost over all that had poked out to soon. And large containers over the large ones that had poked out. In a more protected area my undulata's were unfurled and they mushy but most of that happened with the frost yesterday. Clear skies & cold temps don't mix well. The only plants that looks unhappy is my gold bleeding heart. It had already flowered some with the warm weather and just is laying down. Nice plant that was 8 years old. My old bleading hearts have done well. I guess you have to be prepared for anything in April. So next year have a plan and be ready.

I am just so frustrated with it all. I have four flowering trees in the back garden, they were all in full bloom, now they are yuck. Several blooming perennials toast, and the Hosta look like big puddles of slime. I was wondering about cutting the tops back, any suggestions?

Esther Opal,you can't hold back the emergence of anything,even weeds! When it's their time,they will come up. You might have an easier time holding back the tide!lol!! Phil

Not so, Phil. A deep mulch will insulate the soil summer and winter. Winter mulch prevents the soil from thawing on warmer Spring days, therefore, keeping plants dormant longer, much like the micro-climate created on the cooler north side of a house.

I removed all the pots, sheets and cardboard boxes covering my plants last night. I could not believe how much they grew in a week of being covered. A few of the hostas that were really leafed out have a few leaves that don't look great, but most of them are fine. My azalea bushes have buds on them, etc. However, the forecast is for it to get to get down to about 28 degrees in a couple more days AGAIN. I guess I will try to cover them up again. The trees all look terrible, but I think they did offer some protection to the other plants.

Phil, Mary Ann is kinder than I'm going to be!

Where u get such a crazy idea.

Hosta emerge in response to 2 factors, genetics and temp. If you keep the soil cool it will slow early emergence of all hosta species.

I suggest we all submit our beliefs to the collective knowledge of the many here.

Let me put it to you this way Esther! My hostas come up every year in March,they are mulched,and it doesn't matter if we have a cold Spring or one like this year,they don't care!! Only a few are early risers,like Sagae, and montana-Aureomarginata,but they ALWAYS come up in March. You can check the calendar by it! I don't know where you live,but that's the way it is here in western NC!! Why are we argueing about this? I know what I know,and you know what you know!! Phil

Lynn...we ARE? AGGGGGGGGGH. I thought we were out of the woods. Hating this.

Why are we argueing about this? I know what I know,and you know what you know!! Phil

"A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still" Oral Roberts

I'm saying you don't know what you know. They respond to their genetics and temp, some such as Aureo M. start at a lower temp but they all emerge in response different temp.

The point is mulch will keep the soil cooler longer slowing emergence. That may still be in March for you but you can't give me a date certain. If you give me the soil temp for each day I can tell you which day they will come up, not air temp because that doesn't matter.

Actually,montana-A. comes up in late Feb.,usually about the 27th,this year,and 28th last year. It usually pays the price,by getting zapped. Other hostas come up anywhere from March 3rd to the end of the month. Every hosta is different,and I keep records every year,but that's not important,and I won't bore you with the details. This discussion is over,and I won't bring it up again! I will continue to grow hostas,regardless of how yours grow. Everyone has a different climate,and even here,the climates vary,depending on your elevation.(We are in the mountains) I won't be back!

I guess it all depends on where you live and what your soil temps are at what time of the year.

Next year Esther Opal can come here and watch M. Aureomarginata come up through several inches of Japanese maple leaves. The mound it creates as the leaves rise higher and higher until finally she emerges with leaves ready to unfurl. She is also planted in the only area of my garden that gets zero sun. Several inches of leaves and zero sun, I can't keep her in the ground without sitting a cement block on her.

I'm with you Phil - I know what I know and have observed in MY garden, not someone else's garden located somewhere distant from me.

Bless M. On Stage and Mountain Snow. They will be the only hosta that look decent this year because they don't come up until May 10, my frost date.

I guess it all depends on where you live and what your soil temps are at what time of the year.
Highjack

I think that is my point, or are you saying that there is another reason why hosta start to grow in the spring other than temperature and how temp effects a particular cultivar?

Interesting discussion. I'll submit my Lakeside Shoremaster that had been dormant in my 46 degree fridge crisper since January. That is way warmer than our soil temps are yet so it started to sprout.

Last July I witnessed House of Hosta bring out a cart of dormant hosta from their cold house. Each pot had pale green noses peeking, a weird sight in July.

I doubt those of you in zone 6 can keep your soil cool enough with periods of 80 degree days but we can in zone 5 by protecting the soil temp from the air temp with mulch.

Actually,highjack,All my Tokudama-type hostas are just coming up,as they are always the last to show,here. They will not be affected by this past freeze. Phil

Just my experience

I have three Hosta 'June' in my garden

One in a pot, two in the garden one next to the other.

The potted 'June' has completely unfurled its leaves for over two weeks now.

The eyes of one of the other 'June' has it's eyes ready to burst open within the next week, while the third Hosta has its eyes just coming out of the ground.
My Conclusion : environmental parameters have an impact but I gues there's more than that.

Esther Opal I understand your point but you keep insisting IF we who suffered damage had just piled on the mulch, we would have been saved.

Yes, it is genetics that make a plant an early/late riser and yes, mulch will help to a point but eventually the plant will do what it wants to do.

Phil even my Tokus were up an inch or so and I had hoped the real tight pips were spared but even those appear damaged. Six nights in the low 20's and 1" of snow doesn't do any hosta any favors.