Which Hostas have been most Cold Damaged this spring

12 years ago

With the not so secure feeling I should be past the danger of freeze I felt I could re-open the question of what hostas best withstand overnight frost or freeze. I have been out of pocket ffor over a month.

Prior to my absence I had made some comments about which hostas I felt would best withstand sudden cold blasts. I expressed the opinion that I felt species hostas should do better than cultivars, i.e. tissue cultured plants. This was based on the premiss that they survive in nature. I now retract this as follie.

After the hot March spell I was not available to protect any of my hostas when freeze or frost warnings came along. Of my 80 or so hostas consisting of 65 varieties, only one show severe damage - plantaginea. I have 3 3rd, year divisions planted in 3 different locations, and all 3 were flattened to the ground with the frozen leaves transparent. None other than plantaginea showed any damage at all. Within 5 feet of one of the plantaginea were 6 late fall purchases that were bedded for overwintering in late September. They included Earth Angel, Guardian Angel, Sea Queen, and others. None showed any damagge at all.

So I am wondering, which have you found to have been affected the worse this spring? Has anyone else found plantaginea to be tender? I realize conditions vary, but remember my 3 were all planted among other hostas sharing the exposure and the only ones damaged.

Les

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Comments (13)

Cher
12 years ago
I had some really hard freezes for several nights a week ago. Sugar and Spice went to complete mush. Liberty, El Nino, Halcyon and First Frost had a lot of major leaf damage. A couple others some damage that weren't as far along in leafing out, but the ones most affected were fully leafed out, not just starting up and those were the ones with the most damage which I'm going to blame on the fact that they were so far along.
Cher
squirejohn zone4 VT
12 years ago
Good to see you back. How's the leg doing?

No frost damage here but expecting sub-freezing temps later this week so will cover the few hostas have leaves just begining to unfurl.
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tomahawkclaim
12 years ago
Welcome back, Les. I had exactly your experience, but many more in the planteginea family. I lost Aphrodite, Fragrant Bouquet, Stained Glass, Cathedral Windows, and The Shining. Though I had other damage (Liberty, El Nino, and First Frost just like Cher), nothing compares to the devastation of the planteginea family -- but Ken assures me they'll come back and be as beautiful as ever. Nance
Johnsp
12 years ago
Being in a high elevation here in the Poconos 1200 ft above sea level I was fortunate that most remained dormant or slow to grow with the warm weather last month. Empress Wu was the fastest to grow and suffered no damage with temps going down into the 20s. Plantaginea and it's hybrids mostly remained dormant so not much damage to them. Ringtail also grew like a weed and had severe damage but has produced enough additional foliage as to not be noticable. I see the temperature went down to 31 degrees last night and there is a light frost on all the plants so I'll be interseted to see if any damage has been done.
Steve Massachusetts
12 years ago
They will come back. Plantaginea comes from a section of China that has long warm summers. Thus it is very frost intolerant and it flowers late in the season, usually in August here. Hence, it's common name "The August Lily." But the 6 inch fragrant flowers are worth it.

I wonder which, if any, of it's progeny have developed some frost tolerance. Cathedral Windows doesn't appear to have any damage, while Holy Mole, Guacamole, Aphrodite and Fragrant Bouquet all have some leaf damage due to frost, in my garden.

Steve
hostaLes
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks John-cast scheduled to come off May 9th, but I have worked hard, can do stairs, etc.
My Gueacamole had a hint of "crinkling" like last spring. Fragrant Bouquet, Stained Glass, Fried Green Tomato all look "unruffled". H. ventricosa look like they thrived on the cold and are growing aggresively. It's been over a week now since I have seen them but hope to be driven down to Wilmington soon and get another peek. I can't wait.

I have no doubt my planteginea will come back fully as if it never happened. Thankfully our little gems have hardy crowns and roots. But am I wrong in wanting ALL of my hostas to give their best showing every year? (lol-if I didn't I wouldn't be active in Hosta Forum)

The lowest T forecast this week is 35F and if we survive the week I should be home free for the season "frost-free" But as weird as this weather has been I hold my breath. I am already past the latest frost date for 2008,'09, '10 and '11.

Steve and ken, do you know of any good links that explain the technology of frost? I don't know if I even had a frost-line in my soil this past winter. After a week of 80-90F weather I would think the frost zone would be well above the radiant heat given up from the soil. this confuses me.

Les
Steve Massachusetts
12 years ago
Don't know if this is helpful or not.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Understanding Frost - Cornell University
in ny zone5
12 years ago
Les, good that you are back!
I am also zone 5 but in the inner Northeast where we did not have the high temperatures the middle of the US had. So I only had heat for a week, have not much to show yet in leaves and dodged the very cold nights. Some leaves have a little damage on the edges, but some of that might be by my boots.
I wish you great recovery!
Bernd
in ny zone5
12 years ago
The Weather Channel must have read my posting, it just changed the forecast to 33,32 &32 dgrs for Friday, Sat. & Sunday nights. We have to see. That shows that the weather is unpredictable in respect if freezing /frost will happen.
Bernd
chris-e
12 years ago
Hi Les, nice that you are back.

Of all the ones that you all have mentioned, only my Aphrodite
showed some damage. But the absolute worst damage was on my Goodness Gracious. It is a mess!

chris
hillbillyhosta
12 years ago
My guacamole was the only one affected to any degree. Not sure if it was the location or size of leaves that contribated too the damage more than it being guacamole. hank
hostaLes
Original Author
12 years ago
Being 16 miles from my gardens with no way to get home, seeing a freeze warning is like watching someone needing help in the water 20 feet away, and having a toss-bag with only 15 feet of rope attached. Frustrating.

A toss bag is common with canoers and kayakers-a floating bag for emergency use.

My initial post I said Sea Queen when I meant Queen of the Seas. I also had El Nino which seemed unaffected.

Les

Les
irawon
12 years ago
Steve Maas...Thanks for the link regarding frost. Very interesting reading

Which Hostas have been most Cold Damaged this spring

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Cher

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