Pleas don't give up hope yet!
I have all of those things and mine are frozen solid too (I have plums and cherry bushes blooming instead of peaches). I'm bummed that I won't have plums again this year, but I'm not worried about any of the other things. You may also lose the lilac blooms, but the lilac bush will live. The pplants may get set back some, and they may look kinda ratty after this - but this happens just about every year. All of those plants will live.

Yes! What cnetter says! Im just posting as a second reassurance that everythingÂs going to be fine! I have most of those things tooÂand LOTS more perennials that are WAY up alreadyÂand theyÂll all be fine too. DonÂt do anything at all to your plants to try to help them. They may look frozen now, but by Sunday afternoon youÂre probably not going to believe how good most of them will look again. If you got a layer of ice like I did, some of the blooming things may have been weighted down so much that the flower stems have broken, but if theyÂre just "curved" and not actually bent, just give them time to warm up and stand back up again. When we had snow last week, most of mine were leaning all the way over to the ground, and all but one were okÂand the one daffodil that was actually bent, I cut and brought inside to put in water when it thawed back out again. As cnetter said, you may not get any flowers on your lilac this year (or you may!), but the bush itself will be fine. And you may get little or no fruit on any fruit trees, but the trees will be fine.

Smile! Easter is the time for resurrection, and I think youÂre going to be amazed at the resurrection youÂre seeing in your garden by Sunday afternoonÂwell, unless they change the forecast! ;-)

Glad you found us here at RMG! Come here for help whenever you need it.

Welcome,
Skybird

Thanks for the reassurances. My tulip stalks are curving down to the ground, just like you said. I hope they'll all be okay, though I'll be disappointed that I won't get any peaches. The lilac bushes are still quite young. One is 3 feet tall (and was actually blooming when I bought it). The others are 12 to 18 inches. I wasn't expecting any blooms yet. It was so disheartening, though, to see all those solid ice leaves. And I hadn't had a chance to really enjoy my tulip blooms yet because I leave early to get to work and don't get home till after dark.

I wouldn't give up hope on the peaches, either. If any of the flowers bloomed, they may have been pollinated. And if they were still buds, some may survive the freeze.

A bright spot if you have a few peaches that come out is that since there aren't as many, the ones that survive get all the energy from the tree, so they can be larger than usual.

If you hadn't posted, I would have somewhere. Yup, a sheet of ice on everything. The only thing even looked at were the roses and iris as they are so obvious. Roses will be fine, but the iris sure took a hit. Thankfully I was still working on digging up garden areas and haven't seeded/planted anything that would be damaged beyond.

I was so wanting to see all the flowering trees and lilacs in bloom....can't imagine that they didn't take a major hit. I didn't know the lilacs weren't strong enough to get through though. If only it had been just snow...I feel like I should be going out and putting little jackets on all the plants. They must be so "cold" out there.

Let's keep the faith and report back on how things are. Hopefully many positives even with this rare ice. I can't remember a spring with this kind of result...piles of snow yes, but not this.

And I have to keep reminding myself not to plant until Mother's Day. There is much to do to keep me away from the nurseries, but darn hard.

Skybird...so glad you are with us. Sorry you got hit too, this storm must have headed all over the area.

Do I just leave the iris alone? Or when the weather gets warm, cut the tops off? The apple tree is so huge, I am almost glad it may have been hit for less fruit, but perhaps a few, better apples. Most the squirrels and bears get to them before I can even consider eating. And, my curly willow...lots of leaves had come out, am sure they are a sad result. Should I consider trimming when weather comes back?

Lilacs, this usually happens to me every year because of our altitude (about 7000), and I have found that anything that was in the ground for the winter will be just fine eventually.

Right now I am just congratulating myself because I didn't give in to those unreasonable cravings to put something in the dirt during those 70 degree days.

However, I am too weak to stay away from the nurseries! I haven't bought anything yet, but just to walk through and dream and touch and smell is one of my favorite things. One of our nurseries has a corner filled with blooming Bougainvillea, and another filled with blooming citrus trees. The heavenly smell almost made me pass out with joy.

lilacs, (pat, pat, pat) I'll add to the chorus of don't give up, and don't be surprised that your plants are tougher than you think they are. :) Have a cup of Easter cocoa and wait until it warms up.

Only have a minute! Im going out into the cold myself today!

My poor robins are out eating the bread I have out for them. Used to put it out for the other birds, and was really surprised the first time I saw the robins eating it. I feel so sorry for them out there in the cold. But, like the plants, theyll be ok too.

Emagin, dont do anything at all to anything until you can tell for sure IF any damage has been done. It can take a few days for things to come back after theyve gone into "freezing mode," so Id say dont make any decisions at all until at least the middle of the week. Ive never quite figured out how theyre able to freeze and come back completely unharmed, but most hardy perennials will. Theyre still half dormant. Thats why you dont want to start fertilizing them too early. If they start growing fast, theyre all the way out of dormancy, and they COULD be hurt by temps this cold. My Waterperry creeping veronica and Compinkie arabis are in full bloom already, and even they will be finethough its hard to believe it when I look at them now! And my peach-leaf campanula is spiking to bloom, and at least a foot tallwell, its all smooshed down to the ground right nowbut itll be fine too.

And your woody plantstrees and bushesmay or may not still bloom or fruit. As bp says, it just depends on the exact stage of the buds/blooms. Theres no way to tell if theyve been damaged or not, so all you can do now is wait to see. Maybe put a little Tinkerbell Magic into the equation and "believe!" Who knows! It might help! It sure wont hurt! :-)

Stay warm, and
Happy Easter everyone,
Skybird

"Do I just leave the iris alone?"

Yes. Iris are very hardy. I have lots and they've been through this before. I put in about 20 more gorgeous ones last summer and can't wait to see them bloom. The current set of leaves may be damaged but they'll put up more.

I've had my plum blossoms feeze often enough (most of the time actually) to know I'm not getting any plums again this year. But the apples and cherry trees haven't bloomed yet - they're much more reliable about making it through the freezes. I don't care much about the cherry bushes.

I have about 1/2 inch of ice over most of the water garden. The fish don't seem to care, but the water lilies that have reached the surface are going to have to make new leaves.

I'm most worried about 20 E. Salter evergreen daylilies I put in last fall. These are known to be tender and really aren't supposed to be hardy here. Repeated freezes like this can use up their reserves. I figured if I can get them through one year so they can get good and established, then I can cross them with hardier dormant types and see what I can get.

I've got lots of stuff in the cold frames that will be just fine unless we drop down to about 15.

We had 18º last week some time, and it didn't phase the daffodils or the unopened tulips, but the new growth on the roses took it on the chin.

Late spring freezes are a part of life, I guess. The worst is when they hit in mid-June after all the tomatoes and peppers are out. Even then, I can usually get something because the roots are alive and well established, so they grow from the ground pretty quickly.

I was thinking it's really not that bad. Early April almost always gets some temperatures like this. It stayed cloudy last night, which was a good thing. It didn't get windy after everything iced up. Hopefully it will stay cloudy tonight.

I love to take pictures and have literally thousands from previous years. Lots of tulips in the snow. Snow on the SDB iris blooms. The dates on these pictures show that things are up about the same as they usually are, except the fruit trees are a bit early.

I was thinking the same thing David was, about really late freezes. Those are the pits. One year I had snow June 6, after the tomatoes and other tender stuff was put out. That really did depress me.
I plan for light frost up through June 1 (I'm about 2 weeks behind Denver), but that June 6 was a big bummer.

I'm really hoping my crabapples will bloom. I've been in this house for 7 years and only had good blooms 3 of those years. They were just starting to come out. It's such a shame when they don't bloom because they are really magnificent!

I have Miss Kim lilacs and they bloom later-- one answer for our late freezes. I do have other lilacs and they are hit and miss bloomers. I wouldn't be so bummed if we had had a great winter, but it was pretty harsh and nasty this year. No long stretches of sunny and warm weather. That usually makes up for the lack of spring!

Yeah, the apples seem early this year.
Here was mine (a crab apple/ eating apple cross I think) in 5/5/2005:

And this was April 11, 2005 - rose Jeannie Lajoie is leafed out on the right:

My peas (sweet peas, snap peas, snow peas) had just sprouted. Are they toast? The package says that they can be sown as soon as the ground is workable, which implies to me that they will be okay, but It's hard to imagine how when everything encased in ice...

My tulips in front look so sad. They're just all collapsed onto the ground. They were just opening to their fullest bloom, and I never had a chance to really appreciate them.

I guess anything that buds and blooms in spring has got to be used to this weather. It's not uncommon for April. If they couldn't stand it, they probably would have gone extinct a long time ago. But to go out and see everything frozen stiff was so disheartening. I'm just glad I hadn't put vegetables out yet.

Your peas will be fine, gindeegao. Check out the link belowwhich gets into peas too. Itll make you feel better.

And, dont give up on your tulips, lilacs. Give them a couple more days and hopefully youll be pleasantly surprised. Yes, it IS hard to look at themand everything else right nowI totally agree.

Happy spring,
Skybird

It is going to be very interesting to see how all resolves from this "ice". I still can't believe it continues to hang around. So different from any spring storm I can remember.

Our predicted weather has changed from high 60s to mid 50s in CS this week with a possible storm next weekend. Not being negative, but perhaps some planning for keeping warm what has made it through this one.

And, no Easter egg hunt outdoors today. Need to rearrange a few rooms in the house for the little ones to hunt safely inside.

Hopefully we will look back at this with awe when our gardens come back in full beauty. As some have said, the buds may not have been out enough to have been hit, we may still have those flowering trees. I did look at the lilacs and it appears the buds at top (10' high) may be lost, but have sheltered buds about a foot down and below this which have no ice at all and look to be in an okay condition. So maybe a few will bloom.

I just went out to survey the damage, and, so far, except for a couple daffodils that got bent "too far" I cant find any. When it warms up a little bit more tomorrow Ill cut the daffs and bring them in.

Its been snowing lightly on and off all day, and except for the things that are still weighted down by a little bit of snow or just havent had time to stand back up again from the weight of the ice, everythings looking really good. Its just above freezing right now. My little purple violas that I transplanted all over the yard from the veggie garden are all thawed and perky looking again. The flowers looked really sad yet yesterday. And Id swear my (couple) lilies-of-the-valley have actually grown in the last couple days. My rockcress and Waterperry veronica flowers are still "closed up" against the cold, but I expect them to be back to full duty tomorrow. And the grape hyacinths that are just starting to open look real pretty with a dusting of snow on them. Even the spiking foot tall stems of my peachleaf campanula have stood back up already. If we get much more snow theyll probably lay back down overnight. Yesterday I looked closely at a couple of the rose leaves, and I dont think even they got at all stung. The layer of ice seems to have protected everything pretty well. I prefer the protection of snowice always scares me a little bitbut it seems to have done its job this time.

And, four days ago I finally got around to starting a bunch of seedsand I almost fell over when I just discovered that some of them are coming up already! Its the annuals that are coming up already, and I dont have a CLUE what Im gonna do with them till I can plant them outside! AND, since I figured I wouldnt get a second chance if they didnt germinate this time, I put a whole bunch of seeds in one plug, so a couple of them that are up already I have between 12 and 24 seedlings coming up in a 1½" plug! OMG! I should separate them in a week or twobut I dont have anywhere to grow that much stuff! Ill think of something!

NOAA is predicting a possibility of showers for almost the whole week! And Tuesday nite theyre saying its gonna be "blustery!" Just what I was hoping for! LOL Blustery!

And, Denver Metro people, did you hear the Sunrise Service at Red Rocks was cancelled! I dont remember the last time that happened. The news had pictures and said everything was covered with a thick layer of ice with snow over it. Just imagine sitting out there on a sheet of ice for a couple hours! Ouch! They said it was for safety, and I think if they had held the service they would have been medevacing people out of there with broken bones. Just imagine turning that place into an ice rink! Look out below!

Hope everyone had a nice Easter, and let us know how your plants are recovering.

Skybird

"Denver Metro people, did you hear the Sunrise Service at Red Rocks was cancelled!"

Yes I did, earlier today, when I was Thornton at 100th and Steele.

Also, when I was there, there were a whole lot of tulips, daffs and grape hyacinths on tables that looked really really pretty. I was told they were frozen stiff when cut.
They thawed out real nice. Some people stuck them in their hats.

"I dont have a CLUE what Im gonna do with them till I can plant them outside!"

I really really love my cold frames. I've got flats of annual seedlings in them now that are just fine. But mine are large permanent structures and they do take up yard space.

Skybird,
We did have a nice Easter. The kids were just as happy looking for eggs behind a couch as much as behind a tree.

Are those litte seeds confused? You actually have growth in 4 days? Can't they see what is going on outside the window?

Cnetter,
How great about the tulips and those that took the time to pick them in this weather "with faith".

I've adjusted to what we have been handed......but am really disappointed with this:

A package arrived on my doorstep. No clue what it is. Well, inside are the 20 trees ordered from the Arbor Foundation. They weren't supposed to be shipped until mid/late April. So I had forgotten about them. Really sad, they were completely frozen, even a solid block of ice around their roots. The shipping dates are stated as 4/15 to 5/14 for z4 - z5, along with stating the weather would be taken into consideration depending upon various areas of the US. The trees must have been shipped the day we had our ice storm as it was a priority mail box. Someone was in a hurry, someone didn't check the weather and who knows what temps the box has been in during transit.

Am sure these poor little guys won't make it, but have them in a bucket of room temp water. I hate seeing plants die and will give them what I can. Sent an email to the Arbor Foundation, didn't get grumpy, but shared the situation and hope they come through with their guarantee of shipping healthy plants.

Its absolutely amazing, emagin! In 4 days I have a little forest of African daisies, swan river daisies, and alyssum! The clear plastic "dome" on the plug tray is all steamed up, and I was shoving the tray around, but wasnt even looking for anything since they had just been put in, when I noticed something looked "funny," so I took off the top and nearly fell over when I saw them. And with the cold weather weve had, it hasnt even been very warm in the house. Now Im hoping they dont ALL come up that fast. And, no, I guess they cant see the weather outside! They have no idea what theyve been born into! But theyre my babies, so Ill just have to take care of them.

And, cnetter, I love your cold frame too! LOL Could I rent a little corner of it? Seriously, literally every square foot of my yard is taken up for something or other. As much as Id like to have a cold frame, theres no possibility of it. Ive decided Im going to just plant them up into something largerI save the plastic strawberry boxesand space them out far enough that Ill be able to pull them apart when they can be planted out, even without having them in individual plug cells. At least it looks like I wont have to buy too many annuals this year! And most of them are perennials, so as soon as they have a couple true leaves, I can put them into small pots and keep them outside. I think most of the perennials will take a couple weeks to germinate. The tomatoes and eggplants Ill have to make room for inside with the annuals. What have I gotten myself into! (You all know Im having fun!)

Id say theres a chance your trees will be ok, emagin. But I bet the Arbor Day Foundation will replace them anyway. Hope you have room for a double order!

I got up to 40 degrees here in Thornton this afternoon, so I went out and took another cruise around the yard, and, after hearing you story about the flowers, cnet, I decided to cut my couple daffodils that were bent over, and I brought them in along with a couple small yellow hyacinths that had broken, and theyre now sitting right next to me here. I dont think Ill ever fully believe how plants can go from looking TOTALLY frozen and limp and destroyed, to all perky and looking as if nothing had ever happened in just a few hours. Nature is amazing! As near as I can tell, absolutely nothing in my yard was damaged by the cold or ice. I hope the rest of you fared as well.

By the way, emagin, when I was a kid, my parents always hid the eggs and baskets in the house. And we always had the whole house completely torn apart in looking for them! And then there would always be one or two (real) eggs that we couldnt find, and a few weeks later somebody would "accidentally" run into them! We didnt eat "those" eggs, of course! Then, one time when I was in high school, I decided turnabout was fair play, so I bought a BIG basket, and put an even bigger bow on it, and filled it with all kinds of Easter candy and kept it hidden in my closet until Saturday night. Then, when my parents went to sleep, I quietly snuck it out and put it in the middle of the dining room table. On Easter morning, when my parents got up, my mother went into the dining room first and saw it and freaked out! She thought somebody had broken into the house! Im not sure if she thought it was the Easter bunny or not, but since when do people break into houses to BRING things! LOL And a good time was had by all!

Lilacs of May, how are your plants?

Skybird

Skybird,

Ever since I was about 15 my brother and I put out stockings at Christmas for my parents. The first time was the most fun, because in addition to the scruptious candy we got them we also bought gag gifts (such as a plunger and gross medicated soap, with a note from Santa saying "so you can clean up your act a bit more for next year...") We always ended up buying them what we loved to eat, while we ended up with stockings mainly full of oranges and dental care products!

I check on my garden last night and everything looks good. I can't believe all the beautiful tulips in Boulder that seemed to make it through the ice storm without a scratch!

Thanks for giving me some hope regarding the little trees. I was a bit surprised they were shipped so early. Hopefully the AF will come through for me. I went a tad overboard on the order, but there is plenty of room for them as it will take years for a "real" tree. It was a curiosity to buy bare root at their size and see how they would grow compared to potted. By now you have probably figured out that I love playing with possibilites.

The sun is out and am watching the ice falling off of the trees. It is still a frozen mess in my area with ice covering everything. Hopefully all will melt and can check on plants later today.

And I wish a sunny day for all....

May all of you see some spring this week

"LOL Could I rent a little corner of it?"

Oddly enough, I do lend a corner to someone who lives out your way. She buys a couple cheap little tomato starts in April, I plant them up to their necks in one gallon pots and stick them in the cold frames. Come late May, she gets huge flowering tomatoes.

Years ago I wanted a greenhouse to get a jump on the season. My spouse and I checked them out and did quite a bit of research. He convinced me to do cold frames instead - since they're down in the ground they don't need to be heated.
Probably the best gardening thing I ever did, outside of the drip system. The extended season lets me grow things like this:
{{gwi:1197458}}

For folks who have the space, I highly recommend cold frames to help thwart our wacky weather.

I did see the cutest little geodesic dome greenhouse the other day. Now, I want it.

Just wondering how everything did when the warmth returned, lilacs. My daffies were upright again, and still in full flower and the tulips with full buds were standing at attention waiting to put on their show. Hope everything snapped back for everyone!

I had the best Easter ever! It was a miracle. On Saturday, when I kept looking out my kitchen window and watching the snow come down. I was aching to see my two apple trees and plum tree with new blooms weather the storm. All day the temp never really dropped below 24 but it never really got any higher than that either. I started reading the posts that day and wanted to share my story with you. I went out to inspect my tulips about 1:00pm ...all 130 of the new bulbs I had planed last November, they were starting to come up. I saw they were frozen and dripped icicles. The flowers were on the verge of opening the few days prior to that. I was so looking forward to it all. My heart was breaking. I decided to cut at least 30 of them to see what would happen. I brought them inside and put them in two large vases and within a few hours they began to thaw. My husband and I grabbed three large sheets and we covered the rest that were in the ground. The tulips I brought in actually opened up on Easter morning. NEW LIFE! It was a miracle. We removed the sheets mid day and the ones in the garden survived too. The blooms in the vsse are so beautiful especially today and I can't stop looking at them. They are so perfect! I'm sure your flowers will survive too.

Sunfleur,

New Life it is indeed. How wonderful your home must feel with all the colors. And there is nothing like seeing the sun come out.

It is amazing how all made it through the thick ice layers. I took some time in the yard to rake up a bit. Everything is fine, even flats of spreading thyme are quite happy along with a few new bushes. If the lilacs or tree blossoms are in trouble, am not seeing any damage. That "we" could be this strong against the elements. Nature has some secrets being kept from us....waging against this weather is one of them.

The Arbor Day Foundation is sending me new trees, but waiting until the 1st of May. Shipments really are too early, especially considering the weather throughout the states. They think the ones I received will be fine, but seeing their roots in ice blocks it is hard to believe there won't be some loss. I was told make a potting soil slurry for them and keep in the garage.

Cnetter...garden people are like animal people it seems. We always have room for more. Lucky neighbor having you share your space.

It's amazing, but after everything thawed out, my only casualty was one tulip bloom that I found in pieces on my walk. Everything else looks fine. I wouldn't have believed it. The peach blossoms are still on my tree.

We're supposed to have subfreezing temps and several inches of snow this weekend, so I guess I won't be out working in the yard. I'm less worried now, though, and if we have a blanket of snow that will insulate them. I'm not crazy about yet another weekend snowstorm. It's precipitation and we always need it, but to my mind a nice warm spring rain would suffice just as well.

The blizzard was a bust! It went south of us. As I speak it's a balmy 73 degrees.