-28d low, -8 high our coldest night/day with double digit lows and single digit highs this last couple of weeks.

We managed to pick up close to 6" of snow by middle of December before the real cold hit. Never got heavy snow, just 1" or so every little 'clipper' that went through.

Not much wind after November. A few wind chill warnings issued over the state but mostly calm. Calm comes with the cold many times.

Everything in the yard is Zone 3 hardy so not expecting any trouble.

Hoping the cold reminds EAB and HWA to stay away.

Some snow expected Saturday with moderating temps in a week or so.

20 F. with snow would sound positively TROPICAL to me at this point (we have been that far below normal to so long!). Meanwhile, places hundreds of miles north of me have be mild to warm (Alaska, Europe, etc.). I am an East Coast person but these crazy extremes have been getting to me (the heat and now the cold). I don't see temps below the Zone 7 limit ( 0F), but it's soooo prolonged. There is no snow cover and below normal in precip for the season by several inches. Now, there is the potential for an East Coast megastorm (with pressures lower than Sandy), due to a combination of record cold air mass over North America and anonymously high water temperatures in the the North Atlantic. CRAZY!

jurasico, models shows the big low racing northeast, staying mostly off the coast, except Boston/Maine. Forecasts can change, tho. Wherever it goes, the next BIG arctic high dives southeast behind it.

it is currently 11 degrees here. temps dropped to -2 last night. no snow on the ground. my rhodies began to curl on christmas eve. i’m a little concerned about my “little gem” magnolia and my newly planted loblolly and shortleaf pines.

It's not as cold here as some of you have it, but the temperature today was 22 degrees below the average for the year and the cold is supposed to stick around at least for this week. I have some Zone pushing plants and shrubs (zone 8 to my 7) that have been doing very well for the past several mild winters. I am a bit worried about them. Hope they will survive.

Quick, go to the window and look at that humongous moon, you can just make out the features of a wolf. What wolves have to do with cold weather I don't know, just thought I'd mention it LOL.

I really shouldn't say anything...but we had cocktails outside today - high 60's and sunny. It will dip into the high 30's tonight. And I have to disagree about BICO - I'd go for Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme, although this one comes close:

Baby it's Cold Outside

Anybody care to swap weather with mine? Looks like this weekend will be a doozey... (Click pic to enlarge.)

Oh, I will Shaxhome!! We've been windy with actual temperatures mostly in the single digits (negative at night, positive during the day) but reaching into the teens below zero F a couple of nights. Midweek we should reach about 20F, but with 20 MPH winds it will still be too frigid to spend time outside, and by the weekend we aren't supposed to get above 0F all weekend. I don't mind winter, but when it's too cold to spend time outside, it gets a bit depressing. My neighbor the farmer has been adding heat to buildings with her smaller animals since even with the building and blankets, it's just too cold, even for highlander calves.

Grey, damp and 50 - 55f here today. Bulbs coming up, snowdrops showing, hellebores in bud, winter flowering shrubs doing their thing. Possible 32f next week over night. Brrr....

-18F this morning . . . Nose hairs freezing!

Yeah, BHBabs, that's my signal of real cold -- nose hairs freezing. 2F like this morning isn't cold enough, but getting close. Another signal is window-ice on the insides.

My ground is frozen hard enough that I can walk on my recently (mid-Nov) tilled vegetable plot and not sink in. Probably frozen a few inches maybe.

I really just want some precip. Rain, snow, whatever. We are in moderate (D1) drought here.

You know it's bad when you see colors on National Weather Service's weather map that you've never seen before.

Zone 7a(Woodbridge,VA) pretty cold and worried about some 10 gallon containers with loblolly pine that didn't make it into the ground this past fall...are they better off on the back deck or in the sunroom(glass all around) or garage? Temps have remained below freezing for at least a week and now they are dipping even further down into single digits, and wind chill could be below zero Thurs and Fri). This pattern seems to be in place for next week or two.

All my bags of soil and mulch in the garage are frozen solid, so I can't insulate containers any further, and ground is like one big ice brick.

I was completely enamored by the moon yesterday as well. My house was lit up more so after I shut off the lights (no window shades in the living areas).

Just realized there was indeed a "Super Moon" yesterday.

With this persistent dry cold you can bet things are going to start showing damage when those longer sunnier March days come.

74F, completely gorgeous, soft golden winter light. Could not have been a more beautiful day.

On the downside, we need rain. It's always something!

-3F this morning -- at least it's calm. Worse to come.

One week forecast swings between 30F and -20F

I am a bit concerned about my Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana Gracilis' that I planted in early May last year although I knew about the marginal hardiness issue. Good snow cover on the ground as always, roots should be doing OK. The thing is that it is a 2' high graft. Snow cover on the foliage is on top only, not on the sides, but I can live with a little bit of dieback, it is planted in a semi-sheltered location from the wind. Most of the trunk is bare, though, but I can't decide on wrapping the trunk considering these crazy temperature swings. Gee, does it have to happen in its first winter?

Are some of you having snow now? I'm hearing reports of a "bomb cyclone" hitting New England

Near Concord, NH, we got a foot or a bit over of fine, light snow. High gusty winds redistributed it so there are drifts over my head. Not supposed to get over about 5 F all weekend. But next week will be in the 20's - a great relief after the last two weeks of quite cold temperatures except for two days that reached low 20's.

Low 20s counts as an improvement! Good grief.

"bomb cyclone"

this is the media's latest effort to induce hysteria, since the ridiculous naming of the winter storms never really took off. (maybe they needed to think of more menacing names: "Winter Storm Dark Wolf" "Winter Storm Succubus" LMAO. Or in a licensing deal with Disney, "Winter Storm Death Star".)

I'm fine just calling it "the first nor'easter of 2018", which is what it was. And yes, the term really was written that way, going back to Colonial times. There's a hilarious account somewhere of a priggish New Englander who waged a long campaign to only have them referred to only as Northeasters.

On the horticultural vs. linguistic front, yesterday I used my FEL to pile snow atop several shrubs of concern: A new stab at a "zone 7 hardy" Pittosporum from Forestfarm, can't remember the species, only planted last spring...looks surprisingly well so far...a 3 way Mahonia hybrid from Rarefind, grown from Hayes Jackson (AL) seed...does not look happy so far(!)...my Rhododendron 'Choremia', which is obviously going to be borderline hardy here. Since I was scooping the snow from drifts (of 3" height!) on my driveway, I only had enough to completely cover the Mahonia. The other two...I hope the snow will protect the roots and lower stem. Current NOAA point forecast is a low of 3F Sunday morning.

Quite worried about the effect of this freeze on roots, because I had good snow cover for both polar vortex winters. Obviously I don't now. Not going to protect a 3rd winter Eucalyptus parvula...let the chips on that one fall where they may.

I'm not growing anything super sensitive to cold, unless you count minors and needles. But the freeze hasn't ended yet, so too early to tell if anything is unhappy. Lowest I've seen at my place has been 1F, so really a walk in the park so far. Since 8 PM on 30 Dec its been above freezing for one 4 hour stretch, on 6 Jan we may crack 32F, from then on a real heat wave moves in, next week it looks like only 5-8 degrees below average, with liquid rain. Time to break out the shorts!

I really hope the rain forecast here next wee materializes. While the ground does have some moisture (it was moist enough to freeze), it's been dry, and groundwater/streamflow is an issue.

Winter Storm Viserion? (GoT reference)

"Grayson" seems to be the name of this current monstrosity. My concern is for Photinia serratifolia, Prunus caroliniana, Myrica cerifera, Camellia japonica 'Anacostia'. Am just a wee bit concerned about my 'Teddy Bear' Magnolias, especially since I've been promoting them. Interestingly Trochodendron sp. seems to be fine.

Are some of you having snow now? In my part of Maryland only a dusting of snow, but a lot of wind & cold. Driving around we see a lot of white but it is from road salt. At this moment the beautiful sun is hitting me in the face. In the city, water main breaks everywhere and schools closed. Monday we look forward to freezing rain then warming up afterward.

Am interested in what winter looks like for Huggorm & Floral.

Am interested in what winter looks like for Huggorm & Floral.

It looks like fall, basically. We had some snow but the last weeks has just been a lot of rain and mud. Seems like it will be a little bit colder from now on though, nothing too severe but maybe 25F

It's damp, often cloudy, minimum temps about -5c but that is very rare. Today it was by turns sunny, raining, overcast and back to sunny. Temperature 45f. But people from places with much colder winters often feel chilly here because it is humid rather than dry. 95% at this precise moment (21:00).

19:00 on Friday 5th January

36°F

WIND SPEED1MPHNORTH EASTERLY

Humidity: 95%

Visibility: Good

Pressure: 998mb, Rising

And my current weather is very nearly identical to floral's. At 1 pm, it is currently 49F, cloudy and with the possibility of showers. Was raining earlier this am when I drove my sister to a very early ferry :-)) Expected low tonight is 46F. Humidity is 90% and the barometric pressure is 30 in.

No expected change, although we might break 50F next Saturday.

My concern is for Photinia serratifolia, Prunus caroliniana, Myrica cerifera, Camellia japonica 'Anacostia'.

I don't think these are anything to worry about so far, if they are fully established and otherwise well sited, especially in the case of the camellia. Are they showing damage? I'm going to guess Myrica cerifera, unless you tell me it was collected at the north end of the range or otherwise selected for hardiness, would be the first to show injury. I had a cultivar selected as a dwarf by Woodlanders, die quite quickly and unambiguously in it's first winter back in the 1990s. Granted it might have been one of the cold ones like 1994 but it died so fast it clearly wasn't very hardy. Camellia 'Anacostia' sounds like it was selected in the DC area, so we'd hope it's at least a little hardy...

UPDATE: just did a quick walkabout. Most concerning plant is a Camellia sinensis 'Sochi', planted in spring, having only minimal morning sun protection. Leaves turning brown and light gray-green. Doesn't look good. But a plant barely worth collecting for me...I don't drink tea and just wanted the novelty of "oh look I have a tea plant in my garden" and "it came from Russia" LOL. It could recover though, or sprout from the base at worse...it had grown well this summer.

Next most concerning is a Pseudotsuga sinensis. Whilst needles on all Sequoia sempervirens are still intact, needles on that thing are already showing little brownish flecks, and the whole of them are turning a sickly, lighter green color. I'd already lost one in PV-I, was going to give the species one more chance. It was big enough that being planted last spring is really no excuse, it's kind of a bad sign to look like this at this point. If it survives might sell it to someone down south I know who is starting an arboretum. It's kind of a snoozefest anyhow because unlike douglas fir, the foliage has no fragrance. There's really no sense in giving one room if it's going to behave this way. Might as well use that particular "large conifer slot" for another Abies pindrow.

So your Abies pindrow is proving hardy, David? Usually catalogs call it z8 while calling P. sinensis z7 - sounds like they may have it switched around.

BTW, didn't know you ended up losing that other Chinese doug-fir.

"Usually catalogs call it z8 while calling P. sinensis z7 - sounds like they may have it switched around."

Yep, that is definitely what I'm thinking. Although to their credit the ACS codes P. sinensis as zone 8. As you know there is a fairly established A. pindrow at the Arnold Arboretum. I can deal with this state of affairs because A. pindrow is a far more interesting plant!

̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶P̶.̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶e̶n̶s̶i̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶m̶o̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶(̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶t̶e̶d̶)̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶p̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶P̶V̶-̶I̶.̶ ̶S̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶h̶u̶g̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶o̶t̶b̶a̶l̶l̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶s̶c̶o̶o̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶F̶E̶L̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶w̶e̶l̶l̶.̶ ̶N̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶u̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶e̶s̶t̶a̶b̶l̶i̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶a̶s̶s̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶m̶e̶r̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶e̶f̶o̶l̶i̶a̶t̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶d̶i̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶

Yikes!

I'm now having to review old GW posts to remember what I did with my plants. There have been over 750 of them since starting this garden...that's my excuse!!! P.S.1 - my first one - barely survived PV-1, then I moved it and it recovered quickly and fully re-foliated. THEN PV-II killed it. Still, it was a big 1.5" caliper or so specimen, 5'-6' tall. It should have survived. I actually moved it because when I realized how fast they can grow, I thought it would make good high shade rather than just being a specimen plant out in the lawn. So moved it what was supposed to be a woodland garden area in the future. The year before PV-I it grew crazy fast, like over 2' , maybe close to 3'. It was only a 3 or so years old from tiny mail order size. It, along with the MCXBC, are by far the fastest conifers and that was their appeal. Abies pindrow is faster than some other firs, but not really fast.

So, for that species, two strikes and you're out! Although again if the current one lives, I'll give it to another collector. I have a feeling David Parks getting the seed from CN was a one time thing and we won't be seeing them as a regular catalog item at Camforest. It's a shame to waste a rare plant even if it isn't suited for one's own garden.

Yes, David is right, the "bomb cyclone" stuff is blatant scare-mongering -- strong lows are common this time of year. But that's the current culture.

High temp was around 9F briefly yesterday, but wind keeps it from falling much. "Only" got down to 2F this morning -- not unusual. But tomorrow morning will be the ticker. Far colder just to the north.

I think I remember a -17 high in New York's Berkshire foothills when I was going to school there in the late '60's. I think the scaremongering was about the approaching ice age back then. I also remember 2'+ being dropped on us. I am unimpressed by all this hubbub. It is painful but not without precedent. Jesus, the guys colonized that area during the Little Ice Age that extended on until mid 1800's or so. Has the Hudson frozen up yet? Is it full of broken up yet. These were normal occurrences in the 60's and 70's.

I lost a row of Pittisporum during a 5ºF cold front in '89. I do uotknow what kind of pittosporum that it was. They were about 5' tall at the time. 5º in Austin is a rare event. There were non variegated large pittosporums that lived through it in the neighborhood.

" I used my FEL to pile snow atop several shrubs of concern:"

haha! Earlier in the season I shoveled snow on 2 Hydrangeas that were moved late last summer. We only had a couple of inches at that time. Since then we've had a few inches on top of that.

I didn't mention it earlier bc I thought it was an 'up north' thing. LOL.

Good thinking! :-)

I shoveled the snow up to the top of my greenhouse/garage door windows today to protect my tropicals. Going down to 0 F. tonight (my Zone 7 minimum).

"Going down to 0 F. tonight (my Zone 7 minimum)."

Well, not exactly, as people in a HUGE swath of northeastern NC and southern and central Virginia are finding out tonight. There are currently areas that are listed as 7b on the latest, greatest USDA map that have plummeted as low as -12F! And areas listed as zone 8a that have hit -5F! There are gonna be some dead or severely injured camellias tonight, believe me. Once you go south and east of Richmond the older cultivars become fairly common in gardens. They were often not selected for hardiness. I've driven from Raleigh to Norfolk along back roads and there are plenty planted there.

Because the Bay and lower rivers are not frozen, areas like Norfolk, VA Beach, even Kent Island, etc. are doing fine. The worse possible locations seem to be areas along small regional rivers in the upper coastal plain, where the cold air is settling...no wind anymore to stir it up...and there's not enough water to provide counterbalancing warmth. The shocking -12F figure was along the Chowan River. Plant Delights is lucky, they are only about 20 miles away from the area with snow cover, where temps are going below 0F. Which would be the coldest they've been since 1985. As it is I think they will hit 5F. Another cold zone I've noticed before is along all but the southernmost parts of the Patuxent river valley in southern MD. And even along the lower parts, if you're away from the main body of water on a tiny frozen tributary, you're dropping below 0F tonight.

All of New England is below zero except for areas right on the water. Of course, it's less of a surprise up there! Sub-0F readings are even popping up on Long Island. I'm surprised there aren't more widespread sub-0F temps in the NJ Pine Barrens. The stations that are showing below 0F are closer to the water, because that's where more snow fell.

It's a dramatic illustration of the double-edged sword that is snow cover. Protects things under it, but allows temperatures to plummet during radiative freezes on clear, still nights. We saw this same pattern in the polar vortex winters, too. The coldest places on still nights are places where it's relative flat, but you're still in a depression...and away from large water. With heavy snow cover! One particular night, the center of the Delmarva Peninsula started going below 0F AT 11PM (!) before a lucky change of wind direction occurred. Still many stations hit -5F or so.

David, I was simply noting that my particular area did not dip below the the minimum for Zone 7 (0 F.), not that this did not/does not happen in other places across the country in the current season or previous seasons..., thus the limited values of gardening zones (limited but not useless).

"David, I was simply noting that my particular area did not dip below the minimum for Zone 7 (0 F.),"

It isn't the minimum for zone 7! That's the problem with the way you phrased it - both times. But I think you actually understand, you're just using the wrong term. You could say you didn't drop below the averages for zone 7.

Anyhow I wasn't so much correcting you, as just observing that too many people think of the USDA zone system in that way. I admit even I have sometimes said I 'had a zone 8 winter', but that's not really true. There's no such thing as 'having a zone xxx winter'. You either live in a certain zone or you don't. Some zone 7 winters are not going to go below 10F. They are still zone 7 winters if you're physically in zone 7. Again, because it's a long-term average for many years. So there, I'm correcting myself. I won't take it personally if you won't. ;-)

I was looking for a site to more fully explain the eastern gardening zones and how they are determined, I can see why people are confused, as many explanations were inadequate or contradictory.

Yes, the zones are established on the basis of average minimal temperature (averaged over an extended period of time..., I saw somewhere 30 years but thought it was longer), not average ANNUAL minimum temperatures.

-3F here this morning. Meh.....

Edit: Better min/max thermometer said -4F.

It’s average, jurasico.

If something is zone 7 hardy, it should be able to survive at least a very rare, short dip -10 or so, since it occasionally gets much colder than the 0 - 10F average.

Some nurseries will rate a plant hardy to 0F as “zone 7” but that’s either naive or unscrupulous on the part of the nursery.

I did a spreadsheet of average annual minimums for BWI airport. It came out to about 5F.

The one or two dips to -7 offset the years we don’t get below 10.

Hoping the minimum we had this year was it for the year (3 F. above). Will b interesting to see what damage resulted once it gets warmer.

Lady GaGa, oh no. Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews does it best ;)

Not all that impressive since its limited to this particular stretch of 12/26 to 1/6 but that was the second coldest stretch since the late 1800s for Milwaukee!