I think the 2 main, big take-home ideas are how destructive the sun and never-ending wind were, and the deeply frozen soil. Many, many things that sailed through the prior PV winters were killed by the lack of snow cover. I suppose this also allowed the soil to dry out to a greater extent. Even very hardy BLEs like Koehne hollies had some minor leaf burning on sun exposed areas. That hasn't happened in any previous winters!

Here is a example of how the part of the camellia to first see the sun in winter, was burnt. Fortunately I planted this one behind a Abies firma, expressly to protect it from winter morning sun. Yep, that one little branch is what I'm talking about. I have stood there on a winter morning and actually saw that it was where the sun first strikes. It was actually only bronzed in winter, it seems as though when spring came along, the plant just aborted it. This is 'Aida', the hardiest C. X williamsii.

Off to the left you see a Rhododendron augustinii 'Cerulean Mist', which surprisingly was completely uninjured as is only somewhat protected from winter morning sun. 'Crater Lake', the hybrid, surprisingly appears less hardy. One wonders if 'Cerulean Mist' was collected at a higher altitude than the parents of 'Crater Lake'. Also visible is R. 'Wine and Roses', which was fine.

Here is Sequoia 'Soquel'. The damaged part is the part that was near the ground, and southeast facing. Again, first to be struck by the sun. We did have a dusting of snow on a couple mornings that surely reflected light. It appears to be getting hardier with age and greater establishment. (or rather, able to express its true hardiness LOL)

Here is Ilex cochica, which I think might really be I. colchica OP, pollinated by a random hardy Highclere. It gets a bit of winter morning sun so I'm pleased it looks so good. I requested Mr. Kuhl root this because it has huge berries. (those berries on the ground are from a neighboring opaca.) You can see the leaf tip near the ground was burnt by reflected light. The same phenomena is visible on Camellia 'Aida', btw.

This is a Helianthemum, orange cultivar. Maybe 'Ben Heckla'. These only had moderate injury in PV 1 & 2 because they had snow cover. Now they are barely alive, and only the parts that were covered by the rest of the dying foliage! Forgot to mention above that a nearby x Halimiocistus was completely killed. Even with south wall protection.

The most serious damage overall was to my prized collection of rare perennials. I can deal with something a Grevillea or Euc dying, because I already think of them as experimental. OTOH I've had this huge, spectacular Eucomis 'Rhode Island Red' for years, and it survived both PVs. Here is the rotted, dead bulb:

I have had various other Eucomis since 2006, such as 'Peace Candles', and a couple of my own seedlings of 'Sparkling Burgundy'. ALL Eucomis, except one that I luckily planted on a south facing slope, appear to have died. Very frustrating. I think the soil froze rock solid at least 6" down, and the plants, like I implied above, were not in true dormancy. (I've seen this with various high elevation amaryllid seedlings like Brunsvigia. When dormant they can take the teens at least. When in growth, a hard freeze will kill them. Speaking of...I ordered 6 Amaryllis belladonna a few years ago. Seedlings with the intent of selecting for hardiness. ONE survives. It must be very hardy!) Luckily, I'd taken cuttings of two of the best seedlings of 'Rhode Island Red'. (yes, in normal years, Eucomis self seed here) Likewise, various rare Kniphofias are dead, like 'Nose Job' and K. northiae. At least one Delosperma is dead, as is Origanum 'Kent Beauty'. I'm not optimistic about the only Dierama of many I tried, that finally got established, survived the PV winters (they killed D. reynoldsii) and was sometimes blooming.

What I was going to say about EDIT: TT209 is it's one of Richart Murcott's hybrids, and he fertilizes his garden generously. I had had it since 2014 and it had been growing agonizingly slowly. Last spring I gave it WAY more fertilizer than I would usually give a rhodie, and it responded by finally growing somewhat vigorously. Meaning he had perhaps unintentionally selected for 'likes to be fed'. Low and behold the PV-III winter caused more leaf damage to it than PV-II had caused, when it was only a year beyond a rooted cutting. Make me wonder if the growth was still somewhat soft in the fall, both because of the late spring fertilization and the strange weather we had. What was it again? Cool in late August and early Sept., dry, then wet, then very warm, then cool and wet again. Some BLEs started growing in November, they were definitely not dormant as they should have been!

Meant TT209, a nice red. I had gotten a cutting of TT240 but it died, it was the least vigorous of his plants in my climate. Probably cause it's yellow with lots of R. wardii and thus heat sensitive. Too bad because it's an intriguing greenish-yellow, like the PNW hybrid 'Windsong'.

Great update David.

Did you observe any difference in hardiness between Gardenia 'Griff's Select', 'Frostproof' and 'Kleim's Hardy'?

How about your Sequoia Redwood cultivars? Is there any noticeable hardiness difference between them?

What type of damage did you see on Rhododendron 'Broughtonii'?

Nolina microcarpa is ‘perfect’ up here.

Nice compilation. Only thing I notice yet is Victoria Southern Mag has more leaf-browning than usual, tho it'll recover from that easily. In the BIG view, there was alot of tree uprooting/snapping-off in my region, but that is not very unusual & many of those are the already-dead ashes.

Did you observe any difference in hardiness between Gardenia 'Griff's Select', 'Frostproof' and 'Kleim's Hardy'?

Not really. If anything, 'Kleim's Hardy' was a little more damaged, however it's in a spot with less afternoon sun, so the soil was probably frozen even more deeply.

How about your Sequoia Redwood cultivars? Is there any noticeable hardiness difference between them?

The bigger picture emerging is that years of establishment is making more of a difference. 'Soquel' shouldn't be as hardy as 'Chapel Hill'/'Swarthmore Hardy', especially because it was selected form the southern end of the native range, but it did very well. Lost its leader in PV-1, but this time that didn't happen and notwithstanding the one branch facing southeast, did pretty well.

'Broughtonii' just has ugly burnt leaves, but is otherwise surely ok and going to survive, maybe even bloom. It's a hideous color though, and this might be the first rhododendron in my collection that will be uhhh, how shall I put it...deactivated in situ. Too big to easily dig up, but fast growing and taking up more and more real estate. There are better choices for root stocks, and I think when breeding with it, it will be very hard to get rid of the "catawbiense bluing" in the offspring. Besides, it apparently isn't even as hardy as 'Leo' or 'Captain Jack', which are much better reds! So why use as a parent anyhow?

OTOH, who knows, never say never, so I might just cut it down periodically so its jarring magenta-pink flowers aren't very noticeable!

I realized I forgot a few items that I will add here as I seem them throughout this day of planting.

1) Dunstan citrumelo seedling. Very damaged but I would say > 50% it recovers. Stems still green on one trunk. But it went south faster than it did in the prior PV winters. Again, probably because the ground dried out faster and it was dehydrated more quickly. All the leaves were gone by mid-January. :-( It gets the full blast of winter sun from morning until evening.

2) Mahonia gracilipes/fortunei/polyodonta seedlings from Hayes Jackson via Rarefind. Dead but it put up a good fight and almost made it. Which is too bad because 1) Rarefind had charged a fortune for them and 2) it did have an unusual looking leaf. Like an evergreen Sorbus. The final coup de grace though, was the big wind storm, the blew over its wire netting. YES, blew over hex chicken wire that was held down by a bamboo stake and a landscape fabric pin!!! (that windstorm was so strong it blew 4 railroad cars off a bridge!) This pulled up the root system, I didn't spot it until a couple days later, and the root system had of course dried out. The plant was small and spindly and I should have given it another year in the garage.

I'm not even adding things it's obvious should not be very damaged at 0F, unless it was a whole winter of 0F nights! - like Magnolia 'Kay Parris'. Just a bit of leaf burn on the most sun exposed surfaces, as is the case with Koehne hollies, 'Ingramii', 'James G. Esson', etc. Maybe it seems Osmanthus X fortunei shouldn't be in this category (I used to think it was tender) but clearly it should be. VERY hardy in my garden. Survived PV-1 as a very small plant, and was barely bothered by this latest PV-3.

David have you ever tried Red Bay trees? I wish we would have a warm winter so my test plant can grow without getting set back from damage.

No, they are nice though. There is a huge one at Udel that hasn't been seriously damaged in any of the recent winters, so some clones are clearly quite hardy. Hardier than their Q. virginiana for example.

Was about to bump this anyhow with more bad news.

Forgot to mention Rosemary 'Hill Hardy', imputed to be one of the hardiest clones, is totally dead. Not even able to come back from the roots. The same thing happened to a HUGE plant in PV-1. It has a 4" caliper main stem. I had replanted next to my the west stone wall of my house...I thought it would be more sheltered, but not enough apparently. BTW I don't like the taste of rosemary and don't cook with it, but I like the look of the plants.

Also completely dead, a huge Santolina that had been in my garden since 2006 and survived both prior PVs. I burned the leftover dried stems of rosemany, santolina, and cistus...omg...incredible. They burn super hot and super fast, it's like burning a pile of gasoline soaked rags! Flames were 8' high from no more than a couple pounds of material.

Remember I said nothing deciduous died? I guess I lied! Leycesteria is either killed to the roots, or outright dead. Not the latter I hope. But again this is amazing, because it only had minor stem damage in PV1 &2, main stems were fine and regrew very quickly. I think the soil just froze so deep and so fast, and the plants weren't ready for it. EDIT: stems right near the ground are green and sprouting. Whew, relief! I like eating the fruits in the late summer, if I can get to them before the ants and birds do. But still in PV 1&2 the stems were sprouting ca. 2-3 ft. high.

One seedling of the 10 or so from Eucomis 'Rhode Island Red', that I was growing out to evaluate, is coming back. Maybe a couple others will follow but with mid-season daffs being in full bloom, I think the prognosis for anything not already growing is bleak. The ground is plenty warm now. It's about 5 different rare Kniphofias total that are dead at this point. 'Green Jade' is coming back, fortunately. It really sickens me but I will make the best of a bad situation, and keep backup plants of any zone 7 rated South African plant inside. Eucomis for example, are super easy to root once you know what you're doing. It's a small price to pay...I think there are going to be so few specialty nurseries in 10-20 years that when the next set of winters like this comes around, too much of that stuff will become irreplaceable.

I never tried any of the ‘hardy’ rosemarys. Have you tried ‘Arp’?

I like to hear one of ten seedlings survived. You selected a hardy form.

No, I think I will try 'Arp' next.

One data point on Frostproof gardenia from more north of you: I planted one last spring here in Westchester County, NY. Even though I covered it with a blanket during the coldest couple of weeks in January, it still looks dead as a doornail. We got down to around -4 at the lowest and many nights in a row of sub-20 degree lows. I'm also waiting to see how far my Natchez crape myrtle died back. The main branches are still green, but there's no sign of budding (which isn't unusual for April).

Thanks for sharing. All of my gardenias had at least 2 years of establishment. I think Westchester Co. NY would be asking a lot of even the hardiest cultivars. (Although they will be ok in milder winters) You might try a wall o water, those can make a difference. Also, SW corner of a building, but not right up against a wall.

Yes agreed on that. I happened to be at a Walmart in Georgia last spring and they had small ones for like $10 so I grabbed one and stowed it in my carry-on on the way home. I had heard claims that Frostproof was zone 6 hardy, and we rarely go below zero so I thought I'd give it a try. If they're truly zone 6 or border 7 hardy, I think it's more likely to be somewhere like the higher elevations of the South where they get deep drops in temperature but may not get the prolonged cold spells that we get in the Northeast. As you say, a protected spot and more than one season in the ground may help too.

I lost a rosemary. Nothing else.

I may have lost a 2’ tall magnolia grandiflora. Not from the cold, but a deer completely denuded it and even ate the dormant buds. It has a single remaining bud near ground level.

There are a few other things I've been forgetting to mention. In order not to keep bumping the thread, I will just edit this post until I can longer do so. (seems like maybe 5 days we get, other than the initial post which locks as soon as it has replies. A good system I think)

Oddly, my [Sarcococca[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/sarcococca-experts-dsvw-vd~1608665) plant and seedling that had so much trouble in the PV winters is showing only mild injury. The rhododendrons slightly over them and to the south have grown even bigger in the intervening years, so maybe are providing more overstory protection. Unfortunately this genus is potentially doomed by boxwood blight, so I'm not too emotionally invested in it. They do smell nice when they flower.

My Magnolia "skinneriana" lost most of the top foliage - but did not lose stems this time. Buds are swelling all over the top. An improvement over the prior Polar Vortex winters.

Next, one of the 5 showy South American Cassia seedlings is coming back! Very weakly so I'm not 100% counting it as a success yet, but if so, it would be another example of selecting a hardier one of a lot, perhaps. In prior winters going all the way back to my early experimental gardening days in the 1990s, I know you can see a little shoot in the spring from something, but then it peters outs. It would really thrill me if Lessertia frutescens would come back from the roots, but I doubt it. It's a shame with those: Lessertia montana is pretty hardy, does just fine in the PNW and survives typical winters around here. (though not cold ones) But coming from very high elevations, it doesn't like our summer heat and warm nights. The heat causes it to flag, and the warm nights, as is the case with Dierama, probably prevent it from vernalizing and flowering. OTOH, L. frutescens LOVES heat, and grows like gangbusters in summer, getting to be a big 3'X3' shrub from a seed in one season. However, it's only zone 9 hardy. Hence my wish to cross them, making a plant vigorous enough for our climate with a chance at surviving typical-to-mild winters, and being willing to bloom when it can.

Which reminds me of something else I forgot - I guess I could be wrong, but it looks like I lost another Erythrina herbacea! Love this plant and the related E. bidwillii hybrid, but so sick of losing them when I know for a fact at least 2 people down in the DC area have kept them alive for years! There's even a guy down there who had the Southern African E. zeyheri, but I don't know if it survived the PV winters. (with a root up to 3 feet deep, it should have LOL. It was called the "plough breaker" by the European colonists) Mine had gotten very well established and grown better than any of my prior attempts - I was sure it would make it. Hopefully one Cassia returning is a sign that perennial peas just like to take their time? Dave in Nova, ever tried an Erythrina?

One more plant I forgot to mention is the excellent Osteospermum 'Lavender Mist' - probably the toughest and hardiest perennial Asteraceae from Southern Africa, maybe Africa as a whole - is coming back, although about 2/3 of the patch was killed. Again, it sailed through the PV winters, proving the benefit of snow cover. In Oswego, NY, Ellen Hornig of "Seneca Hill Perennials" fame could grow scads of zone 7 or even zone 8 rated forbs and geophytes from South Africa, because she had 6 FEET of snow cover every winter!

I may have lost a 2’ tall magnolia grandiflora. Not from the cold, but a
deer completely denuded it and even ate the dormant buds. It has a
single remaining bud near ground level.

I would not count it out at all. Magnolias are pretty darn tough.

Am happy to report the following BLEs @ Nat'l Arboretum show no signs of winter damage whatsoever. Pix taken this afternoon.

Sycopsis sinensis in fruit.

Thanks.
This reminds me, my Loropetalum 'Zhuzhou Fuchsia' was defoliated, but had no stems die. Or flower buds. It's about to bloom.

Most any of my marginal BLEs in full winter sun got at least some winter burn damage. These include japonica and sansanqua camellias, Ilex cornuta x latifolia, 'Virginia' holly, 'Scepter' holly, 'Eagleson' holly, Ilex crenata niwaki, Distylium, even some azaleas. Holly ferns died to the ground. Live oaks defoliated, but don't show any tip dieback. Feijoa sellowiana died to ground. Gardenia dead to ground and bark split (now compost). Trachycarpus defoliated again, but one is blooming -- maybe that's a good sign? Needle palm has some minor cosmetic leaf tip damage. Top 1 foot of Distylium racemosum died. Rest OK but was in shade. Sycopsis sinensis OK. Viburnum 'Chindo' maybe 5% damage. Agarista populifolia - no damage. Sarcococca confusa - burned leaf edges, Prunus lusitanica - top 3 feet died out again.

Some surprises with very minimal to no damage include: Dendropanax trifidus, Castanopsis sclerophylla (in shade), Buxus harlandii (very young too), Quercus acuta (shade), Ternstroemia in full sun - OK, Persea palustris (shade), Osmanthus x fortunei (in sun - no damage whatsoever), Quercus myrsinifolia (some defoliation, but tips look fine), Lithocarpus henryi, Illicium henryi, Illicium parviflora, Sarcococca hookeriana var. hookeriana (this may actually be orientalis), Daphne odora - no damage at all. Ilex integra 'Ogon' sustained just a bit of tip burn.

Flawless hollies: Mary Nell, Oakleaf, Lassie, Wirt L. Winn, Virginia in some shade, Ilex latifolia (surprise), San Gabriel, English variegated, Gold Coast (shade), Dwarf Burford, Blue hollies, Cherry Bomb, Winter Bounty, Solar Flare with some shade, Whoa Nellie. aquifolium hybrid 'Sled Run' (shade). Aucuba in shade flawless. Photinia flawless.

Dave, GREAT UPDATE. My Illicium henryi and 'Woodland Ruby', should have been on my completely undamaged list, too. But then I don't think of them as very tender, because they were not damaged in PV 1 & 2 and I. henryi was known to grow at Barry Yinger's garden in a solid 6 part of central PA, surviving negative teens F.

Few last ones I forgot: Distylium myricoides (Piroche Form) had minimal damage, and is blooming more than it ever has before. This is surprising, but it is shaded to the SE by a huge Ilex opaca, and since we've narrowed down winter morning sun as a deciding factor in various cases of damage this year, that might have made the difference. It's also more established that it was in the prior PV winters...it looked pretty bad after them.

And Berberis stenophylla had 1 out of 2 stems killed, and lost all but a handful of leaves, but leaves are growing back on the surviving stem. It was only planted last spring - it was about 1 foot high or so. And it was planted on a mound of sand to hopefully help prevent root rot, which is a problem with almost all Chilean plants in summer around here.

Petteria ramentacea...one stem near a masonry wall burnt, but most of it ok and resprouting. (it's semi-deciduous IIRC, or at least should have green stems all winter)

Danae racemosa - bit of burn on leaf edges, but mostly fine.

Genista aetnensis - burnt more than usual, but no major branch die back.

Sam: I think the US Arboretum is likely zone 7B. It always seems to be about 5 degrees milder than my yard!

Not a tree of course but who cares? This one came through in flying colors. Why not, there was several inches of snow blanketing it. Of all the plants I can name, this one absolutely refuses to be tamed in the cultivated garden. The flowers have a beautiful perfume, can you name it?

Epigaea repens

UPDATE: Myrtus communis 'Andy Van' coming back from the very lowest stems. Almost started digging it out, and luckily spotted that.

I lost plain Gladiolus papilio, but the red hybrid 'Ruby' was on a south slope, thank goodness, which kept it alive. IIRC it was not cheap, something like $20.

Melicytus turned out to survive, it resprouted pretty quickly. The branches looked so dead! This is a decidedly boring looking plant...I'm mainly growing it for the bizarre novelty of being a shrubby member of the violet family. And because a Pacific Horticulture article listed it as one of the hardiest BLEs from New Zealand!

The cassia is definitely growing back...very exciting because as I said above, they are much showier than the natives like Cassia hebecarpa, and have a longer bloom season too.

For those in zone 7 or colder, have the crape myrtles leafed out yet in the mid Atlantic? Mine are still bare branches, and I'm worried they did not make it through the winter (though maybe the roots would resprout).

Mines leafed out.

Thanks. Do you happen to know how cold you got to on the island? We hit -4 for one night in Westchester, and I'm thinking it was the sub-zero temps that might have done them in.

What a coincidence this was bumped re: crape myrtles. Because I almost did so myself. I really think they are way over planted (down here), but I also think they are useful plants and wouldn't mind having ONE in the garden. Years ago I bought a supposed 'Siren Red' from a mail order company but was not initially sure that's really what it was. Then later, out of some idle curiosity about whether any 'vintage' cultivars had an equal or even superior red coloring, ordered 'Cedar Lane Red' from Woodlanders. This is the pre-1990s cultivar imputed to have one of the best red flowers.

Well, the final result on the color front is that I think 'Siren Red' has trouble developing a good color here - the fact my plant is in some shade doesn't help, I'm sure - but it is an improvement over 'Cedar Lane Red'.

But the REAL downer is that 'Cedar Lane Red', died to the ground, while 'Siren Red' didn't. At 0F with as I've noted repeatedly, incredibly deeply frozen soil. I was always skeptical of the claim that guy in Oklahoma was ALSO hybridizing for hardiness...figures like -10F were being thrown around a few years ago...but, it certainly doesn't seem especially tender.

So, the 'Cedar Lane Red' is already "bye bye" and I'm keeping 'Siren Red'. You can't really keep space for inferior cultivars, and I needed a spot for X Gordlinia 'Sweet Tea' anyhow.

One more sad change to the above: something very bad is going on with Taiwania. Either...delayed winter damage, or root rot, or root rot triggered by winter damage. This is one of my favorite conifers and I supposedly had the hardier form which is rarely offered, so this might just be the worst development of the entire winter.

Eucalyptus parvula, Grevillea 'Poorinda Leane',Cistus 'Ledon' and Rhododendron 'Cloudburst' are definitely gone, but those are hardly irreplaceable and for some of them known to be borderline so no shock. If it was cold that killed it, I'm surprised 0F killed the Taiwania because it had really grown well last year, after sulking in a pot for years. I did untangle the roots and maybe untangled them a little too much: but again I wouldn't expect it to have looked so good going into winter, if that had been the case. Maybe it just needed another year of establishment: since it clearly wasn't happy in a pot I should maybe have planted it spring 2016. There's one little branch that still looks semi-alive, but all of the others have dried up and died, so I think it's a goner. Since my post above it's been on an agonizing downward spiral; though I wonder if it was already dead and just taking a long time to look dead compared to my other rarities!

"Do you happen to know how cold you got to on the island?" ajs317, My area dropped down to 4 degrees on one night.

Sorry to hear about your tree :(.

My crape myrtles here (Natchez & Catawbas) are killed to the ground this yr -- but sprouting. Hardly any twig/branch death on them last yr (but the new growth last yr was then killed by a late frost!)

Crapes all leafed out here. I had Siren Red for a number of years. Rain really brought down all the flower heads. Just didn't seem to be strong enough to hold up. Ended up removing it. Using Biloxi in its place to provide shade to deck.