Mine were snowed on too and we have been in the low 20s at night for several weeks. Only their noses (top part of the emerging flowerhead) were out in the cold along with about 2 - 3 inches of leaf surrounding the head. Snow has melted away this morning and they seem fine. This seems to happen here with some frequency, but they seem to bloom fine anyway. The worst I have ever had was some deadish looking tops, so that they don't get the normal domed look that they usually have. The heads will keep pushing up very slowly over the next month here, so I think you will get some bloom even if they are a bit mushy.

I had a midge in one of my feeders yesterday when I replenished the nectar in it. I think one of the reasons they do well here on the coast is that we DO have various insects in midwinter, many of which like the midge I found, are winter hatching aquatic insects. This would be a good reason to ditch the koi in your pond and go for a more natural type of pond, lol... I suspect smaller mayflies and cadis are also fairly important for them. In the garden though, a good compost pile will still produce fungus gnats and fruit flies and similar little bitty insects that the hummers prefer all winter long. The conifers tend to produce a nice hatching of mealybug and other kinds of little aphid type bugs this time of year too, and I do see the hummers chasing after them during one of their mating flights, or whatever it is when they decide to start flying all over. But there are quite a few winter flowers the hummers rely on, and they will defend them aggressively this time of year. Just come over to my house and watch for a while. The males especially are getting into their full formal breeding garb now, since they will be starting the breeding season soon, in the next month or so. The feeders are important too, and definitely defended by the more dominant birds, but I think the natural shrubs allow the sub-dominant and more vagrant birds who don't have a fixed territory here to sneak in more easily and get a little nectar when the bully birds are otherwise occupied. Still, chases are common here, sometimes right around your head if you dare to go out in their territory! My quince is I believe the old hybrid C. x superba, but an old "standard" variety, easily topping out at 10-12 feet tall now, and a little broader than that. Mind you, its around 50 years old at this point, planted when my parents moved into the house years ago. It was a house warming gift when they moved in here, and likely one of those "pass along" plants that had lost its name generations before my parents received it. Beautiful coral pink flowers, and no spines. I am still surprised each time I get pricked by a thorn on the more "normal" ones, since this is the one I grew up with, so I never think of them as being thorny, lol. The flowers are beautiful, and bees and other insects like them, I just don't see the hummer's do more than poke them curiously. Not like the red flowering currant, that gets constant and dedicated attention to every flower open. Mine isn't blooming yet either, but usually starts in "late winter", in maybe another month and a half or so? I'd have to check my records, but it's generally pretty early. Hellebores, sadly, are among the winter flowers I have never seen the hummers pay the slightest attention to. Their colors usually aren't even bright enough to get a curious probe or two, and ditto, rarely see bees on them either, so there is little to attract the hummers to them. Mine are late this year, I only have one even starting to show buds yet. One I keep meaning to watch a little closer is the winter box- Sarcacocca. They should be starting to bloom soon, and flower heavily enough to attract some attention if there is any nectar there. Mine just got moved however, and is sulking. No sign of flowers this year.

I have been thinking about the expected cold temps and wondering what damage, if any, we can expect. WHEN TO EXPECT A FROST: As Randy mentioned above, partly cloudy to cloudy skies are helpful in this situation as they help hold in the heat and may prevent frost from forming. On the other hand, clearing skies may pave the way for a frost. Signs that indicate a frost could occur include these: no visible clouds at sunset and clear starry skies after sunset, little or no wind, a nearly full moon, no ring around the moon, and no frogs singing at night IF they have already been up and singing on previous nights. If the air has felt relatively nice in the evenings and it suddenly feels 'nippy' that is also a good clue, especially if it feels 'nippy' by 9 or 10 p.m. SOME PLANTS WON'T BE DAMAGED: Most native plants can handle a late frost just fine. Many flowering perennials that sprout in the fall and overwinter as small rosettes are also extremely cold tolerant, as are plants that emerge in late winter or early spring from seed sown in the fall or early winter. This includes poppies, larkspur, violas, bachelor buttons, love-in-a-mist, pansies and some cosmos. Herbs that sprout in late winter or early spring, like chamomile, chives, tansy, catnip, etc. can usually handle cold spells just fine. SOME PLANTS MIGHT BE DAMAGED: Some perennials that have already sprouted are more cold-sensitive and would benefit from having a sheet or some other covering tossed over them. This includes hybrid lilies, hostas, delphiniums, mallows, hibiscuses, garden phlox and balloon flowers. Cannas may be susceptible damage but mine have withstood some pretty good temps. COLD RESPONSE VARIES: Every plant is different in its response to cold weather, frost damage or freeze damage. Many plants, including fruit trees, can withstand cold down to about 28 degrees before you will see much damage. The pink and purple flowers on early-blooming magnolias may turn brown and shatter as a result of damage from a late freeze. DIFFERENT FACTORS GIVE DIFFERENT RESULTS: How much cold a plant will withstand varies, depending on the conditions in which it is grown as well as on its own plant genetics. Another factor is how quickly the temperature falls. If the temps plunge dramatically, as they often do with the first 'blue norther' in the fall, you will see more damage because the plants could not acclimate to the sudden dramatic drop in temps. In the springtime, though, the late freezes usually are less dramatic and the plants are better prepared for them. HOW/WHY FREEZE OR FROST DAMAGE OCCURS: When freeze or frost damage occurs it is caused by the formation of small ice crystals within plant cells and the open spaces between plant cells. As the ice crystals grow, they rupture cell walls and this damage results in the plants losing their ability to hold their shape. When that happens here, some people will say their plants 'just melted'. WHICH PLANTS ARE MORE EASILY HURT? Plants that have a higher moisture content in their cells, like impatiens, begonias or portulacas, will usually show the worst damage. Some plants, like roses, are pretty tough and can withstand quite a bit of cold. WHICH PLANTS CAN SHRUG IT OFF? Cool-season crops like lettuce, onions, spinach and cabbage shouldn't have any damage at the temps we're expecting this weekend. Many plants that suffer less damage have higher salt levels in their cells, as well as lower levels of water. SIGNS OF DAMAGE: If your plants are damaged by the cold weather, you will know it. On warm-season plants the formerly green plant material that is damaged will turn brown or black. Sometimes it will be mushy. You can prune this damaged tissue away and the plant may survive depending on how extensive the damage is. If you're expecting more than one night of cold weather, don't prune away the damage after the first night as it may protect plant material beneath it that is still undamaged. If you have a vegetable garden or row crops in a field, you can see damage from chilling even if your temperatures remain above freezing. The degree of chilling damage varies from plant to plant and is highly dependant on many factors, including soil moisture (which is high here following recent rains) and the relative humidity. When a plant has chilling damage, you will have an increase in ethylene production in the plant. Cell members may leak as they do with freeze/frost damage. CHILLING DAMAGE: Chilling damage can show itself in many ways. Sometimes you see it as leaf scorch or plant yellowing. It may manifest itself as turgor (drooping/wilting of foliage). On some members of the cucurbit family the damage shows up as white areas on foliage where dessication occurs. This can happen on warm-season plants like cucumbers when temps are only in the 40s and low 50s. The plants usually outgrow this type of damage as long as the cold spell is a relatively short one. Sometimes plants that have received chilling damage don't show a lot of physical injury, but will sit there for days or weeks with little growth. They may have a significant yellowing of most of the plant similar to what you see when a heavy rain leaves them waterlogged. Eventually they seem to get over it and begin growing again. FREEZING BACK TO THE GROUND: In the event of a late hard freeze (and we are NOT expecting one in southern Oklahoma this weekend, but I don't know about the rest of you), some warm-season plants that are already in the ground and growing well can freeze back to the ground. Some years I have had tomato and pepper plants freeze back to the ground and still come back from their roots. Sweet corn plants that have sprouted and are growing seem able to take quite a bit of cold. On the other hand, bean plants that have frozen back to the ground generally don't recover. If your plants experience only a short period of chilling they may not show any aftereffect whatsoever. I hope this info helps. Now its just a game of 'wait and see'. Even though we almost always have a late cold spell near Easter, I only see significant damage maybe 1 or 2 years out of 10. Dawn

Have you figured out which of your enemies yards you're going to plant them in? I have a few suggestions lol. I cut off the flower stalk on my yamogi. It was bugging me. I like it better now, more bushy. My Lonicera cuttings had nice root systems. There were only 2. I planted them in the ground. One of them started to grow new leaves, and then they died. I'm hoping it's still alive. The other cutting still has the original leaf and has no new growth. I have 3 wood mint cuttings rooting now. The bald cypress cuttings got fried, and I still don't know how to successfully root Clematis. They always die. You got roots on the Artemisia in good time!