Bittttt-tt-tt-terly cold. Damage ahead?

[HostaDesigner]

-13º F!? Hurt hostas?

I've been growing hostas for nearly 15 years. But, I have never encountered THIS cold of weather in SW Michigan. Our local news is predicting -13º F. Granted we have about 7-8 inches of snow on the ground, can I expect some damage in the spring? I'm expecting to lose some of my Zone 6 "perennials" I've been cheating along for a while now.

???
Thanks,
Mike

[Diana]

While you are having record lows, we are not here. Too warm and no rain here in the Silicon Valley which means the hostas might not remain dormant for long enough to maintain vigor.. So, "too warm and damage ahead " here on the other end of the extreme? I guess it works both ways. YUCK. Actually I don't think you can hurt them while they are dormant and frozen as long as they don't totally dry out.

-Diana

[Lessadragon]

If you have a good snow cover, the hostas will be fine. Remember, they are hardy to zone 3 for the most part. Like Diana said, as long as they remain underground and don't dry out, they will be fine. Your zone 6 perennials may not make it though. It depends if they are in a protected area or not. We get a lot colder than that here and sometimes the zone 6 stuff makes it...mostly it doesn't. The hostas all do great though!

Lynn

[Linda P]

Mike, as long as you have that snow cover, you should be fine with the hostas. We've had temps dip down in the -20 to -25 range a time or two here since I've been growing hostas, and I've had very little winter damage. My sister in law grows hostas in northern Wisconsin where the winter lows routinely get down past -30, and they do fine, and then there's our Tundra Queen who doesn't see her hostas until June for the severity of her zone 2 winters.
The only times I can attribute damage to winter is when there is no snow cover. So, hopefully there won't be any winter damage for you!
Linda P

[Chris_W]

I agree. -13f and they won't even shiver. Since I've been gardening we had one winter with temps down to -32, two nights in a row. Lots of other things were tested (and died), but the hostas were better than ever

Good luck with yours, Diana. I think you are right, warm winters are worse

[sugar]

You are really hitting low temperatures out there. We've had a week with nights in between -10°C and -20°C over here (-4 F > 14F) and we consider those temperatures really cold, we were speaking about a 'cold wave'

[barbara]

Don't worry...not much you can do anyhow. We usually have a few frigid days in a row each yr. and the hostas live. The one year we had 40 below at night for 4 consecutive nights, and daytime temps. never above 10 below, hurt a few old old hostas, but the new young stuff survived. W e are also predicted to have frigid temps Wedn-Sat....who cares about the hostas...I'm worried about my water pipes! Hostas will live!

[ViolaAnn]

We are also expecting bitter cold at the end of the week. It occurs to me that I was experimenting with one hosta in a pot in my screened porch. It has certainly had an adequate dormant period. I'm a bit worried about it if it gets that cold (-32 C). Am wondering how it would react if I were to bring it inside and store it in my cold storage for awhile and then around March, bring it up as a house plant until the snow goes. Any thoughts about that?

Ann

[HostaDesigner]

(Ug, Just finished slowblowing the driveway...)

It's good news that there should be no damage to the hostas!
Thanks!

[Chris_W]

Hi Viola Ann,

-32C is -26F, and I still think the hostas will be fine, though I'm guessing you are talking about potted plants? I think that if they aren't totally exposed to drying winds they would also be okay with the cold, but if they aren't covered with snow or something I'm really not sure how they would do...

In my experience when I've tried forcing hostas early they didn't like the conditions in the house, then were really shocked in the spring. Plus it threw off their internal clock and they wanted to go dormant about 3 months earlier than normal. So I don't try that any more

[John]

We're expecting lows in the single digits the end of the week, which will give a real test to the potted perennials. The daylily seedlings will certainly be tested for cold-hardiness! Of course, even 6 or 7 degrees (F) is still not as low as the "zero" that puts us in zone 6/7, we just don't usually see it.

[thy]

You are freezing and do not have to care about the hostas, but I do about you ...and as Barb said the pipelines

Sugar and others too the worst of the cold snap, here up north we only got minus 5 or 6 C... Thank you Sugar
Lots of my hostas ..and OTHER plants are in pots or just placed on the soil

Anyone want rain and storms or grey dusty days up/ down the freezing point ? Just too grey

Mary Ann, Is it one hosta only ? If just - start to bring it indoor now, but do it as slow as you can... to a shed / garage or something for a few weks first.
I have done it for years and they do great as window plants and do not take damage when they are brought back into the garden if done slowly and to the shade they even look good all summer, no special early dormacy

[ViolaAnn]

Too bad Chris. I thought maybe I could get a few extra months out of the one in the pot. I'll just leave it where it is. Not under snow, but also not in a place where it will get ice damage from freeze-thaw. And if lose it, I've got duplicates.

Ann