Yikes, first hostas unfurled today!

[JaneG]

Yep, Lancifolia is up and unfurling. Several others are starting to unfurl, and many other eyes are actually up out of the ground several inches, like big spikes, so I'll see more unfurling every day. Last week was very warm (70's) followed by rain over the weekend and then two more sunny days. That's all it took for everything to POP!!

The forecast for tomorrow night is 33 degrees, then warming again. I sure hope it doesn't get any colder than that from here on out!

[Linda P]

We dodged the bullet last night, no frost here on the hilltop. However, they are calling for around 30 for a low tonight. I'll be out there covering the Empress Wu seedling that is over a foot tall and unfurling, and a few others.

Linda P

[thy]

:

You have unfurling hostas in Ioca and NY and I do not even have eyes

Then it is only 2 weeks sice we had frezing temps all day and the night temps are still cold even sunny and around 10 C in daytime

So you do not belive in Global warming
You do not think the Copenhagen meeting ment anything at all... I tell you, you are wrong, we have had snow and hard frost ever since.. not normal for my ´country at all. Have been so sick and tired about it I have to leave for Tunesia tomorrow.
But first I will go look at some snowdrops by my friend, who by the way still have piles of snow


Okay.. it do look good and fresh

[ViolaAnn]

Mine are about 3 weeks early. Most are still only pips in the ground but 'Obsession' was so far unfurled today that I actually mistook it for a tulip at first.

[Chris_W]

Personally I don't like to see hostas at this stage until May, and sometimes we don't even get to start digging into the ground until the 2nd or 3rd week of April here! But now they are really starting to pop. Still dry, though, so that is keeping them at bay quite a bit, but warm weather is predicted for another 10 days so I know they will all keep coming.

Been a few years since we've had to really deal with anything like this. We have a lot of frost blankets, actually, but it is a pain when you have as much to cover as we do. We had frost a couple days ago, and if that is really the "last" frost it would be the earliest I can remember, so I won't be betting on it

[ViolaAnn]

Me neither. But since we will be away for a few days, it's gonna have to survive on its own. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Noreaster]

I check a couple of different websites for the forecast and it's frustrating that they don't all say the same thing. This really is a stressful time of year.

[Spider]

I have flowers on Paul's Glory and Raspberry Sorbet. Others are unfurling and poking noses up.

[GrannyNanny]

Yes, I have a couple of small gold seedlings that are up a good 4 inches. Most of the rest are just nubbins yet -- except the ones that grew a bit taller and got chewed on by the &%#$*&!!! rabbits! I am frantically digging up, dividing and replanting parts of my big hostas, hoping to get the pieces for the garden club sale-- AND the national convention -- into pots and up on my plant tables where the rabbits can't get at them. I have discovered a trick that MIGHT work most of the time -- I discovered that the hostas that still had the "sticks" from last year's scapes standing up in the middle of the emerging eyes did not get chewed on as much. So, I've been leaving last year's scapes on instead of cutting them down -- I just cut them off to about 4", and leave them there until the leaves really get going. I've also cut some of the small bamboo sticks into 4" pieces, and have stuck them in and around the eyes of hostas that seem to be particularly toothsome to the rabbits, and they seem to have left those alone. I think that maybe those sticks poke them in their noses and eyes when they try to nibble around them, so they give up and go elsewhere. The trouble is, how is one to put six or seven sticks in every one of about 300 hostas? I guess I can't -- but it does seem to work.
Things are up about three weeks early this year in St. Paul MN -- bleeding heart plants are up and starting to bud; daffodils blooming a good three weeks ahead of their usual time. Crazy, to be sure, but I love it! Phyllis

[Patrushka]

I have eyes popping up all over and a few unfurled. I know it's way too early but I have to say I am just loving seeing them already. The winter was way too long!!!

[nanny_56]

This is Sagae yesterday...Liberty is unfurled along with Orange Marmalade, and June has been leafed out for a week! My Queen of the Seas (which sadly is down to only 1 eye this year ....is almost there.

[LucyGoose]

Lots of leafing out here too......going to be 80 degrees today, so I am sure it will get them lots more leafed......I think it's going to be hotter that he)) this summer!!!

Beautiful pictures all!!

[redcrx]

We had frost last night. But it had rained most of the day and I have my sprinklers on already so everything was really wet. I'll see in a day or two if there was any damage - I was out this morning and didn't notice any problems.

[Marlys]

Way too Warm / Way too Early!!!
82 degrees today and just about that warm yesterday too!
Chinese Sunrise is totally unfurled and gleaming in the morning sunshine. It's neighbor, Geisha is not far behind They are the spring queens here unfurling just after my favorite 'Lancifolia'. Also worries me that the deer are still around. I have sprayed Liquid Fence / Deer Off 3 times all ready.
The Blood Root is still blooming but the wind & heat has been hard on it.
Brunnera blooming. Tulip blooming - way too early too. Pella, the town I live near, celebrates the Dutch traditional 'Tulip Time' the first weekend in May. Probably be a 'stem' festival this year as the tulips are all coming out.
The daffodils were so wonderful now nearly all gone! Bluebells blooming now & violas, & violets / so sweet!
It's a great time of year. So exciting & new!
Praying "NO FROST" but doubtful it won't happen as our last frost date is May 10 to 15th depending what source you reference.
Well, at least we are all in this thing together.
MM

[Noreaster]

Can I get some clarification from you guys on frost vs freeze, and exactly when you have to be concerned about damage? I still consider myself pretty new to gardening and this is one issue I don't quite grasp. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain all day and then drop to around 32 degrees at night. Should I go out and cover things tomorrow(I use pots, sometimes covered with sheets)? Or even tonight, which is supposed to be mid thirties. It's rainy and raw today and there was actually ice mixed with the rain a little while ago. Again, I seem to be the only one in the neighborhood covering anything, ever, so I really don't know what I'm doing! All the hosta are up- some still just points but many with foliage just starting to unfurl a little.

[redcrx]

This is subjective but when I talk about frost it's what happens around 32 degrees when there is a thin coating of dew on a leaf. With the right (or wrong) conditions the cells in the leaf are shattered causing parts of it to go brown. (I think there is some bacteria involved in the frost formation of the leaf.) A freeze, to me, is where the temp drops well below 32 where it could kill things.

[Chris_W]

That sounds about right Ed. When it is wet and rainy, heck even when it is snowing, I don't worry at all. That outer layer of moisture would have to freeze first to damage the plant tissue. I've seen snow covered hostas survive with little damage.

Tonight there is a freeze warning for our area. It could get bad because it has already been extremely dry this spring, so the plants don't have much stored moisture, but in order for it to freeze, two things have to change from the current conditions: 1) it will need to clear up considerably and 2) the wind will have to stop. It is very windy, and very cloudy, so even if it was to get quite cold (32 or a little lower) the warmth of the ground warms keeps the plants above freezing and the wind prevents frost from settling in any low areas. If it clears up and the wind stops then it would definitely freeze here.

We spent 2 hours this afternoon covering all of the hostas that are past the point of being just eyes, focusing on those that are actually unfurled. It will be a sleepless night, but I've done the absolute best that can be done for now, with about an acre of hostas covered by frost blankets. Wish us luck!

Chris

[steg]

Good luck Chris.

[R. Rock]

Wow!
Good Luck also. It is a nightmare waiting to happen here also. I am to the point of being wore out, I am not sure what I will do. Can only do so much.

[Noreaster]

Thanks for that detailed info Chris and redcrx... I have no head for the "science" of plants. Or science of anything, really. I just thought heck, if it's close to 32 degrees, it's time to panic. I was just relieved to not see snow today as other parts of Maine did. I'm so ready for it to just get warm and stay warm.

Good luck to you, Chris- can't imagine how nerve-wracking this time of year is for you, because it's your business.