Did everyone cover what they needed to for some frost?

[thy]

Bob you have an PM with an somewhat sorry for not knowing all of the change things

Frost, sleet ...may even be snow for all Eastern week ... keep it in your area..please
A few hostas are barely starting to unfurl.. tree peonies have long new tender sprouts ... will have to bye some more leight weight blankets for tomorrow night 23 F are in the forecast

Pia

[Chris_W]

It has been a strange week. We did end up with some frost damage, but not because of the first really bad night, it was a couple nights later and the wind shifted direction and blew most of the frost blankets off. We pin them down really good on the windward side, but the wind was 20 to 30 mph from the east and took off a lot of the blankets I'll know better when we start digging on Sunday. Today it was 40 degrees with heavy thunderstorms and multiple hail storms. Good news is we had tons of rain that we really needed

[thy]

Chris, i have been wondering abouth the frosts and the wind since your first post

To many questions in my head

If you have a slight frost and no wind.... how will it affect ?

If you have a slight frost and wind.. how will it affect the plants

if you have no frost, but a wind shill giving hard frost ... how do it effect plants... or do it it have a damage effect... if not... WHY ??

don't you just love my questions

How to protect tree peony shoots 10 inches long,. they are so soft ... too soft to cover with a plaid if only the slightest wind,... but they can not hadle a real frost.. and that's the night forecast for the next week

[kaylyred]

Oh, boy. We're expecting temps well below freezing Thursday night if the National Weather Service is accurate (which they haven't been very often in the past couple of weeks.) I've got sheets to lay out and cover things, but I'm still anxious. They're saying the temps should go down into the 20s.

[Chris_W]

Good luck! We got a ton of rain today which was nice, since that will help keep the dew point up (more moisture in the air means less damage, and sometimes you get frost/fog combo which doesn't do much damage at all). Our forecast is for 34 on Thursday morning and 30 on Friday morning, so we'll be covering as much as we can tomorrow afternoon. I'm seeing a lot of frosted tips on things, but that is also encouraging a lot of dormant buds to develop, so in a couple more months I don't think we'll really notice the effects from all this crazy weather. And then we still have hundreds of different plants that aren't even up a little, so that is a relief

I'll be very happy when ALL of the frost chances are gone, but I know that we still have at least a good month before we can rest much.

[viktoria]

23 F "promised" here for tomorrow night. That will take care of what is left of the star magnolia flowers after the last hard frost! Other than that, though, damage is minimal...so far.

We might have lilacs in bloom next week, a month early!

Viktoria

[Linda P]

My lilacs are all in bloom...a good month early. All the fruit trees are in flower; the star magnolia was here and gone in just a few days
because it got so hot. Magnolia 'Jane' is nearly finished already, with the heat and wind rushing that one along. Korean Spice viburnum
is almost done blooming. The somewhat cooler temps this week...70's instead of 80's, have made some of them last a little longer.
The prediction for Friday night is 35 degrees here, and I sure hope we don't hit freezing. There are too many of my hostas up and unfurled
to cover them all.

Linda P

[HostaDesigner]

We're supposed to get to 30-31 tomorrow night. Our trees are starting to leaf out, and in the past, that's helped keep a couple of degrees of warmth. Sprinklers will be turned on too.

Our local weather has a huge dip in temps to 44º for the high next Wednesday. That could be a very cold night. HOPE NOT.

[steg]

Low 30's here the next couple nights. Lots of plant in pot are leafed out nicely. (didn't realize I had so many in pots when I put them away last year )

Last week it was a freeze that damaged a number of plant tips. Oh well. Can't cover them all but will do my best again with those on the deck in pots. Big tarp!

[kaylyred]

This is what we're getting via NOAA today. I am not amused.

A HARD FREEZE POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT WITH FROST EXPECTED THE
NEXT TWO NIGHTS...

A COOL AND DRY AIR MASS ALONG WITH GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING
CONDITIONS WILL DROP TEMPERATURES INTO THE UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S
FOR MUCH OF SOUTHERN WISCONSIN TONIGHT...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR
EVEN COLDER TEMPERATURES...ESPECIALLY NORTH OF THE I-94 CORRIDOR.

WIDESPREAD TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER 20S OR COLDER IS CONSIDERED A
HARD FREEZE.

FROST IS ALSO EXPECTED TONIGHT AND FRIDAY NIGHT WITH THE COLDER
AIR SETTLING INTO SOUTHERN WISCONSIN.

[Chris_W]

We were fine last night, tonight will be a little colder but everything is still covered from last night so they should be fine again. But looking 10 days ahead, they are calling for LOW 20s next week. I'm going to order a heavier frost blanket. I'm not happy to have to spend the extra money but it will be worth it to not lose so much to frost!

[mooie]

Borderline chance for frost tonite in Illinois where I live. Would be a shame to lose this!!

[Chris_W]

Sure would. Montana Aureomarginata is always one of the first to emerge and then one of the first to get frost damaged

Our forecast changed all through the day, and at 6pm it changed again saying that it would only get to 32 tonight. Then 2 hours later, oops, now they are saying 25

Everything is covered and then some, but this still might be too cold even for frost blankets. Thankfully the ground is still very warm. When I walk through the nursery I can feel the heat coming off the stones which is nice to know

[ogrefcf]

Good luck everyone! Hope all your Hostas are safe.

[kaylyred]

Chris, hope the temperatures don't get as low as predicted for you. Most of us are just worried about the aesthetics or possible setbacks to our plants, but I shudder to think about what a commercial grower must deal with when it comes to a spring as strange as this one has been.

Last night we didn't get any frost, but this night is predicted to be colder--30 degrees, and possibly 20s tomorrow night. I've got blankets on my front bed, although they're not very thick so I'm a little worried. Some plants I was able to cover with overturned pots. I'm also hoping that the radiant heat from the sidewalk that runs along two sides of the bed will help. I got seriously damaged hostas due to hail last year. I sure won't be happy if the frost hurts them this year before they even really get going.

[Chris_W]

Hurray! They were wrong Got down to 30/31. With the heavier row covers coming we'll be able to protect a lot more, and they are rated for 22 degree frost protection.

I'm so glad the lilies in our garden are going to be okay for now, and if there is a silver lining in this, the colder nights will keep the still dormant hostas dormant longer

[ogrefcf]

I just looked outside and it's pouring snow..... Blah.

[ogrefcf]

28 degrees right now. Got a little frost last night. Don't have near the amount of Hostas you guys need to cover, but got my more unfurled ones covered. Go check them all in a couple hours. Rest of the week is supposed to be nice. Here's to hoping for no more frost.

[kaylyred]

Yay! Glad things are okay for now, Chris. It didn't get quite as cold as expected here, either. I had unfurling hostas covered with sheets, but everything made it through just fine. We have highs in the mid-60's today, then going back down into the low 50s next week with more frosty nights predicted.

Is it mid-May yet?

[Chris_W]

Is it mid May yet? I wish! We have a couple of casualties that I've put as out of stock now - dang wind blew one row off and toasted a couple that had unfurled. The ones that remained covered were fine, but inventory will be tight on a few now. That's the worst part - I always hold back plants just in case, but when half of them get frosted it can be a while before they are looking good again. We'll be taking all the covers off this afternoon and I'll know more. Nice nights ahead for a little while, so I'll let them go free for a couple days