Just wondering what temp will cause severe damage. I have been covering iris and peonies that are in bud. I am hoping we have cloud cover and it doesn't get below 30.

What is everyone doing?

I'm just saying a little prayer to the garden gods.

I have too much to try and cover. I just try to put it out of my mind and go with "survival of the fittest". Not easy to do but I can't drive myself crazy.

The one thing I did cover (with a pine branch) is a fern peony that I got from a friend and planted last week.

It's been windy the last few days which really helps to keep the frost off of the plants. But I'm not fooling myself, I know there will be more frosty nights to come that will set some things back.

Forcast: 21 tonight, then 22, 27, 30, 37, 31, 34, 39, 37, 36.

My peonies and iris seem to be ok at 28 or 29, but may involve other factors like air movement and cloud cover. Supposed to be pretty still tonight, keeping my fingers crossed.

Brought in a few potted flowers to the garage, other than that just hope for the best.

Brought in a few potted flowers to the garage, other than that just hope for the best. Have not planted 2019 seedlings from cold frame as of yet. Lucky there. Hope all are well, stay safe!

I covered some of my iris and peonies that were in buds. We got to 29 and the bird bath was frozen All the dl foliage and hosta looks like it may have to be cut back. I hope not.

Fortunately all of my hostas are still in the rolled up little nub phase. Some are barely out of the ground. Next week everything will really get going when the daytime temps reach 60.

Sue, we have hit 80 so it rushed things here. Many of my hosta are unfurled

My first group of seedlings have been in the ground for about ten days. We will see how they do now.

I covered all my mini hosta and favs but the others look sad. Daylilies look ok.

Snowing here now. I only covered Foxtail Lilies and Jack Frost. It's ironic 😂 that Jack Frost can't take the frost

Hazelcrestmikeb said:Snowing here now. I only covered Foxtail Lilies and Jack Frost. It's ironic 😂 that Jack Frost can't take the frost

Snowing here too, snow squall whiteout actually at this precise moment. Didn't have to cover anything because nothing is up yet

Sue lucky you. More snow is predicted for Thursday night.

I did not cover anything up, we got down to 27 here. I really did not expect it to get so cold. Daylilies all look fine though except for the 3 Dumortieri clumps out in the unprotected part of the yard. They are covered in scapes, even had 1 bloom open yesterday. This morning the scaped were dropped over, but this afternoon they had perked back up. Most of the buds look dark, so I don't guess I will get much bloom from those this year. I have 1 clump close to the house though, so I will have some early daylily color. I have iris blooming and a couple of peonies. Some of them were drooping over this morning, but this afternoon were upright again, so I have Hope's fot them.

Hi, everyone. Was wondering how everyone's plants did thru the freezing weather? Tina how did your new seedlings handle the temps.? Don't think I have much damage. Probably will push plant growth, and bloom season back to more normal time. Hope all are well.

@kennysh they all look fine! We had two nights of 28 degree nights. I'm amazed and optimistic! Grew these in the 2" x 5" cell trays, they had much more root growth than any seedlings I've grown so far, so even if set back, they have the stores to recover. All the new growth looks just fine. I did, while planting, add a pretty thick ring of alfalfa pellets around each seedling, and then mulched. Maybe that helped?

Cool & cold weather plants care is more-or-less routine hereabouts .... I'm in about 5a here in South-Central Ontario (25 or so miles north of Lake Ontario) - Over the recent few days we've had two similar days that were what I call '4 Season Days' (NOT unusual hereabouts) ... Within 24 hours you get a bit of all 4 seasons tossed at you ... We've had (yesterday) two snowing incidents the same day of 'White-Out' snow conditions. High winds. Snow traveling parallel to the ground (Blizzard-like) The early morning incident leaving over an inch of snow on the ground in about 10-15 minutes. By afternoon almost ALL that snow was gone - GONE! - Melted due to the temperature rise with the bright sunny calm conditions. (!!)

Even though Canada works with metric & Celsius systems, I grew up and still function most frequently, with Fahrenheit for temperatures. At about 5:00 AM we were at a wintery 22F - our birdbath was frozen - but by mid afternoon we had risen to a pleasant spring-like 46F (A robin was bathing in that same birdbath!). Kinda normal variations this time of year.

Our springtime 'Last-Frost-Date' traditionally has been considered to be late May - May 24th was generally accepted as the safe-to-plant-most-things-date. Nowadays that has backed up to perhaps as early as mid-may (Even earlier?) Because you would go berserk trying to cope with our weather variations I did not cover anything. Everything growing outdoors around here either copes - or croaks.

Known hardy daylilies in the ground are usually OK - especially if they've had a full growing season to develop and to adjust (Spring or early summer planted) Known hardy cultivars in pots and exposed to a full winter of freeze-thaw periods, do only fair to poor overall. If put up against a house wall (Usually west here) and covered with straw or a tarp they can survive quite well. (Drying out is the problem however) This past winter I lost - so far anyway - STEPHANIE RETURNS (Same plant 'In-Ground' is OK.) ... Exactly the same with JANICE BROWN.

We usually have very good snow-cover hereabouts. I've had up to 2 feet of snow-cover for most of the winter sometimes, but most years count on 10-12 inches over the full season. Snow-cover DOES work here for me. Seedlings left in pots over the winter (I procrastinate!) survive well with good snow-cover .... BUT I've lost as many as 1/2 if we have an 'exposed' lengthy winter period. (Same seedlings that were planted into beds did - generally do so - quite well.

Bottom line: - In this 'Great-White-North' work with known hardy cultivars. Avoid pots for over wintering. Hope for snow cover. Be prepared for occasional losses. Cultivars still in pots over the winter need to be watered lightly during thaw periods. Never give up ....

Just saw the first Hummingbird on the feeder I've had out (with juice changes every three days) since March! Sorry, just had to tell someone, and Hubby's golfing, so tag, you're it.

Hmm, no sighting here yet. I am green with envy