Garden

[Lilysmom1]

@ValuSkr , some damage is evident immediately, some will show later.

[Lilysmom1]

@FastDogWalker2 Good move!  I have far too many to do that.

[Lilysmom1]

@Carmie , sad to hear about the deer.  Thank heavens we don't have that problem.  There is a town in.central Nova Scotia that does though.  

We are hosting a garden tour for the Provincial Garden Association's annual meeting in early June.  Hoping we have some blooms for them!  LM

[Lilysmom1]

@BklynKinsey I only planted one new Rhodo in my front bed which gets a fair amount of wind.  I staked burlap around that one.

Your hydrangea is beautiful.  I planted a new variety last year called Game Changer.  I am hoping they are tough enough to survive although, to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if I lost the two. Photo below.  LM

[Lilysmom1]

@Kachina624 , It was -26 Celsius, -43 with windchill.  Risk of frostbite in minutes.  I think that converts to -45F.  LM

[Kachina624]

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@Lilysmom1 wrote:

@Kachina624 , It was -26 Celsius, -43 with windchill.  Risk of frostbite in minutes.  I think that converts to -45F.  LM

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@Lilysmom1    That could definitely do some damage.  Hope everything is okay when the growing season begins.

[Icegoddess]

I'm in zone 7b and two of my spring-blooming camellia's had a coupld of blooms on them before the big deep freeze around christmas and my everblooming azalea was full of blooms.  The camellias look okay, but the fat buds are gone.  The fall-blooming camellia doesn't look as well, but I'm sure it's fine.  It was here when we bought the houe over 20 years ago. 

I did go around and check the saddest looking plants by scratching the bark.  As long as there's green underneath the bark, there's still life.  Even my Confederate Jasmine has green underneath even though the whole thing looks dead and what is normally an evergreen ground cover 

[Lilysmom1]

@Icegoddess @Kachina624 @We rescue cats @BklynKinsey @Carmie et al, I belong to a local Rhodo Society.  One of the members runs the Horticultural program at our community college system.

He went into the garden yesterday and snipped buds from all of his rhodos to check for bud damage.  He dissected the buds and most of them were dead.  A few of the hardier varieties were ok but not many.  See photos below...

Most of the bulbs were dead.  The extreme cold coupled with high winds and very little insulating snow cover are a recipe for bud destruction.

This will be a testimony to zone hardiness and there will be valuable teachings from this past winter.

I took a walk through the garden yesterday and did a visual check.  The buds look ok but we won't know til Spring as his healthy looking buds will, for the most part, not produce flowers.

I always try to plant rhodos in a sheltered spot.  I know from experience they need protection on my property.  There could be more annuals than normal in my garden this year for the June garden tour!  LM

[Icegoddess]

@Lilysmom1 a few years ago we had a late hard freeze just as my Koromo Azalea was getting ready to bloom.  It actually killed back not just the buds, but part of the plant.  I cut out the dead part and it looked bad for a couple of years, but came back and you can't even tell now.  

I haven't checed on the buds of all the plants as only the Camellias were fat when the arctic blast came through. I think part of the issue, at least for us, is that it had been so warm for an extended time before the cold snap and then it got so cold for so long. 

My normally evergreen Upright Japanese Plum Yews are looking rather dark now.  Hoping I don't have to replace them.  They're supposed to be good down to zone 6.  I know my neighbor has something similar but supposedly not as hardy according to my local nurseryman along his north wall.  Mine is on a shaded south wall.  Since the nurseryman steered me to the yew over what he had due to hardiness I'll be interested to see if his survived.  He has some sort of ties with the Botanical Gardens and his back yard is always colorful in spring with masses of bulbs.

I also have an evergreen ground cover of unknown name that's quite brown.  I doubt I could replace it if it doesn't come back since I can't remember the name of it.  I'm almost certain I get it from Wayside Gardens but I can't find the receipt on my computer and apparently they don't sell it anymore.  I think it started with a "P", but it's not pachysandra.

[Lilysmom1]

@Icegoddess , yes it will  interesting to see what happens come Spring.    

I bought a pair of yews some time ago.  One thrives, the other not so much.  I moved it a couple of times.  This year will be a a day of reckoning for that one.  Never looks good but refuses to die.

Very unusual winter here.  We only had one measurable snowfall that had to be cleared. Climate Change is real.  LM