Effects of a late frost

Farmerman--

I enjoy a melancholy delight contemplating the woes of moths emerged before their time.

they will evolve into an organism with built in antifreeze.

Then I will marvel at evolution. I'm good at sedentary sports.

OK, this was helpful to re-read. It sounds like while the frost that we're about to get is later in the calendar year, the growing season was further along last year. I talked about magnolia leaves while this year the magnolia hasn't even finished blooming (no leaves yet). Etc.

So I'll put the tarp over the Japanese maple and otherwise try to chill. (Er...)

re-reading this thread reminded me of the new gardener who planted the carrot seeds about a foot deep .
when asked why he planted them so deep , he answered : "i want nice long carrots , this'll make them work their way up ! "

Heh..!

Japanese maple seems to have come through pretty well! (I put the tarp over it.) Magnolia blossoms are wilty but they were nearly done anyway. Overall seems to be less devastating than last years' -- we'll see.

3-26-12 we have had an early hot spring forsythia are almost done bulbs are up and blooming most of my flowering bushes are in bloom or have buds worried about roses and lilacs we have freeze warning for tonight and back up to 70 on wed. What will help save these.

wow - 5 years later we're in exactly the same spot - unseasonably warm weather through winter and then the temps dropped from 18 celsius yesterday to -6 celsius overnight. I'm glad I didn't put in any annuals yet. My neighbours that did are going to have to restart - their annuals went mushy overnight.

Hopefully you have some smudge pots (heating pots used in orchards at times of unseasonable frost) and can get them near your shrubbery.

The early spring is about to turn disastrous for many, some croppers have been banking on the cold weather being done with and have begun their annual planting.

Us too. Low of 27 overnight forecast and was just thinking about this stuff -- thanks for resurrecting the thread, gardengramma!

On the upside it looks like the freeze will be brief -- just tonight and then back to warmer temps tomorrow and for the next several days. The really bad freeze five years ago was more than one night.

Spring started even earlier this year than five years ago, past the point where the freeze happened but earlier in the year. We're pretty far into spring right now, leaves everywhere (lilacs, magnolia, Japanese maple, etc).

Will be covering the Japanese maple with a tarp as soon as the sun goes down and keeping fingers crossed.

Good luck to everyone else dealing with this...

Fruit trees are a real issue. Smudge pots help. So does hosing down the canopy in the morning once the temps rise a bit but before the frost melts -- apparently the damage is done by the ice shards in the frost that can be minimized by thawing them quickly with water. I don't know if it will work for roses/lilacs, but that's a trick that the fruit folks use on trees and berries.

Lilacs are tough old trees. There are a ton of them up here and they never die.
Question for Soz.. what did happen to your Japanese maple that first year? Did it re-bud? I've seen people growing them up here too and they seem to be a very hardy plant. If they can survive our winters, I'm curious how they handle frost's in warmer places. Though, I'm not sure if they are the same tree as there might be highbreds for more northern locales. I'm curious just the same.. thanks.

How do the buds fare after a freeze though. We had lilacs for years when I was in Vt. I don't remember that they were particularly affected by a late frost after buds emerge but I've been gone for a long time.

smudge pots are governed by EPA clean air rules. Lotsa big orchrda take to spraying anf praying with water hoping for ice crystals .
My peaches arent budded out yet so I hve gotten a real sense of evolution in action for all our naturalized flowers.

Ive had my peas and early tuff in for weeks and Ive just held off planting my mesculen /lettuce sprouts (although Ive dierct seeded some lettuces and mesculen)

Lilacs set their buds just after they blossom - the buds have already gone through an entire winter by the time there's a thaw/freeze - tough buggers.

Kinda like most grasses prefer cool/cold temps and look best in the autumn. They're not meant for summer heat.

The Japanese maple was unhappy that whole year. It did rebud but it just looked... wan. I was worried it was a goner. It seems to have finally rallied a bit just last year.

Thank-you. I've never owned one, they are a spectacular looking tree. I hope it does well.

Like Beth said, they're tough. We normally have very severe spring frosts and thaw cycles and I've never seen a naked lilac in the spring. My planting rule of thumb is Victoria Day long weekend or later, may 25. Two years ago it snowed on May 29... my annuals croaked but the lilacs bloomed.

no frost north of Lake Erie, but it was cold last night, below freezing, we had a light breeze which really helped

27 right now.

Tarp's on the Japanese maple, keep it there for a bit more I think, at least until it gets above freezing.