Saturday, May 23, 2015

Clear And Crisp, Cold And Cruel


Yesterday was so nice here.  It hardly seemed possible that the clear night could bring on such severe cold.  We did our best to cover plants, but it was a frustrating exercise since most of them had been lured into lush growth making them too tall for the protection used the last time.  Early morning found ice on the windshield of the car and spikes of frost on the plants in the garden.  After a restless night, I made an early 5:15 am trip out to see what kind of disappointment we were facing.  I could see that it was bad and snapped a couple of pictures.  When I noticed the local skunk still out digging for Japanese beetle grubs headed in my direction, I wasted no time retreating into the warm house.


 Later when it warmed many of the iris were limp!!!


The covered Jack-in the Pulpits fared pretty well, but the uncovered Jack suffered.  We simply ran out of pails large enough to cover the plants.


With his pulpits limp from the frost you might say he was defrocked and left exposed.


Some lilies are more droopy than others.  One kind of Lily Regale stood up better to the frost under its protective plastic garbage can than the other.  Many plants have blackened leaves and then there are the peas.  That's enough for today!   I can't do more!   Perhaps tomorrow...

1 comment:

Beth @ PlantPostings said...

Oh, darn. We flirted with frost about a week ago. The native perennials (Jacks, Trilliums, etc.) fared well, but I was concerned about the Peonies and Epimediums, so I covered them. We've had the same fluctuations between summer-like weather and early spring weather. It's so frustrating! Maybe some of your Jacks will bounce back. Of course, they will be back next year. But I know it's still a disappointment at this point. Argh. Sorry about that.