What a difference a day makes

I was out in the garden at 10 a.m yesterday as the snow fell trying to cover any plant that I consider too valuable, too new or too much a favorite to take a chance on losing it to a late spring frost. The snow was heavy enough that I went out again a couple of hours later to clear it off of the Peonies and Martagon lily foliage. 

I used plastic buckets from the big box store to cover a number of plants. This one is over a Glaucidium palmatum that was just beginning to flower. It looked lovely next to the clump of Trillium and the little species Tulip. 

The Martagon lilies are too high and wide for me to find a good cover for them. They've come through some cold spring weather when they've been up like this before, so I am hoping they can do it one more time.

Plastic garbage bags are draped over wire cages that were already in place protecting Tulips that were just beginning to bloom. I surrounded my tree Peony with bamboo stakes and then carefully slipped a big contractor's garbage bag over it. 

Paeonia japonica waiting to be covered with a sheet. 

Paeonia mairei's flowers were all open on Friday. I'm hoping a big sheet draped over the plant will let them live a few more days. It will be soooo frustrating to have waited a year to only be able to enjoy them one day. 

Erythronium 'Pagoda'.

The snow was about an inch deep at 6:30 p.m. when I took this photo. 

The sun was shining and the snow was slipping off the trees when we got up this morning not long after 6 a.m. Mark checked Weatherbug and said it appeared the overnight low only dropped down to 31 degrees. I don't know where he's set his reading, but my West High School location said 28 degrees. I'm waiting until it warms up a bit more before I go out and uncover anything. Time will tell who made it through what is hopefully our last snow and frost.  

Comments

[Kristin]

Fingers crossed! Having eaten outside on a deck in Madison on Easter Sunday, and had my mil dig up flowers for me to bring home, that snow is just uncalled for!!

[Linda Brazill]

I know! Easter was so gorgeous I spent most of the day playing in the garden.

[Loree / danger garden]

Yuck! A frost warning here in the Portland area last night had a few people scrambling (38 at my house). NO snow though! I hope everything is okay.

[rusty duck]

This is so unfair! Enough is enough.

[Kris P]

YIKES! I thought of you when I heard the national weather report this morning. Every weather report these days has bizarre elements it seems. I hope your treasured plants come through this latest snowfall unscathed.

[ceci]

Very interesting to see your Maratgon lilies - I planted some last fall and they are thus of course much more sparse being in their first year. They are also wildly different heights, vs yours; some about 4 i and some 24 inches tall. All seem to have a cluster of buds. Hopefully they won't bloom when I am out of town, but that's pretty much what I am anticipating.

At least there won't be snow.

ceci

[Lisa at Greenbow]

I hope your efforts paid off. What a kick in the pants (plants) this weather can be. Here we are about to drown. We have had almost double the rain we normally get in April. We might get to the doubled figure due to more rain predicted. I am going to try to remember this when it drys up to nothing.

[Linda from Each little World]

Mine are fairly old and getting too crowded. They open somewhat slowly and the flowers last a while so maybe you won't miss them.

[Linda from Each little World]

Looks like everything made it through. Now we've got a few days of rain. I had hoped to get my new plants in the ground at the end of last week but held off because of the frost/snow. Suddenly I feel behind!

[Linda from Each little World]

I have decided that it is no longer possible to judge what the garden or weather should be doing by our past experience. Simply pay attention to weather reports and hope for the best. I have a bunch of plants now sitting on the deck waiting for three or four days of rain to finish and then to dry out enough to plant them. I could have done the job last Thursday except for the frost warning. Everything seems to have made it through OK. I am trying to make some notes so I can remember for the future what I should cover and what will be OK on its own.

[Peter/Outlaw]

Yikes! I hope your covered babies made it through unscathed.

[Linda from Each little World]

Everything made it through OK and now I am trying to decide if I helped things or they would have been OK on their own. The Peony I did not protect was flat on the ground yesterday. Raining now so I haven't looked to see how it's doing now.