Then and now . . . bad year!

Homer_Zn5 · Post by **Homer_Zn5** » May 02, 2007 10:47 pm

The South Garden 2006

The South Garden 2007

Luckily, no apparent losses, although some pretty severely hit hostas. Hopefully, it did not set them back too far for next year.

Homer_Zn5 · Post by **Homer_Zn5** » May 02, 2007 10:53 pm

Luckily, there are still some bright spots . . .

MikeWI · Post by **MikeWI** » May 02, 2007 10:55 pm

frost damage?

Homer_Zn5 · Post by **Homer_Zn5** » May 02, 2007 11:11 pm

MikeWI wrote:frost damage?

I guess you could call it that. We had a week of weather in the 70's and 80's in late March, followed by two weeks of weather with lows in the teens and highs in the 30's. As you can imagine, all the early hostas were leafed out or on their way. With lows that low, there was no covering and saving plants for two weeks.

Some have sprung back amazingly well. Others are going to look crummy for a year or at least the first half of the year, and others were set back hard or lost. I have a lot of Endless Summer Hydrangeas that look like they may have been hit too hard.

eastwood2007 · Post by **eastwood2007** » May 03, 2007 12:09 am

So sorry, Homer.

thy · Post by **thy** » May 03, 2007 5:37 am

So sad

Glad you didn't loose any

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » May 03, 2007 6:29 am

Thank goodness you didn't lose any! I'm still waiting for some of mine to pop out of the ground to tally up my losses for this year. I've already dug up several to try and save them. We had such a weird winter and the weather this year has really messed them up.

Homer_Zn5 · Post by **Homer_Zn5** » May 03, 2007 6:42 am

Unfortunately, I did lose some. I haven't taken the total tally yet, but I know I lost Brother Stefan, Little Sunspot, Tattoo, and T-Rex.

tsneal · Post by **tsneal** » May 03, 2007 8:36 am

Ouch!!!! I feel for you....just stinks!!

Linda P · Post by **Linda P** » May 03, 2007 10:02 am

I was afraid to look at this post. I was pretty fortunate this year, just a handful that got hit hard. Most of my hostas had the good sense to stay asleep until after the cold went away, but some were just in a hurry and got frozen back to the ground. Some of them look reeeaaaallly strange...half of the hosta has normal leaves, and the other half has little stunted, frost-damaged ones.
I'm sorry about your losses, but glad that many survived.
Linda P

MikeWI · Post by **MikeWI** » May 03, 2007 10:18 am

Well you can find the silver lining... it looks like it would be a good time to add some mulch or maybe lay down some compost or maybe some soaker hoses.... lots of room to work....

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » May 03, 2007 12:23 pm

Sorry to see you have so many set back & your losses, Homer. But the ones that look good look fantastic!!

Minnow · Post by **Minnow** » May 03, 2007 1:01 pm

I am in the smae boat as you!
Some of my early big ones got it good over Easter weekend, but all of those late common ones still look great. Now all we need is some rain!

By the way the one I did protect was Repitillian, only a few leaf tips look like crap still.

greenguy · Post by **greenguy** » May 03, 2007 1:51 pm

sorry to hear, it is going to be a bad year for losses i think.

Same story here.

I also think my t-rex is toast - one eye pre-snow and now nothing - it was new last year. Still holding out some hope, just less and less everyday.

Homer_Zn5 · Post by **Homer_Zn5** » May 03, 2007 8:46 pm

I will admit that I feel pretty fortunate, considering the bad weather and horrible timing. Most of my Plantiginea types were hit worse than anything else. Guacamole and Mistress Maybel are probably the worst of all my mature hostas--only little new dormant eyes coming up all over from where the MANY (30+) adult eyes were ALL zapped back to the ground.

Mike, I've got to agree that this will be a great year for adding compost. Unfortunately, it is the first year that I meticulously cleaned my beds of all the leaves that fell, and that probably took away some insulation that might have helped. On the bright side, I have a HUGE compost pile, and will be talking to my "neigbor" who has a monster pile of horse manure from his stables, as well as a friend who has a dump truck. If I can coordinate schedules to get my "neighbor" out with his tractor loader and my friend with his dump truck, this could be the best garden building summer yet!

MikeWI · Post by **MikeWI** » May 04, 2007 10:39 am

Homer your story is soooo reminicant of my hosta disaster a few years back.... new beds, no mulch early warm spring and then a hard freeze for a week.... I'm a big fan o mulch now.

Roxanne · Post by **Roxanne** » May 04, 2007 6:58 pm

I have the same thing here in one big bed I didn't get mulched last year. Actually, it's the entire N. side of the property. Frozen eyes, leaves unfurling looking really gnarly.

My only loss so far (besides some mini's) is plantagenia Athena. The rest I am just waiting to see what happens next.
I had 2 loads of mulch delivered last weekend, and it is getting put down soon. Aside from that, I am just rolling with the punches and not gonna let it get me down.
I'm just glad for my established Hostas that weren't affected, and those that were, might just suprise me later!

greenguy · Post by **greenguy** » May 04, 2007 7:27 pm

I really agree with Mike. My hostas with a good layer of much faired much better then the ones with little or no mulch.

Homer, what is the hosta in the great pic you posted?

greenguy · Post by **greenguy** » May 09, 2007 7:18 pm

Homer my TRex has a tiny eye that is just starting to show. I hope you will have some luck also.
It is really going to set them back but at least they are not dead.