I remember checking the long-range forecast in early December and noticing a plunge in temperatures around Christmas, like down in the low teens. For many days I was in denial. I'd say things like "hopefully they are wrong" and "surely it won't be THAT bad", but as the date approached, it looked increasingly likely that the ominous forecast would come to fruition.
So, as usual, I procrastinated until the day before the plunge. I remember feeling so overwhelmed because I had amassed hundreds of containers with all sorts of things: rooted gardenias and camellias, rain lilies, trilliums, and all sorts of both hardy and marginally hardy plants. And since organizing isn't my forte, just imagine how frantic I was trying to separate all the ones needing protection from the hardy plants. It was complete chaos. This in itself was a reality check. I need to invest time in sorting and organizing my plants!
I expected the camellias and salvias to be the most tender, so I filled up my stepdad's truck and took those over to my grandmother's greenhouse, which is about half a mile away. I also decided to put some under the house and a few in our heated well house. Lastly, for everything remaining, I covered with a generous layer of wet leaves that had been piled up since autumn. In retrospect, I should have put more things under the house.
I had no idea whether a blanket of leaves would work or not, but it seemed like a logical solution since that is what I do to my in-ground sensitive plants. If this event had been a more routine cold snap perhaps this would have worked, but this was a killer freeze that hit with a quickness I've never witnessed. Within hours after the front had passed we were in the teens, and we really didn't have a warm-up until 3 or 4 days later. Prolonged intervals of this kind of cold always spells disaster for the southern garden!
Report on 1-28-23
So it's been around a month since our Christmas freeze and I have a few observations to report. The mulch of leaves helped, but they were no match for prolonged temperatures below 20 F. Although many temperate ephemerals survived, species like Trillium and bloodroot, I may have lost all my rain lilies in pots, at least the ones in quarts. I may have also lost all my Lycoris aurea in containers. My in-ground specimens were liquified, but the bulbs remain solid and will eventually recover.
The reason I can now report to you is because I've been dumping out my small pots and checking for root/ bulb damage. Unfortunately, so many rain lily bulbs are now mushy and putrid. I've learned the hard way, that even if something is hardy in the ground, in a small container it is very vulnerable to extreme cold. This was a learning experience for me, a cruel wake-up call, but one that I needed in order to grow as a gardener.
After many years of relatively mild winters, I had been lulled into the false belief that extreme cold snaps were a thing of the past- no longer a threat in a world gripped by global warming. But climate change doesn't work this way, and although global temperatures have risen, this has also been shown to increase the frequency of erratic and unstable weather patterns, including winter storms. Wild swings in temperatures may become more common in the future.
I've been reading many horticulturists (on FB) reporting similar devastation all across the east. Experts explain that one of the primary reasons this cold snap was so devastating was that it followed a period of unseasonable warmth. Hardy plants don't always exhibit the same level of protection against subfreezing temperatures. A plant that has broken dormancy or has not recieved enough exposure to cold is far more likely to be damaged by subfreezing temps. When plants are "primed" or given enough time to prepare for cold, they can strengthen their cold tolerance by stockpiling sugars. This lowers the freezing temperature of the cellular fluid and thus saves the cells from rupture and death.
We must wait until spring to see the full extent of this event. I've already observed many evergreen shrubs like, tea olives, gardenias, and banana shrubs completely defoliated. And many of my "hardy" bulbs have burned or mushy foliage, including my Ipehion (Spring Star Flower) and yellow and white spider lilies. Will they bloom this fall? Only time will tell, but I suspect many semi-hardy plants will require at least a year to recover.
As nature shows us time and time again, it is in control and we have so much to learn about this infinitely dynamic planet. Even with all our powerful technologies, we still struggle to make accurate long-range forecasts, and climate change is uncharted territory for our species.
Although losing so many beloved plants makes me physically sick, I try to look on the bright side. At least my Trilliums are ok, and at least I gained valuable wisdom which will inform my decisions in the future. It is important not to dwell on the mistakes of the past, but rather view them as invaluable "milestones" that help to deepen our understanding of nature and ourselves.
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