Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY warm
weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time. Immediately
following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down in the twenties
at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and
daffodils appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess and
most of them were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how they
make out on their own?

Don

On 4/10/07 11:39 PM, in article , "IGot2P"
wrote:

Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY warm
weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time. Immediately
following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down in the twenties
at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and
daffodils appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess and
most of them were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how they
make out on their own?

Don

Amazingly enough, they will be just fine. Heck, the snowdrops and daffodils
were still there after the last snow. I might go pick some daffodils before
the snow falls (AGAIN, (&(*&(*@##&^*&^(#) tomorrow.
C

"IGot2P" wrote in message
...
Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY warm
weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time. Immediately
following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down in the twenties
at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and daffodils
appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess and most of them
were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how they
make out on their own?

Ours had the same thing happen to them. We also lost many blooming stalks on
our iris. They just toppled and turned to mush. Our daffs were already
through blooming. The azalea buds and flowers are gone. Our garden will be
a lot less colorful this spring.


Don

IGot2P wrote:
Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY warm
weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time. Immediately
following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down in the twenties
at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and
daffodils appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess and
most of them were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how they
make out on their own?

Don


Don,

Plants like tulips and daffodils will be fine -- don't cut them back but
do cut off the dead flowers. Depending on how cold it got, your hostas
may not make it. The best thing to do is to trim back the dead foliage
and see if they come back. It may take several months to see new shoots
on your hostas.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

Gardening for over 40 years

To see pictures from my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Digital Camera - Pentax *ist DL

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:
IGot2P :

Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY warm
weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time. Immediately
following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down in the twenties
at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and
daffodils appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess and
most of them were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how they
make out on their own?

Don

Don, I live in St. Louis Missouri and we had a bitter, hard freeze as well.
Your hostas should be just fine. Mine show the freeze but I've seen this
before, and the hostas should pop up and do their business as usual.
Hostas are very hardy... at least in my experience.

Michael

I hope that you are correct but I have not seen any "pop up" action yet.
You are about three and one half hours south of me so hopefully your
freeze was not quite as bad. Anyway, time will tell what the hostas will do.
Cheers,
Don

IGot2P wrote in :

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:
IGot2P :

Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY
warm weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time.
Immediately following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down
in the twenties at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and
daffodils appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess
and most of them were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold
weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how
they make out on their own?

Don

Don, I live in St. Louis Missouri and we had a bitter, hard freeze as
well. Your hostas should be just fine. Mine show the freeze but
I've seen this before, and the hostas should pop up and do their
business as usual. Hostas are very hardy... at least in my
experience.

Michael

I hope that you are correct but I have not seen any "pop up" action
yet. You are about three and one half hours south of me so hopefully
your freeze was not quite as bad. Anyway, time will tell what the
hostas will do. Cheers,
Don




Did they have flower spikes on them? I think things that were about to
flower will not flower again this year. The greenery will come back,
though, if they didn't expend ALL their reserves on the first leafing.

On Apr 10, 11:39 pm, IGot2P wrote:
Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY warm
weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time. Immediately
following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down in the twenties
at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and
daffodils appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess and
most of them were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how they
make out on their own?

Don

Hello Don. Good question. I am always amazed how much earlier everyone
elses plants sprout before mine. I definitely lucked out on my hostas
because they are still just nubs sticking out of the ground.
Regardless, they are the least of my gardening worries as it pertains
to that cold snap we experienced in zone 5 last week. I planted a few
small plants I bought a couple weeks ago and I have to say they don't
look so good. But I believe that even these plants will bounce right
back as soon as the warm weather comes our way.

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:38:00 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
wrote:

IGot2P :

Here in extreme SE Iowa (zone 5) we had a couple of weeks of VERY warm
weather thus most all of the early flowers came up big time. Immediately
following this warm spell we had just the opposite, down in the twenties
at night. :-(

Well, needless to say the plants really suffered. The tulips and
daffodils appear to be recovering but the hostas are really a mess and
most of them were about 8 to 12 inches tall when the cold weather came.

Finally, the question; do we cut them back or just wait and see how they
make out on their own?

Don

Don, I live in St. Louis Missouri and we had a bitter, hard freeze as well.
Your hostas should be just fine. Mine show the freeze but I've seen this
before, and the hostas should pop up and do their business as usual.
Hostas are very hardy... at least in my experience.

Michael

Here in east Tennessee. My hosta froze last weekend, along with the
dogwood blooms, trees, rose of sharon, etc. The rose bushes are okay.
Havn't seen this kind of late frost since living here since 1989. The
hosta looks like wilted lettuce. I'm not doing anything--just waiting
for new growth.