Are you worried about your plants in this weather?

I have bulbs poking out of the ground and it is only December! What should I do?

Many cold climate gardeners are asking themselves the following question as the weather alternates between being abnormally frigid and seasonably snowy to unseasonably warm.

Snowdrops are called pierce neige in French, which means snow piercer. No worries about snow or cold with them.

You need not worry about flowering bulbs. Spring-blooming bulb know how to handle the alternating freezing and thawing that occurs quite frequently in spring. Even though a heat wave will ruin their flowers more than a polar ice cap, they’ll still bloom the following year.

Crocuses are used to the cold.

It’s never good to have no snow, but your plants should be able to handle it if they are hardy enough for your zone. In my experience, the real killer is a long period of mild weather, which lures plants from dormancy. Then, comes an abrupt, dramatic drop in temperature. In 2016, we experienced several weeks of unusually warm weather, followed by a sharp drop in temperatures.

February 3: 51degF (10.55degC).
February 14: -24degF
February 20: 16degC (61degF)

In March we had another mild period, followed by -3degF.

If you have to worry, then be concerned about your woodies

Four yews that were planted by the previous owner along the foundation succumbed to the sudden temperature drop. The shrubs were hardy up to -30degF (-34degC), however, they were fooled into believing it was spring and then were blasted with the coldest temperatures of the season.

More than a week of spring-like weather in February, followed by severely subzero temperatures, did these hardy shrubs in.

The Japanese maple’s bark cracked from the drastic changes in temperature.

The Japanese maple that was also planted by previous owners died. The grafted portion of the tree died. At the base of trunk, you can see some roots.

The answer is. . .

What can you do? If they are small saplings or shrubs, there’s not much you can do. The same roller coaster in February killed flower buds on my spring-blooming plants: magnolias and lilacs as well as the ‘Olga Mezitt rhododendrons. All of them survived and bloomed the following year.

Most of your plants will be fine if you don’t have much zone denial. Trees and shrubs that are just starting to grow would be the biggest exception, but it is difficult to protect them. Wrapping a shrub with burlap will slow the wind down and keep it from drying out. However, this won’t protect the shrub against a combination of a warm spell followed by a sudden 70-degree temperature drop.

You should research better alternatives if you suspect that erratic weather conditions have damaged your plants. Give the plants some extra time to grow before assessing damage in spring. If you find that only a few branches have been damaged, a little trimming will fix the problem.