The Tally So Far

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kman_blue (Zone 6b) May 08, 2007

A brief update on damage in my area. Many of the trees and shrubs are sprouting new buds now, but several still show no signs of new buds yet(especially some Magnolias) although their wood is still green and alive looking. Also, all evergreen Azaleas were wiped out and have significant wood damage, while about 3/4 of the blooms on deciduous Azaleas was killed off and most show minor wood damage. About 1/2 of Rhododendrons had their blooms killed off in bud and the ones which didn't are now in full bloom. Magnolia virginiana(all varieties, except 1 unnamed Northern variety) had about 1/2 of their bloom buds killed off. M. grandiflora(all varieties) looks to have about 1/3 to 1/2 of their bloom buds also killed off. They are both pushing out new leaves, but there's dozens upon dozens of dead bloom buds littering the ground underneath many. The toughest, virtually undamaged deciduous woody plants(out of the ones that had new leaves or flowers when the cold hit) are Aesculus parviflora var. serotina and Viburnum dentatum 'Blue Muffin'. Both showed virtually no damage at all. Another somewhat surprising note is how well all of my European and Western Asian Oaks(Quercus sps.) did in the cold spell. Only 1 of them was damaged at all and it was one of the first trees to recover and push out new foliage after the cold. They all avoided damage by not breaking bud until after the cold, while most all native Oaks had already broken bud and were obliterated. All East Asian Oaks were also obliterated in a similar fashion. So, perhaps there European and West Asian Oaks have adapted to such late cold outbreaks in the past, like say during the last Ice Age?

All-in-all most woody plants look to have between 4"(10cm) and 2'(122cm) of dead wood as a result of this cold outbreak. With a few having as much as 4'(244cm) or more of damaged and dead wood.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) May 08, 2007

Quoting:
So, perhaps there European and West Asian Oaks have adapted to such late cold outbreaks in the past, like say during the last Ice Age?

Not even that far back - we had a centimetre of snow lying on 2 June one year, and there's been two or three years in the last 20 or so when it has been down to -5°C in early May. Around here, the oaks have only recently started to leaf out (and up in the hills, not at all yet) despite the warmest spring on record.

Resin

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