Will a freeze ruin my lilies?

I have many lilies up and growing all over the place. They are in all different sizes. We are supposed to get around 28 and 29 degrees for the next 3 nights, then in the low 30's. Maybe even SNOW tomorrow or tomorrow night, which is rare for us this time of year. Since I'm not used to this, I don't know what to expect from my lilies. Can someone please offer advice, suggestions or hope for my lilies from the cold weather coming?
Thanks!
Sherry

We're expecting the same system down here in Oregon and the same forecast of cold and snow. I brought all of my potted lily seedlings into the house and greenhouse but there isn't much I can do about the ones in the ground. Some are up more than a foot. I just hope they will be okay. We are expecting to see record lows for these dates.

You too! Darn! I guess we will have to wait it out and see what happens. I am like you and have too many in the ground already up and growing nicely to do much for them. I guess this will be a learning experience for both of us. I guess I need to document how they react to these kind of temps when they are already growing. I REALLY, REALLY hope they will be okay. I have been so looking forward to seeing them again! Good luck to you too!

I also have petunias that were planted last week. :o( And there are a LOT of them. I may try to at least cover them to save them.

Sherry

Just a question: Is it possible to cover them with boxes until the snow and freezing weather ends? I'd consider lifting the boxes from 10 to 5 PM but keeping them covered at night.

I had 4 nights in the low 20's last year. I covered my beds with tarps and ran the soaker hose every few hours till morning and they bloomed normally. The asatics and the Orientals will take a few of degrees of frost the trumpets Turn to mush at 32 degrees.
Dennis

I don'[t know about Sherry but I would need a couple hundred boxes:-(

here a picture from last year

Dennis, do your neighbors think you are normal ? Just wonderin'... :-)

OF Course not (-; But they do like the 1000's of blooms.

Do any of our neighbors think we are normal? Lol!

I hate those late frosts! I hope everything turns out okay.

With last year's late freeze, I dragged out every empty pot, box, bucket and garbage cans /lids that I had to cover the lilies ~ doing that saved most of them.

This message was edited Apr 18, 2008 11:39 PM

I don't think my neighbors think I am normal. I don't know this for a fact but when I am out there in the summer spreadin' pollen and putting these little foil chastity caps on them you just have to suspect... I try to explain things to them but....

I think I'll let things go for now and check the thermometer sometime in the middle of the night. If need be I will bundle up and go out with my flashlight and blankies. Neighbors should all be asleep and won't know a thing... (at least not until morning breaks).

pirl,
I was going to try that, but wind is expected too and they would probably blow off.

pardalinum,
Me too, I would need a ton and the wind would probably just take them off and maybe break the lilies off. :o(

Dennis,
Cool picture. Great idea!


magnolialover,
LOL Who cares WHAT the neighbors think!!! ;o)

Moby,
Great! I've seen your gardens here before and that had to be a TON of work to get it all covered!

I ended up finding some old sheets in the garage that I used to cover my petunias in 2006. So I put those down in one of the front beds with all the petunias. And I covered a large section in a back garden area with lots of lilies and other stuff. I didn't cover the whole area, but a good portion of it. Then in the front, there is a LONG curvy bed with tulips, iris, lilies, daylilies, etc. I didn't even try to cover that area. We'll just have to see what happens. Keeping my fingers crossed. But when I looked at pictures from 2006 when I covered the petunias with the sheets, I didn't cover any of the other gardens and they were fine. That makes me feel SOMEWHAT better. LOL Good luck everyone and great to be back!
Sherry

Hey Sherry, I ran around covering up my lilies and hostas tonight and just realized that I forgot my oldest one....he's up about a foot and I totally forgot him-augh! (My only "male" lily-it's blackout, so it seemed to be fitting, somehow...) So many of mine are new and just planted this year, they're confused already-and now this... I just hope the squirrels don't go look to see what I was covering, those wretches...

Suzybell,
One of my beds with a lot of lilies in them, I never covered at all. They seem to be doing fine since our cold snap. So hopefully yours will be okay too. ;o) And as for the squirrels....how dare they be spying on you like that!! LOL
Sherry

Squirrels are real easy to catch with live traps. In less than a week my dad caught 4 and I caught 2. What happens to them after the "live" trap is another story.
Is it me or does there seem to be a hoard of pestilence and trouble that tries to afflict lily lovers?

Hi Sherry, looks like everything came through the cold just fine for me, too. I did get a picture of hostas with snow on them-not something you see every day. I tried an experiment with one starfighter that's been partially chomped,so I won't see a bloom anyhow. I left it uncovered and covered the rest, and I didn't see any difference.

Yeah, the squirrels here have a lot of nerve.....I've even got a chilehead.....figures that there'd be one that liked cayenne on his birdseed....I've got it bad because I unfortunately enjoy birdwatching, and also have an elderly neighbor who feeds the local squirrels with whole peanuts. They cross from the big trees in the yard behind mine, through mine to get to the peanut feast. And, oh, what they've done to my crocuses- argh!
I've been having DH make me cones out of hardware cloth to put over my lily sprouts. It's working so far, until they figure out how to knock them over.

So you have seen the squirrels eat your lily sprouts? I know they like to eat flower buds or even pull up annuals and chew on them.

They love pepper and tomato plants too. The little buggers sit on my fence and eat their snack in the sun and don't even budge when I pull in the drive. Bobex keeps them away. Its organic and you just spray it on every two weeks or so. Once its dry the rain won't wash it off. Smells like bobcat urine. I had these really nasty neighbors. I got really fed up with them so very early one morning I was spraying my yard and well some of the spray went through the fence and coated the side of the husbands car and since the window was down... That evening I head his wife telling him to take a shower cause he smelt like an old tom cat. Seriously it really does keep away the rabbits and squirels and chipmunks.

So everyone get out their Minimum/Maximum recording thermometers, put them out in the garden and we can compare notes for the different kinds of lilies (Asiatics, trumpets, martagons, orientals, etc.)

What???? No min/max thermometer?
Better put that on your Birthday/Christmas wish list!
I have two, and I need another. One for regular air temp, one for my wintering box, and I need one for the garage and/ or basement cool box.