Freeze warning vs Frost warning and what to do?

So I survived our first frost warning with plants last week. Lucky me our weather is being incredibly screwy in Western PA this spring and we went from 74 degree yesterday to having a freeze warning tonight (later this week it's supposed to hit 84 degrees, it's wild).
I've learned my lesson, next year I promise I won't plant anything until after Memorial Day!

But I am really worried about the freeze warning this evening. The warning is in effect from 3am-8am with a possible low of 25 degrees.
I did acquire more sheets to use after the last frost warning, so I can cover all the plants with cloth instead of the highly debated plastic I used last time.

Is this going to be enough? Is there anything else I should do? Are my plants likely doomed?

Here's a recap of what I have.

Veggie Garden:

Cherry Tomatoes
Strawberries
Zucchini
Cucumber
Cauliflower
Jalapenos
Bell Peppers
Onions



Landscaping:

Salvia (which has started to bloom)
Cistena Plum
Impatients

You don't have to worry about the strawberries, Cauliflower or onions.
The rest I would cover.
Boy, 25º is almost winter!
Good Luck,
Bernie

Bernie, what about newly planted shrubs? Do you know if those have to be covered?
(Shrubs like boxwood, pieris, false cypress...)

No idea.

Lynnie: I can tell you in my area if you tried to kill a boxwood you better pack a lunch and bring help. I dug out 4 last year and literally threw them in the woods by the house. They landed dirt side down and are trying to grow. The left behind roots in the re-worked bed are sprouting little baby boxwood. I really don't believe you can kill these with out a seriously hard freeze and flame thrower. The only reason I removed them was to put in a blooming bed. These type shrubs are just to plain for me and everybody and thier brother has them here. I prefer to grow something that gets ooos and ahhs not just ohs. But that's just me. My style of planting is posted under 'turning a log into a large planter' in this forum. BTW, I do hope all of your plants faired well. Both of you.


This message was edited May 18, 2009 8:09 AM

Looks like everything made it through the night. Sun is shining and it's a whopping 36 degrees out right now, went ahead and uncovered everything that's in the sun. Should get to around 60 degrees today.

Just curious, but how obvious is frost/freeze damage the next day?

It would look not right very soon. Black leaves & looking wilted.

Ok, I live well north of you and all we are having is a frost advisory. I believe the freeze warning is well north of us almost touching the Canadian border. Ok, my mistake, that happened yesterday.

This message was edited May 18, 2009 9:22 AM

In my experience with late frosts here it obvious in hours that a plant got bitten. Full damage done is usually seen in a day or two as tender young shoots die back. After a week the full scope of old growth damage is apparent. A couple years ago I nearly lost 2 blueberry bushes and a Japanese Maple to several nights of heavy frost damage. They were covered but the cold was too much too long. They all have recovered nicely since. The first morning I could tell as I uncovered that there was obviously damage done.

Thanks!
No obvious damage to anything as far as I can tell, but it's good to know what I'm looking for in case it happens again.

As long as the tender tips appear as they did yesterday you should be ok. If the cold got to them they will be wilted by noon.

GCorrier you're greatly underestimating my powers of ignorance ;) I've killed LOTS of things lol My husband used to ask me what I was "burying" instead of "planting." I've always liked the foliage of boxwood, and I needed some evergreen shrubs in my foundation, so I got the most mature ones I could find. I really am pulled by woodland plants (I don't know why...I love rhodies & azaleas and maples trees...) but it was looking pretty dead out there in winter, so of the evergreens I chose boxwood (it's full sun, I can't use rhodies & azaleas there). I get zone envy every spring, drooling over plants I can't have. Oh well. Oh my frost is forecast for tonight....thanks for your good wishes, I'll let you guys know how my plants fare!

I live in upstate NY and when I worked for a nursery got a great tip. In the Northeast nursery stock comes in March and there's often still snow around so to protect stock annuals and vegetable plants the are watered heavily right before dark. The water actually acts as an insulator to the plants and if there is a freeze then the water on the plant freezes and not the cells of the plants. It works on perennials as well when planted early season and tender after transplanting from pot to ground.

oh Tipper that's funny, I read about somebody spraying trees down with water before a frost...I think it was someone on DG...we did get a frost last night. I didn't cover anything mostly out of sheer exhaustion from work... I don't have any tender or blooming plants...some of my shrubs are newly planted, but I took a chance and everything is ok. The irises have big buds but haven't bloomed, so they look fine. I have 3 bachelor's button plants that I haven't planted yet, so I put them inside (THOSE are blooming!)
It was a light frost I think.

We had a frost warning two nights ago, and I panicked because I have literally hundreds of new trees, shrubs,and perennials (most planted last year, but lots planted this year, including two beloved lacecap hydrangeas). Our yard looked like a ghetto project with all the tee shirts and towels and sheets hanging over everything. Luckily, even though we aired our dirty laundry, the temps never got below freezing, but they were close.

I noticed a bit of foliage damage on my clematis and kirengeshoma, but nothing that can't be pinched off.

I had also read about watering the plants (ground only -- no foliage) the night before and to not use plastic, though I am not sure how true that is. I had my eye on my hiking bivvy sack as an excellent cover, but passed it up in favor of the Polartec sleeping bag liner. ;)

By the way, this is my first post. I hope it's ok to just jump in. I haven't seen an "intro" thread.

Peony8: I believe we are expected and encouraged to JUMP in as we have all encountered slight differences in our gardening experiences. To share a little knowledge between persons of common intrest results in all of us gaining knowledge to excel. Also makes for a wide range of views and debates which educate all of us. And in some sense denotes a kinship of common intrest. As I was told after my first post WELCOME TO DG.

yes, Peony, welcome! And today I'll take a closer look at my clematis lol those crazy hot days in April really pushed these plants along!

Thanks for the welcome, people. Up here in the Northeast, after such a dire frost warning, today will be the second day in the mid 90s, and it's not even summer yet!