When it Gets Colder Then it Should

Wind whipped plants 1/29/19

I only took one photo for this post because I really didn't want to be outdoors longer then absolutely necessary. It looks like the frozen tundra outside, and it feels like it too! We have a historical outbreak of cold occurring happening tonight. Some parts of Iowa will get colder then ever have before ( Being 100% serious) Places like Davenport would be one such place, they are forecast to get down to -30.F and the current record is -28.F. Here in Des Moines we could get down to -22.F. This is significant because if this temperature is actually realized it would be the coldest in 23 years. Some gardeners like myself wonder how this is going to effect the plants, so lets dive in. Des Moines is officially listed at plant zone hardiness 5b which means winter lows are supposed to be in the range of -10 to -15 below zero. Our low could get 7 degrees lower then that. You wont have to worry about that old Oak in the yard, or even that viburnum shrub. However it does mean some newer plants that have been available in the last 20 years like certain Japanese Maples, Boxwood, Evergreen Azaleas and Forsythia are at risk for getting cold damage.

The main concern automatically will be any plant that is truly exposed to the cold, if it has a part that is above the ground or snow. Certain spring-blooming trees and shrubs usually suffer the most damage. The reason for this is because the flower buds for many of our favorite blooming plants like Redbuds, Forsythia and Azaleas form in around late summer of the previous season and they remain on the plant throughout the winter exposed. It's known that flower buds are not nearly as hardy leaf buds and damage occurs when the temperature drops below a certain point so we end up loosing the floral display for that year. Remember though as mentioned leaf buds are hardier so the overall health of the plant will be just fine and they will still leaf out normally. This issue would only be expected with select newer plants because oldies like Crab Apples, Lilacs, Roses and Weigleas ect. have flower bud hardiness much colder.

The good new is we have 15" of snowcover which will be in our favor and may allow for some flowers to be spared, if any flowers on low branches are under snowcover currently they will be protected as well from the cold just like being under ground. They call this the snow-line. So it could be said that those shrubs will have flowers below the snow-line, provided we don't get more extreme cold later after the snow melts.

Besides the flower bud damage we could also see some leaf and twig damage on those marginal plants in the area as well. Some plants like Peach trees, Japanese Maples and certain Boxwoods may suffer some dieback but latent buds farther down the branches will allow these to recover. The worst case scenario if the plant you have is very marginal to Iowa and if you're like me and planted a Southern Magnolia the entire plant will die back to the ground. Dang! Was so hoping for a more mild winter to give it a chance to establish more.

With the snowcover any perennials or bulbs will be completely un effected, so no worries there!

To shed at least some light on the possibility of damaged plants I found a short list of some plants I've noticed in the past are more susceptible to damage from cold. The research came from University of Minnesota because this region has some of the same plants as us and endure the temperatures we are expecting on a normal occurrence. However in the end we wont truly know the extent of the damage until spring arrives and things start to leaf out. Keeping fingers crosses it to a minimum! Also check out the plants below the damaged list for some varieties that are hardier to our area, it just may solve the cold problem all together, at least as far as plants are concerned.

Des Moines Airport Official Temp as of 6:54AM -20.F

Dwarf Korean Azalea 'Poukhanense Compacta'  Flower buds significantly damaged at -18.F

Large Leaf Rhododendron; Flower buds damaged at -18.F

Azalea 'Girard Series' Flower buds destroyed at -8.F 

Forsythia  'Lynwood Gold' Flower buds destroyed at -7.F

Peach Trees; ( Certain types ) Flower Buds Destroyed, Twig Damage or killed at -20.F

Redbud Tree; Flower buds destroyed in Minnesota at -23.F

Rose of Sharon, Some twig damage at -16.F.
Boxwood 'Winter Gem' Severe winter burn at -20.F


Cold Hardy varieties for Iowa

Large Leaf Rhododendron 'roseum elegans' Hardy to -25.F
Rhododenron PJM Evergreen Hardy to -30.F
Dwarf Rhododendron Rambo Hardy to -25.F
Forsythia New Hampshire Gold Flower bud hardy to -30.F
Peach 'Reliance' Hardy to -25.F

What its like to garden in St Louis

Galanthus Snowdrops

I was lucky enough to take a trip down to St Louis earlier this week with my mom and one of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Missouri Botanical Garden. I've never been to St Louis prior to this trip but I've always wanted to go. They are located a full gardening zone warmer then Des Moines and it showed. They had no snow, I would not say it was warm while we were there, but while Iowa was getting a snowstorm and it was heavy rain with a temperature round 43.F at 10pm at night at the same time in St Louis. The 40s t didn't last though, temperatures cooled to the upper 20s by the next morning and remained that way the rest of the time we were there. Not many flowers to be found but I did see Snowdrops in flower and plenty of Daffodils coming up, it was nice to see them again but I did have the same thing including blooming snowdrops in my garden in Iowa and still do to this day, but they are a foot and a half under snow.

Southern Magnolia

American Holly

Their warm climate offers them an abundance of board leaf evergreens options. They had very nice Southern Magnolias that my sad little tree in Des Moines would be jealous of. The Evergreen Hollies, Rhododendrons and Azaleas covered the grounds there. I would guess spring must be an amazing site to see at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Camellia Flower

Camellias are hardy in St Louis! I have not see a Camellia in the ground since I was in Alabama visiting family in my childhood.  I was really surprised they would be hardy as far north as St Louis. I read about this variety called 'Spring Promise' and it is apparently a newer release of Camellia that is supposed to be super-extra hardy. However it didn't sound like they do well if the temperature falls below zero and since that has happened here in Des Moines every year in recorded history except for one, I don't think I will be trying to plant one any time soon. They had Camellias in flower inside of a building that was slightly headed allowing them to have quite a few more they they otherwise normally would. Their scent is wonderful, I sure wish we could grow some of these in Iowa!

Witch Hazel Chinese

Rhododendron Garden 

Large Leaf Rhododendrons were stunning there in size. There leaves remain evergreen all winter but there are actually several varieties of these that easily thrive here in Iowa so I don't feel as bad. I've been reading about some that were bread in Finland and are supposed to be very flower-bud hardy to -30 that I want to try next year. Chinese Witch Hazel was in flower which I was really surprised about I heard they are winter bloomers but I didn't think that meant January. They of course had a nice fragrance.

Return to Des Moines 1/25/19

Iowa certainly reminded me of its farther north latitude when we arrived back home. We were welcomed with blowing snow and temperatures in the single digits. Now only this but it had snowed another 6 inches which is the 3rd time we've gotten a big snow in the last week and half. We have around 15" of on the ground now making it the most snow I've seen on the ground at once, at least here in Iowa anyway. It reminds me of the typical snowcovers found where I grew up in northern Wisconsin.

Winters Fashionably Late Arrival

Snowfall from 1/12/19

Winter finally arrived this weekend with a blanket of about 4.5" of snow. Honestly its about time we saw a more than the tiny dusting snowfalls we have been getting so far. I was starting to think we were going to have to prove to the rest of the world proof of Des Moines heartland location. Proving that was going to be getting increasingly difficult with my photos of brown grass and flowers in January and continual temperatures in the 50s to near 60.

Winter Garden 1/13/19

Well, we traded in all that glorious mid winter weather for snow as the sun rose today greeting the new landscape. There is a certain beauty and freshness to the air that a snowfall like this only seems to bring, how ever you think of it certainly brings a new view on things. Also on another note has anyone notice how much brighter it is at night now? I was just talking to my mom about how the snowcover makes night much brighter, a feature of city lights shining against the snowcover that this snowfall reminded me of.

Rusty the T-Rex

I don't think I explained my blogs cover photo just yet and I guess its about time I did. Well this is Rusty the T-Rex! He is a metal art piece which lives in my prairie garden the material he's made out of explains the name. Rusty is just one of many dinosaurs that reside across my yard and garden and yes he's wearing a scarf I made from recycled cloth, a dinos gotta keep warm in an Iowa winter!  I never really used to be into garden art, but now I feel like I have been missing out because they add so much to a garden especially in winter. My interest in garden art arrived at the same time I started gaining an interest in Dinosaurs which oddly came way after adulthood, I don't really know where it came from I guess I just their they are a cool unique aspect to the garden.

First blooms of 2019

Snowdrop Elwesii 1/7/19

The weather continues to be very warm this week. It has been in the 50s for the past 3 days and we peaked at a high of 59.F this past Saturday. It was 50.F yesterday. The weather has been way more like March than what should be the coldest month of the year on average. Even the lows have been barely below freezing.  All this warm weather and lack of snow has brought upon the first flowers of the new year. This isn't this first time I've had snowdrops in January but usually they wait until the last week of the month. This is by far the earliest snowdrops I've ever had blooming in the garden. Average bloom time for these is middle February. Last year they bloomed around January 30th. Interesting note if we get some flowers blooming in February which is more typical for us, I will have had flowers blooming every calendar month of the winter season since I had Autumn Crocus just before Christmas!

Additional Snowdrops

Many flowers claim the be the first one of spring, but hands down Snowdrops are the first flower of the year. Notice I didn't say "one of the first" That's because there really is no flower I've come across so far that is earlier then these. However one must be choosy when it comes to your snowdrops. If you really want the extra early ones you have to get the right kind. The snowdrops I have are called Snowdrops Elwesii or galanthus elwesii These particular snowdrops bloom far earlier then the more popular g. nivalis and are also much larger. Elwesii Snowdrops do better in Iowa because they  are from a climate that is hot and dry in summer which more closely matches our climate. Most snowdrops are from a cool-moist summer climate and tend to struggle just a bit in our far different climatic conditions.

Daffodils starting 1/7/19

Daffodils have also been tricked by our little fools spring. They are starting to come up along with some spring Crocus I've also seen starting to pop. Most people would be really concerned about seing all these blooming and sprouting plants this early in January. What about the rest of winter? Well I'm not at all concerned. I consider it a part of nature and plus how could you not want to start coming in weather as nice as we've had this winter? What will end up happening is if we get some snow especially heavier amounts before any cold these plants will be absolutely fine and no harm will come, Snowcover protects anything from the harsh temperatures. However Iowa is really good at avoiding snowfall but still getting down to zero or colder. If this happens which is the worse case scenario, the snowdrops will loose their flowers and the Daffodils will have freeze burn on their leaf edges but health wise for the plant both will survive and be fine in the end. I have gone through great measures to protect plants at one time but as time passed I found it just isn't necessary. They are strong hardy plants and there really is no need to worry so instead I enjoy the January blooms!

The Colors of Winter Using Evergreen Shrubs

Winter Garden January 3rd

I was going to wait to talk about winter color until we got a little snow and well, actual winter but we haven't gotten any yet and there are no chances of snow for the next few weeks it appears so I am going ahead with it. I keep thinking the other shoe is going to drop and winter is going to come roaring in but its actually seems to be getting more spring-like as we go more into January. We are looking at near 60 degree highs on Saturday and its been in the 50s several times this past week. The garden is is responding to the warmth and I have the first snowdrops of the season on the verge of flowering, it may just be a few more days away.  Now on to the real topic of this post. Winter and the color it can provide ( Minus snowcover/wintery weather ) Take note how even the brown grasses/plants above have a visually pleasing look. Well at least I think anyway, I feel like I'm the only one that sees it this way!

PJM Elite Rhododendron

Gold Juniper

Winter can be a long season, Once January passes we find ourselves looking at the magazines/online websites being ready for the next planting next season. Hold up, what about Winter? It is often a very overlooked season and it can be considered a missed opportunity. A garden done right needs to look nice in all seasons, including winter! I learned this from growing up in the great white north where a winter as warm/snowless as this would be a dream come true. I feel having evergreen shrubs are the number one way a gardener can celebrate the winter season. When I'm discussing evergreens to most gardeners, they wince and the thought of planting them because they make them think about the overgrown pointy needled evergreens seen planted around homes built in the 50s and 60s. To be quite frank I am with that group to a degree, I have not been a fan of needle evergreens since the move to Iowa. Don't get me wrong they have their place, its just not my thing. I will admit there are some newer modern cultivars of needle evergreens like Juniper and Arborvitae among others that stay short or columnar and have nice colors of gold or blue and those are certainly worth looking into! I got a gold Juniper while in Minnesota last fall and it has colors that intensify more as cold weather comes in. Junipers are extremely hardy, drought tolerant and most importantly rabbits don't like them and I don't have to encase it in fences like some other shrubs as seen in the PJM Rhododendron photos at the top left.

Boxwood Green Mountain

My favorite evergreen shrubs are broadleaf evergreens, or basically evergreens that don't really look like true evergreens. These shrubs have leaves of any other ordinary shrub but they of course hold their leaves all winter. They don't have any pointy needles and no pine-cones or sap! Iowa surprisingly has several shrubs in this category, even more then I'm showing here. A few I have come across so far are Rhododendrons, Boxwoods, Azaleas, Bayleaf and Evergreen Hollies.

Evergreen Azalea Girard White

Cold weather leaf curl

Gardeners should keep in mind however because some of boardleaf evergreens mentioned above actually consider semi-evergreen in our climate which means more than half of the leaves will fall off in winter. Dwarf Korean Rhododendrons and evergreen azaleas are such shrubs that fall into this category. If one wants a true evergreen Rhododendron go for PJM series or large leaf Rhododendron like Rosum Elegans cultivar, these both truly will hold all their leaves in our region. Large leaf ones are extra impressive in our area because they almost have a tropical appearance and hang onto their large 4-5" leaves even in the harshest of winters. Take notice that the leaves of both the PJM and large leaf will roll up tight in cold weather and nearly appear leafless while in this state. Usually under 28.F they will do this and they will stay curled like the above left photo until warm weather re-appears. When warm air arrives the leaves unfold back to normal. This makes them great plants to have when you want to know if its warm outside! I will be posting a more in depth photos about these shrubs later on because many evergreen Azaleas found around area gardens centers are not flower-bud hardy in Iowa including the Girard White pictured above and I want to help people figure out which ones to get.

Semi-Evergreen Perennials

Evergreen Perennials are another one of those winter plants often overlooked. Heartleaf Pigsqeek ( Yes that is the name ) also known as Bergenia for others are an evergreen perennial just as are Lenten Roses. I really like the greenery they add to the garden this time of year. The term Semi-Evergreen needs to be used when describing the evergreen nature at least of Lenten Rose anyway because once real-cold weather moves in it is very hard on their leaves and even these will eventually turn brown and look raggedy. This year they still look great even way into January, but in a more typical winter once we get to mid December they have pretty much turn completely brown. The plants will be fine once spring arrives and I trim the previous years foliage. The Berginia is a quite a bit more evergreen then Lenten Rose. Other true evergreen perennials I can think of are, Beardtongue, Creeping Phlox, Creeping Dianthus, Pachysandra, Wintercreeper Vine and Hardy English Ivy. So as can be seen evergreen plants have a place even in the modern landscape and they are a great way to add much needed winter color even in a spring-like winter!