Long Island had it's warmest January on record. The average high in Central Park was just shy of 50F ... in January. That's warmer than the average January in Charlotte, North Carolina. It looks like February will be just as warm too. So far, we've had virtually no snow on the island, aside from 2 events that produced a light coating. The season total is less than an inch as of Early February.
However, this past weekend a quick blast of arctic cold might have ruined nearly everything I was "zone pushing" in my new Long Island Garden.
My plants were left unprotected
When temperatures drop below 15F, I cover my tender plants with a frost cloth, a garbage bin, and string C7 or C9 Christmas lights underneath to generate extra heat. Unfortunately, because of a faulty timer, these lights never turned on during one of the coldest nights I've ever experienced as a gardener in New York.
(Show covers)
The low temperature was 3F in my yard. The wind chill dropped to -20F (that's 20 degrees BELOW zero!) It's the 3rd coldest wind chill in 30 years. Although plants don't experience "wind chill", the covers are unable to retain heat when temperatures drop that low ... especially when the lights don't turn on.
I'm growing a Trachycarpus, Sabal Minor, and needle palm. The ground was totally frozen solid and they were likely exposed to temperatures below 10 degrees for a solid 6 hours or more. Upon uncovering them, they look fine, but the true scope of the damage won't show up until the weather is warm enough for them to actively start growing in April.
Other plants like my Cordyline australis are less subtle when they experience cold and immediately I can see the splotching on the leaves. I am expecting that this plant will die.
The gardenias and cast iron plants also did not receive additional heat. The cast iron plants look surprisingly green. The gardenias will probably die back, but I am hoping they survive.
There is no signs of damage yet on my Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), but I am expecting the worst because they typically do not survive temperatures below 10F, let alone several hours of it.
I left my Illicium floridanum "Gray Ghost" outside in a planter all winter. It's bad enough for the foliage to be exposed to brutal, freezing wind. It's even worse to keep these plants potted and expose their roots to cold too. HOWEVER, despite looking wilty during the worst of the cold - it's gorgeous again. No signs of damage with this one. I highly recommend this shrub if you're looking for a variegated evergreen that also produces some pretty cool flowers!
Cyclamen hederifolium looks fantastic too, all things considered. You can look back at previous posts to see it in bloom this past November!
And the pansies have had better days but it's alive even though it's spent the winter outside in a tiny nursery pot. Whoops!
