Freeeeeeezing

In Maryland, what most think of as winter typically doesn't start until January. And then it's still averaging lows in the 30's and highs in the 40's. We usually get a few snow events a year, which melts within a day or two...and then we get slammed with some crazy blizzards every few years.
But in general - I love our mild winters!

This year, though has been CRAZY!

We had pretty extreme freezes in November (again, not a crazy time of year for the first frost, but definitely colder than usual).

And we had 2 or 3 actual snows in December! (And by actual I mean it stuck! And accumulated!)

And then there was the week between Christmas and New Year's which started a 2 week streak of highs in the teens and twenties and lows in the single digits!

That is insane!

We may get a day or two like that, but two weeks of it?! Yowser!

Very, very curious how my plants will do :-/


Suddenly those where I've pushed the envelope of zone 7 with are probably not going to be looking so hot come spring.

Of course this is also the year I decided to put some perennials in pots on the deck...and you KNOW pots raised on a 2nd story deck with intense wind aren't staying warmer like the deeper earth below! Figures.


Many of my evergreen bushes are looking real sad.

Browned and droopier than usual (they looked worse in the thick of the freeze; these were taken recently and we've had warmer temps again - up to 65! - since then).

And I have absolutely no hope for the camellias which have already struggled in their front bed locations and we just re-planted again last year and now this :-/

Looking veeeeery Charlie Brown Christmas Tree-ish :-(

One thing I know: plants are spectacularly hardy.

But this was rough; very, very rough.

Come on, spring!