It's always a tough call. I have a row cover over my veggie bed, but everything else I will just leave to the elements and see what happens.

Three days of cold is going to be pretty harsh, so I'm going to cover a few things.

I don't have any veggies in yet, but I'm worried about my daffodils. They have buds and I have a hunch I'm going to lose a lot of flowers this year. Every year there always seems to be a cold snap when they have buds. Some years it's only a couple of nights, but now it looks like at least 4 nights of temps in the 20's. :(

Kat

Yup here too. Looks like the weekend lows might even be in the mid-teens! Most of my daffodils and tulips looked pretty rough this morning. :-(
Marylu

Did anyone covering something and then find out that the wind had other plans? This morning i woke up to a missing sheet! and some garbage.

Six inches of wet heavy snow up north. Very cold in teens here last night. Nice sun today.

My row cover is still in place, but a bit tattered by the wind. Will need to replace it if I want it to keep bugs away later on.

Spring bulbs at my place haven't bloomed yet, but some have buds. They look like they would be OK if the weather warms up soon, but who knows what will happen by the time it's over.

While it would have provided some nice insulation I don't know if I could psychologically stand the snow balsam girl got. I am so ready for winter to go away.

Have lots of daffs blooming early this year, because of the record warm days a couple of weeks ago. As the temps chilled down, the daffs still held their heads high, as if to laugh at the cold. But what did them in was the damaging wind we've had the last couple of days. This happens every year though. Even if the temps are mild, we always get a couple days of high winds that tatters them. I should have picked some for a bouquet, but hindsight is always 20/20. Oh well, I have later daffs coming.

Hope everyone enjoys the holiday, and Spring break for those of you who have a few days off work. (I do, and I need to get out and pull weeds!)

Julie

Well, the daffs are flattened but the roses seem to be ok so far. I piled pine straw on them to protect the new leaves. Our yard's full of windblown trash too which my Collie pup has been entertaining himself by chasing around.
Glad we didn't get more than flurries for snow, but I'm ready for warmer temps again now, thanks.
Karen

I saw a few flurries Thursday also. I've seen several homes that have daffs blooming, but the ones that are not sheltered by anything are just drooping. So sad. Mine still haven't opened yet. Normally they don't start blooming til the last week in April. Looks like we're going to have the lows in the 20s thru Sunday night.
Maybe I'll win the lottery and move to Hawaii. Maybe pigs will fly. LOL!!

Kat

Last night was down to 10 F. The snow is hardly melting at all. I don't know where Al Gore gets that Global Warming stuff. In the past 2 years I have had early frosts. In August in 2005 and early Sept. in 2006. If there's already effects of Global Warming we're not seeing them here. In fact, I have some ice and snow I'll gladly donate to the polar bears suffering in the arctic!

So far I am getting lucky. I don't have any daffodils, but the ones at the office all seemed fine yesterday.

My tulips haven't opened yet, but they are toughing it out. I even have some day lillies (or maybe asian lilies, i can't tell yet as I interplanted them) poking out of the ground and they appear to be handling the weather too. I wasn't aware they came up so early.

Just hope they hang on.

So, a lot of people have the impression that global warming means a few degrees warmer which could be great for us gardening in Wisconsin. Unfortunately it is more associated with extremes of temperature in either direction. The melting glaciers dilute the salinity of the oceans and alter ocean currents, and the oceans warm, both of which in turn changes prevailing winds which (i.e. the jet stream) have a profound influence on our weather either way. I felt nervous about the week we had in March in the 60s-70s and I feel equally nervous about this lasting shot of very cold air. As gardeners I'm sure we will rise to the challenge though.

I really wish that they had called this problem something other than global warming although technically that is what it is. It means more than your area is a few degrees warmer than usual from what I understand. For one thing it isn't just outside your back door ... it's, well global. I think it means unstable weather and I don't know how plants are going to cope. I don't know if I've seen a cold spell this late in the season that is as severe and long after an extremely warm spell that got things growing.

With globel warming, I've heard that the dry areas like in the sw part of our country (and other dry areas around the world) will get dryer, and wetter areas will get more rain. Unstable temps and weather are another thing that happens. But we also have a mild El Nino that's been going on that has affected the weather patterns too. I remember a Spring not that many years ago where I couldn't plant my tender plants until mid June. We had such a cold Spring that year, down into the mid 30's in early June. Hopefull we'll be warming up soon.
I just saw they had snow in the northern part of Georgia. They're worried about their blueberry crops because the night time lows are going to be in the 20s for a few nights. I guess that arctic air is really sweeping down low this time.

Kat

What we need are really big fans.

When it is winter time, the fans blow in air from the north and when it is summer they blow in air from the south.

Nature is too fickle to rely upon, what we need are big fans in space taking care of business.

^semi sarcasm

That's an idea. It's along the same lines as mirrors in space to deflect some of the sunlight, or a diatomaceous earth cloud around the Arctic.

If you want to read more...
http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=18175

I don't see anything going wrong with either idea.

(total sarcasm)

It's snowing... can I plant my snow peas now? ;-)

Heehee, zeedman!

We got about 4" of snow, temps around 10F, and wind. Here I was excited about having 8 different species up from WS on the picnic table on my deck, and thought I'd lose them for sure. Well, I checked 'em last night, and the little nippers look just fine! Go figure...

Garden's still too wet to work in, but the doggy doo is picked up and most the flowerbeds are raked out. Last night was so pleasant and sunny after work that I was able to prune the raspberries. Yahoo!

Don't despair--this IS Wisconsin, after all. Spring will come, never fear.

May as well have a 'Pollyanna' attitude, right?

Constance.

"Spring will come, never fear."

Apparently, not before yet another Winter Storm Watch. You'd think this was December... come to think of it, December was more like April. Go figure.

It's 6:37 here on Wednesday...no snow yet..but forecast is for 8 to 10 inches....we'll see.

Dave
Franklin

7:19 and the snow has started...DAMN!

Dave
Franklin

This sucks. ;-(

Wow,
April 11th and I had to dig out the kids snow pants and boots. This does suck But at least the roads are ok here ..... so far :(

Last night the weatherman said our heaviest snowfall wouldn't start until afternoon rush-hour. Looking out the window, strong winds are blowing heavy snow sideways! The dog won't go out unless I give her a gentle push. Down here in Racine county, we're only supposed to get 2-4". I hate to see what this afternoon is going to look like. Good luck to all of you in Milwaukee & north of there!

It will interesting to see the outcome of my perennials that have already sent up a foot of growth.

Julie

Well, let's see... the daffs, crocuses, hellebores, anemones, scilla that were all blooming are now under about 6" of snow. I can barely see the tops of the tulips that were about to bloom.
The irises are still above the snow line, and I'm not worried about the tips of hostas and peonies that are now buried (I think the cold weather last week hurt those more than the snow). I wonder how this cold/snow will effect the spring blooming shrubs...forsythia and spirea, and the columbine, bleeding hearts and other perennials that were just starting to show true leaves.

They say the snow will be south of us up here in the 'Snow Belt'--hope so, unless it gets real cold. Then I'd rather have that insulation.

On a happier note, my WS seeds that were up before the storms last week are still green out there on my deck--these are what's up:

'Yellow Harmony' dianthus
'Black Ball' cornflower
'Blood Red' wallflower
'Newport Pink' sweet William
heirloom centaurea
night scented stock (!)
verbena 'Violette'

Isn't that wild? Anyone else having similar experiences?

Constance.

I had Catananche caerulea that were coming up so far from my winter sowing. They survived the first snow, but not sure they will survive today's snow. This is what my winter sowing stuff looks like today:

Well, in Oak Creek, the southern edge of Milw. cty, we didn't get it really bad. There is some drifting though. The streets weren't bad at all when I went to work (2pm) and when I came home (11pm). What has hurt some of my plants more was the cold and wind we had last week. The buds on my daffs are slowly turning brown. My other perennials came out ok though. Looks like Friday's weather should melt a lot of the snow. A high of 46 is expected then. I just hope after Thursday the snow is over with.

Kat

I understand more is forecast for this weekend.but then mid 60's by Sunday. We will see. :)

Dave
Franklin

Really? Sixties by Sunday? Actually even Friday sounds nice about now ... please let winter be over! I'm about two weeks behind in hardening off plants and every window sill plus all the grow lights are full. Margo, my WS containers look exactly as yours do ... just checked them on Monday and had echinacea, verbascum, hollyhocks, lettuce, gaillardia, cup plant, and aquilegia germinating.

After the blizzard, my Donkeytail Spurge came through unscathed.

Julie

If this is Global Warming I'd hate to see Global Cooling.