I'm still numb

I'm a member of a couple of PNW weather groups on Facebook. These people are positively giddy whenever there's a chance of snow or obscenely cold temperatures. They watch the weather models and discuss at length, talking about what "could be" long before the possibility solidifies into anything the weather media, or NOAA will publicly mention. That's how I knew something bad was brewing. Our unbelievably mild winter—I still had bougainvillea, Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira', and Brazilian tree fern looking great mid January—was coming to an ugly end.

pre-storm most of my hellebores were all budded up, about to open

The storm hit the afternoon of Friday the 12th, when strong wind through the Columbia River Gorge blew in along with arctic air from the north, temperatures quickly plunged. All told we were under 32F (freezing) for over 150 hours, with an ultimate low of 12—our high we didn't get above 20F on Saturday the 13th. Extreme cold, fierce wind, sleet, and ice all added up to horrible conditions not seen here since a storm back in 1990 (so I've read, we moved here in 2004). 

We didn't see 32F again until late on Wednesday the 17th, but that was brief because another round of freezing rain moved in that night and dropped the temperature (and more ice). As I write this on Saturday the 20th my garden is still coated in a thick, rock-hard layer of ice.

funny thing was, I'd swore I was done protecting plants after last winter's massacre

of course that resolve quickly melted when I saw just how cold it was going to be

the Pseudopanax ferox got mulch at the base, a wrap of frost cloth & a custom cover

many of my aspidistra & pyrrosia suffered cosmetic damage and in some cases death last
winter, thankfully most of them rebounded over the summertime & were looking good once
again—I took this photo as I was trying to decide what I could reasonably hope to protect

I covered a few pyrrosia, but ran out of time, materials & ideas for how to protect them all—it just wasn't possible

that's not snow, it's sleet—compact & hard—photo from before the freezing rain coated everything with an icy glaze

At one point over 200,000 people were without power in the Portland metropolitan area, several people died when they were crushed by falling trees, electrocuted, or hypothermia set in. Hundreds of trees fell all over town, on houses, fences, cars. Pipes froze and burst, A few friends who had their power stay on had unfortunate episodes where they lost power to their greenhouses. Andrew and I were very lucky and our power stayed on, and the trees surrounding us stayed upright. 

once again Andrew had been scheming on agave covers, they had to be strong enough to withstand an ice
load, which thankfully these did (photo taken pre-icing)—I never did get frost cloth over these
Agave ovatifolia though (yikes!)

the old igloos came into play again, these are so easy to secure with metal tent stakes

another new design, it keeps the frost cloth in place & keeps ice from building up on the cloth

not all the agaves got covers—again a shortage of time & materials

Of course I hauled all the containers I could into sheltered areas, and I wrapped and covered most of those I couldn't. Concerned friends shared well wishes for my tender plants, some social media acquaintances wondered if this might change the zone-pushing ways of those of us who are known for it. However when unprecedented cold settles in for days and the nasty east wind blows, it's not just the borderline hardy plants that suffer.

sarracenia are pretty darn hardy, these were left in place and should be okay

although these severe conditions are new me and these plants

iced up taboret—had I been in anything but survival mode I would have done something fun
with this, maybe ice candles

nature made pretty things though, like this pattern on the fertile fronds of Blechnum spicant

the ice needles of the NOID cholla won the prize for dangerous beauty

this is the second year in a row the buds of my edgeworthia (which were already starting to
open) were coated in ice, unfortunately this means when the flowers do open the fragrance
& vivid color will be missing, as well as the hummingbirds 

palm fronds coated in ice are very heavy

last year the weight broke the fronds at the base, resulting in sad looking palms for
several moths—it's  too early to tell if that will be the case this year

I finally started to remove plant covers on Friday the 19th, things had been undercover for more than a week. It's worth noting the only reason I was able to get out and work that day was because Andrew had a set of these spikes I was able to put on my boots, otherwise I'd have been stuck indoors. You may have heard the "socks over your shoes" for traction idea, in my experience that only works for a bit, then the ice builds up on the socks and you're in even worse shape.

friday afternoon the patio was still a solid sheet of ice, the chunks were bits I'd chipped
away to get at covered plants & the small pieces were off the ice-covered bamboo leaves

the brick (incased in a sheet of ice) was used to hold the tub in place during the windstorm,
before the ice fell & solidified everything

It was amazing to see bright green again. However I know better than to assume success. Only time will tell.

a unique pyrrosia from the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, it was treated well

this one got the wrap treatment with frost cloth & reflective insulation 
(the same material I made the Pseudopanax cover with)

a large stock tank planted with several treasures including special pyrrosia, there
were layers of burlap, frost cloth & that same insulation—seeing frost on the leaves when
I unwrapped it gave me a scare, but the color has remained healthy (fingers crossed)

Pyrrosia sheareri in that same tank

both stock tanks and the fern table were wrapped

Last winter was so demoralizing, there was so much plant death. Several evergreens dropped all their leaves and looked dead, but finally flushed out with new growth late in the spring. Slow growers like aspidistra (cast iron plant) and pyrrosia lost so many of their leaves their impact in the garden was greatly reduced, I fear it will be worse this year.

Aspidistra elatior, not covered and already showing signs of damage

for a moment I was confused, where did this ice agave leaf come from? then I realized it
was from the aspidistra—ha!

burnt Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress' foliage 

goth Grevillea rivularis (the foliage is usually green, not black), will it rebound? I doubt it

the life has been blown out of this Eryngium proteiflorum, it may come back from the roots?

two versions of Feijoa sellowiana (pineapple guava) foliage damage—this one died back to the
ground last year & resprouted, only to be hit again 

this one has always been the tougher of the two, that brown burnt foliage is already dropping

burnt Mahonia gracilipes foliage

As I said in the title of this post, I'm still numb—and not just from the cold. It's exhausting to be on edge for six days (what's the temperature now? did they change the forecast? the lights just flickered, will the power stay on? keep the devices charged in case! don't let the kitchen pipes freeze! is the heater in the greenhouse still working? I was up several times through the night, every night, checking on that last one), our region has been rocked hard. The severity of this storm, and it's overall length is like nothing my garden has experienced. Fingers crossed there will be more happy surprises than bad.

Aristaloe aristata, after I removed the covers—they're still green and solid!

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