We came so close to escaping winter this year. Sure, our weather had been cool the last few weeks, overnight lows in my garden in the mid to upper 20’s, the days “warming” to the mid 40’s. Nothing like the destruction of the last two winters though. Zone 9 plants were still unscathed, ferns that normally need to be cut back each spring still looked fresh.
Then—in those online weather groups I monitor—talk of cold began. One regular poster really got my attention when he said something about how rare it is to see Portland and Spokane (my home town) with the same temperatures forecast. WHAT!? Spokane gets cold, as in negative numbers. That would be catastrophic. Thankfully that didn't happen. What did happen though were temperatures that stayed below freezing for roughly 38 hours and a low of 24. That’s why all the containers I could move were in the shade pavilion greenhouse, there’s no way I wanted to risk them freezing solid.

Space was at such a premium by Wednesday afternoon that I started stacking pots…
These next few photos are from mid-morning last Thursday (the 13th), after the first round of snow came though. This one was taken from inside the house, in fact I gave up trying to get the screen back in the window after snapping this shot because the snow was blowing in the window and my fingers were frozen.
When it came to the in-ground plants I didn’t protect much, just a few things like my patch of Aloe aristata (Aristaloe aristata). They were covered in frost cloth and then a sheet of reflective insulation for good measure.
Adiantum venustum
I left
the ferns planted in the palm trunk to fend for themselves. It's not a true experiment if you interfere.
Ditto for most of the in-ground agaves, no protection (I only protected two).
Fast forward now to Friday the 14th, around 11am, when the event was officially over and temperatures finally rose above 32F. The snow depth here varied between 2” and 4” depending on where you measured, due to the wicked east wind blowing. The official total for the area was 3". Thankfully there was only a brief period of freezing rain, sandwiched between snowfalls. For those who get excited about such things this keeps our streak alive, Portland has experienced 10 years in a row with measurable snowfall.
Even I have to admit agaves buried in the snow are very photogenic.
Here’s something I would have protected if I’d thought of it, those fuzzy fronds are Pleopeltis lepidopteris 'Morro dos Conventos'. It’s supposed to be hardy to 10F though, so it should be fine.
Looking out the kitchen windows the bright yellow of this Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard'Color was a welcome sight.
Ditto for the Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold'…
And the bright pink Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths' blooms. Storms like this can destroy these blooms if the ice or wind is too much for them. I'm so glad these are still looking good.
Here’s a look at what I protected in the front garden. This is the same shot I shared above, the 4th photo down, just taken about 22 hours later.
And after I pulled off the covers. These little Aloe aristata are tough, but I didn't want to risk their turning to mush.
These containers are usually placed along the house sidewalk, near the front door. I didn't want to shlep them all the way around to the back to the shade pavilion greenhouse, so I tucked them up against the house and covered them.
Here's one of the agaves I protected, A. parryi ssp. huachucensis 'Excelsior'.
And here's the other, there's a terracotta pot and frost cloth under that snow...
Agave 'Blue Glow', the cold/wet may still prove to be too much for it, but I had to try.
Let's take a look at the back garden now...
What have we there? Damn rabbit!
I like this shot. The
planted up terracotta bowls were moved into the shade pavilion, which left the flat platforms open to hold snow.
I will survive! Actually this strongly variegated aspidistra was a solid performer though last winter's nightmare, so I'm sure it will be just fine.
The palm ferns are still looking good.
I'm sure the asplenium trichomanes won't miss a beat.
Hopefully the pyrrosia will be just as tough.
There's another pyrrosia experiment going on in the garden, one I don't think I've written about here. I planted a P. lingua on a chunk of Paulownia tomentosa trunk from our tree (we lowered it's pollarding point last year). It had the perfect "crotch" (sorry, couldn't come up with a better term) to plant. Pyrrosia naturally grow epiphytically on trees so I thought I'd see if I could recreate that here. Of course below freezing temperatures might prove to be too much for it. We shall see.
Speaking of pyrrosia, the back of this P. lingua 'Kei Kan' looked fetching with the white snow backdrop.
Looking at this patch of Aspidistra elatior gave me the shivers, and not because I was cold. No, I was remembering how bad it looked after last winter. It's made such a comeback. I don't think this wintery event will do any damage (unless a leaf or two broke under the weight).
The Stachyurus salicifolius buds are still a couple months from bursting open, after last year's storm most of them dropped. I have hope for a much better show this year.
I don't hold out much hope for this agave though (which I bought without ID, but at one point I knew what it was). We shall see.
I have three of these clear plastic bins, and put all of them to work along with frost cloth. Two protected rare-ish pyrrosia...
...and the third went over this (also kinda rare) Rhododendron cardiobasis. This is it's first winter in the ground and I didn't want to risk loosing any of those big leaves.
The fern table and low stock tank were left open, but I did wrap a little frost cloth over a few things in the large stock tank.
That's a wrap on this storm!
To receive alerts of new
danger garden posts by email,
subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control.
All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Great reporting on your many precautions and why and how and who gets protected. I have a feeling my stock tank beschorneria is mush...
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed that's not the case! I felt like my precautions were few, it was nice to get off easy.
DeleteYour garden is indeed photogenic covered in snow but I'm sorry you didn't manage to avoid it this year. I hope the melt reveals a mostly unscathed garden.
ReplyDeleteI think everything will be fine. I'm glad I moved the containers though, as you just never know.
DeleteGrrrr, these photos stress me out. They're beautiful for sure, but all I can think of is the potential damage. Fingers crossed for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gerhard, this was a "winter lite" event. I think everything will be okay.
DeleteAgaves seem to rise out of the snow with their sharp tip in a unique way no other plant seems to capture. It’s hard to describe. This storm made me feel lucky to live here, because finally were going to have a growing season with the overwintering plants alive (mostly), and we’ll be able to show off the great variety Portland can show. All in all, a great winter! I always appreciate your snow photos. It’s like the ongoing textures of your garden shows off even more in rough conditions! You keep on inspiring, Loree! Finally, the three aloeiampelos striatulas you gifted last spring sailed through! Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteJim N Tabor
That's great news the Aloeiampelos striatula are doing well, I am glad!
DeleteI was staring at those markings in the snow, trying unsuccessfully to make sense of them, then I saw your 'Damn rabbit!' comment. I chuckled... it's a good photo though!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you did an excellent job of preparation and took every precaution to protect tender plants. I expect some pots will come back out of the greenhouse now? The 10 day forecast shows a welcoming warming trend; I'm starting to see this winter in the rear view mirror.
Chavli
Yes all the pots that were moved in for this event are back out, spring ahead!
DeleteWow, the photos are beautiful. Spikey things look good gorgeous with or without snow on them. It must have been nice to take the covers off, and see the plants looking like they took it all in stride. The bins were a fantastic idea. You filled the pavilion to the brink!
ReplyDeleteThe bins were an Andrew purchase last year. He LOVES plastic storage bins so this was a purchase for the garden and him at the same time.
DeleteI was also hoping for a continued mild wet winter this year. I didn't protect as much this year- never got the pop up seasonal tent put up, oops- some projects are using my tent ground space. (I do have a greenhouse and some stuff ended up in the garage again- the pop up tent was supposed to take care of that) I used some plastic cloche tents on a couple of things. I've been carefully watching the overnight lows. I try to avoid z9 plants so I've been not that worried with the temps in the 20's. Welp, I got one night at 18, yikes! -I didn't know it got that cold until the next morning, was not expected to be that low. So far- this could change- except for one previously lovely fern and some things in hanging baskets that are easily replaced (hardiness test, basically) things aren't looking too bad. (whew!) I didn't get much (if any) freezing rain or quite as much snow as you did, though. I'm thinking our fairly long stretch of cold nights before the snow helped as they were already cold adapted this time. Still, the "did it die" watch cycle has started again-not my favorite! I really hope this is it for this winter!
ReplyDeletelooking good grateful for the lack of freezing rain.
ReplyDelete