School is closed Monday , travel is consider dangerous , and Minnesota gardeners are await out at their shrubs , trees and perennials and wondering , “ Can my plant live on this tiptop - cold charm ? ”
The brusque solution is : Many will do just ticket . Some not - so - much , and which is which bet on several factors .
First , are they adapted to the cold?Plants that are audacious to USDA Zone 4a can survive atmosphere temperatures as low as minus-30 level F. Those rated for zone 3a ( now just the top third of Minnesota is zone 3b or 3a ) can plow temps down to minus-40 and grow fine next spring . Fortunately , wind chillis not an issue for plants ( only warm - full-blood creatures such as dogs and humans feel that . ) So , those scary , scary numbers you see the weather phratry putting out will not hurt your plant — just you .
From a plant’s perspective, the more snow, the better.
secondly , are they protected?Many gardeners know there is a smirch in their landscape painting that ’s just a bit warmer than the rest of the yard — maybe it ’s a corner on the south side with walls or shrubs around it . These micro - climates can be much warmer than the ease of the landscape and are often a ripe place to put marginally brave plants . There ’s a reason you see Nipponese maples ( definitely a zone 5 tree diagram ) in courtyards near the front doorway or other protect spots . Snowis also a constituent . In fact , snow is agreat insulator . The clean C that falls in very insensate temperatures has a high share of air in it ( sometimesup to 90 percent ) , which prevent the temperature at basis level , where your plant are , warmer . Many gardenersadd mulches , like straw or leave of absence , after the soil freezes to increase insulation .
Finally , what is the health of the plants ? This preceding summertime , I divided a bunch of hostas and found them in a fresh garden . They were mulched with leaf this fall , and they have some snow on them — my guess , 3 to 5 inches . But in a few spots the leaves ball up off and the snow cover is less . Plants that are just getting found or are stressed in some other agency ( disease , crowd , root damage ) are more potential to be damaged or killed by the cold .
From a flora ’s linear perspective , cold in January is not nearly as speculative as unexpected low temperature in springiness . Many Minnesotans remember our remarkably other spring in 2012 , followed inevitably by a frost , whichseriously damaged apple cropsas well as garden plants all over the state .
For more information on cold and plant life , agree out this issue ontrees and shrubsfrom the University of Minnesota Extension .
