Well, on the way out to walk the dog, I started lifting up some tubs and towels to let things have sun and see what survived. I’ll go out again later and see about the kohlrabi and one cabbage as the chef wants them for dinner. Any feedback on whether to trim back the damaged perennials (irises, garlic, rosemary) would be appreciated!
The saffron leaves seem intact. Strawberries with the saffron seem okay too! These were all under a towel and a tub. The cilantro was under a tub. It died. The leaves of cilantro in the cactus planter also died, but there appeared to be some live bright green at the base. We’ll see if it grows back. This native plant rosette (I think Gaillardia?) seems fine and i didn’t cover it or its neighbors at all. It had more snow on it during the coldest cold. The oregano in the herb bed by the plant window looks a little worse for the wear. It had two plastic tubs over it. Some leaves look damaged but some seem maybe okay. Both the front and backyard faucets and pipes seem to have survived!!! That’s a relief. I opened both slightly for a few minutes, just in case to clear any bits of ice out, but it was all liquid coming out that I could see or hear. Whew! Front yard strawberries seem overall okay on the northwest side. These had towels and tubs in the center, and just towels around the planter base. Even the un-toweled leaves seem okay so far. Other parts of the bed had an aluminum trash can lid and leaves over them. I’m feeling pretty optimistic. The irises by the mailbox got frozen. Anybody know if I should trim them back or just let them regrow on their own? Most of the rosemary is now a very dead looking brown-green, but at the base of at least one there is still life (the brighter green branches) so I hope they can all grow back. Presumably insulation from snow helped the base. Like the irises, the garlic is very unhappy. I hope they too will grow back from their roots.
This is in the right spot to be one of three bare root Canadian anemone plants I got from Prairie Moon Nursery last fall. Fingers crossed! I’m trying to fill in the bare ground in the backyard to keep out invasives like the non native species of wild geranium that is everywhere in our yard.
