If they're perennials/hardy annuals, they should be okay. What seed types are you worried about?

Mine aren't looking very good either.....I am in zone 5a, and it has been 26 degrees here at night and in my milk jugs, the lupines have started germinating, and the little leaves are brown....I even brought them in close to the house, and covered them with a sheet at night....I hope they make it....

You might lose a few sprouts, but hopefully there are still some ungerminated seeds in the containers that will sprout when it warms back up.

What did you cover the containers with? You can buy a lightweight row cover that will protect much better than a sheet. They usually cost around $10.

Bonnie

They are hardy annuals -- bachelor buttons, CA poppies, and the like. I may have thrown some perrenials in there... I'm worried because all the leaves are crunchy. This happened last year and they turned brown when they thawed out... :(

Leisa
I think Batchelor buttons and CA poppies should be all right. Last year I sowed these two in the winter and they sprouted early and withstood a frost.
It may depend on how deep the frost was.
Here we had down to 20 degrees last night. I covered the pansies (bought flowers) and the one black hollyhock that had sprouted.
The pansies are ok but unfortunately I lost the hollyhock, even covered.
I think maybe the legth of time has to do with it too. Here we've had 3 nights of the low in the '20's with more forecast, so I decided tonight I'm going to cover everything.
I use row covers - which may be what Bonnie is referring to - they are very light weight and are guaranteed down to very low temps.

I hope yours are ok!

My CA poppies, which reseed themselves abundantly every year, are the hardiest annuals out there in the fall. They are also pretty early sprouters in the Spring, but not sure the seedlings can take 26F? Hope your seedlings are okay and not a total loss.

For those of you who said you lost your seedlings due to severe cold. Did you still have them in container or they had been planted in ground? If you still had them in container, couldn't you throw a cover on top? could you save your seedlings by throwing cover to protect snow falling into containers or when the temperature is below freezing, no matter what you do if left outside they would freeze. I'm newbie and trying to understand how to protect seedlings in case the weather goes south.

Mine are still in containers. I did throw several thicknesses of bedsheets over the top, but that didn't help. It's so cold everything still froze. Not frost -- frozen solid soil/plants. But now that the sun is hitting them, some of them look ok!

I'm going to go out today and try to find some sort of cold cloth for them. The local hardware store had no idea what I was talking about. I also read somewhere -- probably on here! -- about filling containers with hot water and putting them next to plants, under cover, to let the radiant warmth keep everything warmer. Not sure if it would work...

Leisa

I am so SORRY!!

The thin platic sheeting in the paint department of most big box stores is inexpensive. You might be able to throw a plastic cover over sown seeds and add some vent holes.
Watering might be a pain but the plastic can be moved around.

Good luck!!

Some of the plants you listed I tried and killed.

Check out the link...Wall o water for tomatoes. You could do the same with bottles of water...

http://www.burpee.com/Gardening-supplies/garden-growers/wall-o-water-3-pack-prod001210.html?siteID=ifa9MCuQD7o-l.N0xj8RJgVU5UxZUBD1sw
Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: wall o water

when they call out for freezing weather, couldn't you move the containers inside the garage or house for couple of days? Usually the milk jugs or 2 liter bottles are placed in some sort of crate, so how hard it is to move them inside? I'm just trying to understand if there is any other reason not to do so.

I don't have a garage or a basement, and 3 cats... lol. That makes it difficult to bring stuff in. And I have a lot of seedlings :) But I may have to find a place tonight! I thought covering them would have been enough last night, so I didn't think to try bringing them in.

jaggudada, not house, you don't want them in where it's that warm, and not all have garages, porches or spaces to move them to. Work involved also, understand that some here have as many as 200-300 containers and not all are in crates. That's a lot of trips with a milk jug in each hand.

I have very few sprouted containers because mine are on my shaded breezeway. I just looked again this afternoon and the perennial blue flax seeds have sprouted. Nothing is showing green yet--just those white radicles coming from the seeds. Last year it warmed up really fast in early April but this year it's still freezing cold here. I'm wondering if I'll lose any once more of them sprout. I can cover them but there's no way I'm carrying almost 300 milk jugs inside the garage and then back out again--it's survival of the fittest.

Leisa, I put those thin plastic tarps (from Amazing Savins or Big Lots) over mine and they are fine. I'm zone 6b its going to be even colder tonight. I would go to HD or Lowes and get a cover there.

Can you put them in your car, or trunk? Or under roof? In a protected corner somewhere? A neighbor's garage? shed?

Karen

I didn't even think of the car! I might give that a shot. Although I have them out on my back step under several blankets and them some plastic, so that might do the trick, too.

Thanks!

Some young melianthus, billardiera and enkianthus cuttings went into my SUV that last frigid three day storm we had in late February - new growth just starting that I didn't think would make temps down to 20F. They even had a ride to the grocery store one morning that I hope they enjoyed - at least they look good today :)

Leisa,
how did your plants do?
I hope they made it.
When I got home yesterday and looked for the row covers to put over my plants, I discovered they are gone. Don't know what I did with them, must get more.
So I threw some plastic sheets over them. Hope that works. I was afraid plastic might actually transmit the cold, but glad to read some of you have used plastic and it worked.
I guess a sheet would have worked too.

Hi! MOST of the ones that froze Friday night look ok! A little angry... lol... but ok. I did lose a few things.

Last night I put a milk jug fill of hot water in the middle of the plants, then layered a double over flannel sheet, a double over cotton sheet, and then a bunch of heavy plastic. Nothing froze!!! YAY!!!

hooray! good for you. :)

mine are fine too

Yay! So glad that they pulled through for you.

yeaaaaaaaa,I was wondering how things came out for you, them little seeds are pretty tuff aren't they.

Great!

Karen

I haven't checked mine today but something funny came to my mind when Karen suggested you putting them inside the car or trunk. Can't you picture a gardener forgetting the milk jugs were in their car, being stopped by police and police seeing all those jugs and wanting to know what was in them? LOL! I know it's not funny but it is when you think of it that way.

Until I could think of a solution, I drove around with my seedlings for a couple of days when my apartment "appearance police" complained about me having a collection of "trash" (planted milk jugs) on my patio.

When it gets below freezing, I cover my containers with an old towel. Its heavy enough not to blow away. The jugs already have plastic over them as I had to cut the jug tops off and put the bottoms into gallon ziplocs because of the complaint mentioned above. Haven't lost anything yet, at least not to the cold.

If you have some unsprouted seeds, those are likely to be just fine.

For the past few nights we've had lows in the 20's and highs barely into the 30's. Not only have my sprouts survived, with no protection other than being inside their jugs, I have more sprouting. Those that have and are sprouting are perennials, if I had annuals that sprouted, I definitely would have protected them somehow, by putting them in the garage most likely. We'll be slowly warming back into the 40's and low 50's this week, and hopefully no more 20's, but I'm not counting on it. I may hold off on my annuals a wee bit longer.

Karen

Well, I'm not sure, to be scared or confident. I'm in sunny (RAINY) Florida, away from my little green babies, wondering if they will survive tonight's 25th's. However, I've decided to be confident - they will be fine. This is the only option, we are coming back the next weekend, so they have to survive.

I'm with tepelus/Karen and will hold off WS annuals based on this frigid weather. Last year at this time it was beginning to warm up unusually fast. This year winter still has an iron grip on the earth. I'd love to have spent time yesterday clearing away more winter leaves and debris but between the wind and cold, it wasn't to be. I wore multiple protective winter layers--looked like an eskimo--but the fierce wind cut right through them.

One thing you can make is a "wall of water" out of a group of water bottles or milk jugs filled with water and ring around those jugs or planted out early plants. Just take a group and duct tape them together in a ring and fill with water it does help. For extra protection of jugs on those deep freezes that love to pop up this time of year toss a old blanket or old towels over your jugs of the less cold hardy things.

Some here like to only let the most hardy survive. I grow mostly tomato seedlings and want most of them to make it. :)
ML

I was depressed that I lost 3 Black Hollyhock seeds which had sprouted, to the freeze. Then I realized woo-hoo Bakemom's seed offer was so generous, I had given half of the HH seeds to a friend and kept half, and I still had more left. Thank you Bakemom.

So yesterday I sowed more.

I definitely agree re the annuals.
I am always impatient to plant them, esp when we have an early warm spell, but have learned from experience.

I'll put them out timed so they will germinate in end of April/Early May, not before.

One of my hollyhocks just sprouted and it survived the last few cold nights in nothing but its jug. The malva also made it as did, weirdly enough, convolvulus.

I went out a little while ago, expecting a massacre. However, I don't think I lost everything from any single jug. Some look a little rough, but still kickin! I actually have more jugs sprouted than the last time I checked.

So in conclusion...nature is weird.

It's been below thirty in my yard for the past 10 days. I didn't have much that had sprouted earlier, which I was worrying about, but I did have 12 little bok choy sprouts. They are still out there, and today I have spinach sprouts. Every morning I expect to go out and see them dead. Today I decided to stop worrying about it and just fix it so I didn't have to do anything more for them. So I had some old windows and I put my containers up against the west facing foundation of the house and propped windows over them. The ends are open, but I thought it might just give them the little extra that might help through this cold spell. I actually had to water all the containers today because it was sunny and cold here yesterday.

Looks like another week of this weather on the forecast and I've planted my peas early for the first time in years, of course. [g]

I'm new to the WS forum and WS. However, I have used spruce bows to protect my early perennials in the past when we get hit with a late frost or cold snap in spring. I have applied this method to my WS containers and it seems to be working:) Hope everyone makes out well with the early spring we seem to be getting!

I Lost most of my Lupines. I made some new jugs. I'm glad I halved most of my seeds.