No doubt, trouble lurks in the weeks ahead. The very mild winter has hurried flowering along weeks early for many plants, and for most there’s little reason to be concerned if and when temperatures drop low into the twenties as they almost certainly will sometime and perhaps several times over the next month. Most early bloomers are built to tolerate cold, so no damage is expected, but there are exceptions.

Today, the camellias (Camellia japonica, above and below) are glorious, but overnight all could turn to brown mush if temperatures fall to the mid twenties (Fahrenheit). Never fear, more buds are swelling, so another round of flowers will quickly follow, and this goes on for the next several weeks until there are no more buds to open. Certainly, the threat of freeze will outlast the camellias, but this is a part of growing spring flowering types, and the few disappointments are hardly a bother. 

More susceptible to freeze are the early flowering magnolias. A handful will flower from the first week through the end of March, and all might suffer from the slightest freeze. If there’s a worry, in this garden the early blooming ‘Merrill’ (buds ready to open, below) and ‘Royal Star’ are frequently damaged, and always I hope for several days, and if I’m lucky a week of flowers before they’re ruined. While camellias might brown along the edges, it seems it’s all or nothing for the magnolias.

Particularly disappointing, damage to the later, yellow flowered ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Yellow Bird’ seems too regular, though both flower a few weeks into March when severe freezes become more unlikely. Prominently placed in the front  garden, the huge ‘Elizabeth’ makes a show, good or bad, and when it gets hit by cold it’s a sad sight.

But, it is only flowers that are damaged, and there’s nothing’s to be done about it. I don’t even consider covering anything, and if I did, a frost cloth gives only a few degrees of protection. Occasionally, all the magnolias will sail through, but more often, one of the other is damaged. With a long period of flowering through the month when winter transitions to spring, there’s rarely a year that camellias don’t suffer a time or two. So what. I wouldn’t be without.