What’s been killed by the frost for you?

I’m devastated by this cold weather we’ve had. It’s my first year of gardening and despite a fleece I think my fuschias are dead. My green chilli plant and two small dahlias have been killed also and maybe more I’ve not seen yet.

 

It happens every year to us all, first frost all the tender stuff either dies or looks dead, Fuchsia are often ok if you can either take in now until spring, or if in the ground mulch it over. Likewise Dahlias.
Chillis are probably not worth keeping.

I have loads of stuff that I either bring into the garage or protect outside, some is looking pretty sick just now but most of it survives.

 

Nothing yet, the wind has done more damage than the frost.
@Donna Crossman where in the UK are you?
Fuchsias it depends on the variety some are hardy and will reshoot next spring, others are not at all hardy and need to be in a frost free greenhouse or similar.
Dahlias; the tops might be dead, but the tubers are most likely still alive in the ground. Depending on how wet the soil gets and how voracious your slugs are. If your dahlias are in heavy soil or you are in a particularly cold or wet area they would probably be better off lifted, the tops cut off about 4 inches (10 cm) from the base, the tubers cleaned and dried off and then kept frost free before replanting in spring. They will be happy wrapped in newspaper in a frost free shed or garage over winter. If you are in a relatively mild area and they are planted in free draining soil then you can leave them with a mulch of leaves or spent compost over the top. In spring just go on regular slug and snail hunts to allow the shoots to come through.

 

The larger- leaved types of salvias and the dahlias have been frosted the last couple of nights, so the foliage is completely black and limp. I will leave the dead stems in place until spring, when they'll most likely regrow from ground level, although there may be no sign of them until May if it's a cold spring. There's always a touch of jeopardy - will they, won't they? but it's far too soon to give up on them.
The fuchsias are looking a bit sorry for themselves too but mine are all hardy varieties so they're probably not dead. They (and the small-leaved salvias) usually die back to some extent from the top over winter but I leave most of the bare twigs on until the new growth starts in spring, then cut them down to (or below) where the new growth is appearing. After a hard winter the new growth will appear quite low down, but after a milder one there can be very little dieback and they'll start into growth all over, in which case they need cutting back to avoid them getting too big.

 

I think you're up here @Donna Crossman if I remember correctly. Dahlias will always struggle if left in the ground, especially in the west, so you need to follow what @NigelJ has described to ensure their survival. It may not be too late, so worth digging up and checking. If they're rotten, it's no use, and you'd need to grow from seed for next year, or buy fresh tubers when they're available.
I grow mine in pots, and a couple of more mature ones were fine with the milder frosts, until the minus 5s etc last week, so those two have been cut back, protected, and tucked away in a sheltered spot - if they don't manage, I'm not too bothered. The recent dry weather meant that the soil was pretty dry as rain couldn't get through the foliage, and that's what matters. The other were done a couple of weeks ago and are in a container in the shed. With lighter, sandier soil, and in a drier area, it's easier to leave them in situ, with just some top protection.

As Nigel says, fuchsias come in several different types, and only the woody ones are reliably hardy, so again - the method of protection depends on what they are, and the location etc. Chillies need to be warm, so they need to be in a greenhouse up here. Most people I know that grow them, grow fresh every year though.

 

To those folk who have just started gardening and while we are having some pretty brutal weather I thought I would make a couple of observations from someone who has been gardening for more years than I care to remember and made every mistake known to man!
Firstly, please be aware that garden centres, on line plant sellers and worse super markets are in the business of selling plants so it is not in their interest to sell plants which will thrive for years and years.
Rather than impulse buy try to do a bit of homework before buying. The internet is quite good for information but I tend to err on the side of caution when a plant is described as hardy…..how hardy?!
When doing your homework, try and discover where the plant originated from. This will give you a good idea as to how tough the plant or its relatives are.
Have a look at mature gardens in your area, this will give you a very good idea of what enjoys your area. We would all like to grow extremely exotic plants but in reality a really healthy looking hardy plant looks much better than an exotic which looks like it will die any minute.
Lastly I was given some very good advice by a wonderful gardener many moons ago. “ Spend 3 times the amount of time money and effort on soil preparation in comparison to the actual plants”.
If you work on getting your soil into good health then the chances of having great plants is considerably higher even if the weather is terrible. Badly draining soil kills more plants than the cold.

 

All of what @hailbopp said is great advice.
I would only add, get to know your soil. If it's sandy and free-draining you can sometimes get away with more than if you have soil that gets waterlogged and boggy. I leave my dahlias in the ground and normally get away with it (famous last words, perhaps!) whereas people with a similar climate but with heavy clay soil that gets waterlogged, or just a very high water table, wouldn't.

The weather we had this week wasn't exceptionally cold, so anything that really is dead (not just the top growth killed back) isn't what I would call hardy.

Having said that, it's fine to buy tender or less-hardy plants for summer display if you want to (the garden centres will love you!) but go into it with your eyes open - they are temporary, or at best need to be brought under cover for the winter. For some things even a greenhouse isn't enough unless it's heated.

 

Good tips; also have a little wander around your neighbourhood and see what's growing well in other peoples' gardens.

 

The RHS gives individual ratings of hardiness for most plants, but how a plant copes will also depend on location, climate, soil type, plant health and age. I avoid growing anything that is less than hardiness rating 3 here, apart from annuals and a tree fern which I protect when the temperature approaches zero. This guide is useful:

rhs-hardiness-rating

 

That's what I always think @hailbopp - it's about the prep as much as, or even more than, the plant costs. It's false economy to buy plants without doing the basic prep, and the aftercare is also important. I agree that many outlets sell plants which won't do well, but many people don't realise that, and it means more plants will be replaced because of it, which benefits the seller.
Wet, cold soil, especially clay, is hard to deal with because you need to amend it to get the best from it, and give plants a good chance of thriving. If you do that, it'll pay dividends. Even then, yes- you have to pick and choose, and when I started gardening, all the info and especially TV programmes, seemed to think we all lived in the south of England.
I learned the hard way that you have to work with what you have, and although we can experiment, it doesn't always work because it's also about the length of time soil and temps stay cold/wet, or hot/dry, which is also something that gets forgotten, and there's only so much you can do.
East and west have very different climates, as well as north to south, so if you have clay, and are in the west, it's less likely to crack, as it doesn't dry out readily, but that's where it can be more of a problem than in the east, as it also stays wetter for longer, and doesn't warm up so quickly after winter. With sandy soil, like @JennyJB has, and with drier climates, you have to be sure that the soil's retaining that moisture well enough for many plants, but it's also easier to grow plants which like those drier, free draining conditions. For both - you can't beat that organic matter as it improves both types.
There's no doubt things are changing re climate, but how rapidly it affects your garden will also depend on what you already have, and how well established it is.Those aforementioned hardiness ratings are always just a general guide as to what will thrive or not, because it's only one factor.

 

It also pays to keep an eye on forecasts for your area @Donna Crossman.

We don't get many frosts here and they don't endure long but on Wednesday afternoon I went out in full force gales to carry pots of fuchsias and sage to the polytunnel because a "feels like" -7C was forecast. It's been cold, wet and windy since so I haven't been down to check all the other plants in my "nursery" but I rather think the dahlias will now be blackened.

I don't lift them but we do mulch them to protect the tubers. last winter and spring were so we that, even here, I lost quite a few dahlias and they were all very late to start into growth but the survivors ended up being bonny.

 

Thank you all for wonderful advice
I have lifted my larger dahlias these were two little miniatures I forgot about sadly.
I’m not naive and I know I will lose things but it helps enormously having advice from seasoned gardeners

 

Don’t give up on the ones you forgot about. Lift them if not done so already, try and get off as much soil as you can without damaging the corms. Cut the stems down to about 6 inches and store them upside down in a frost free place until they dry out then taking off the dry soil if any. Stick them in a box with or without newspaper. I store mine in polystyrene boxes with no covering to let the air at them. Check the corms in about 2 months, if they are firm then they should be ok to plant out again next season. If mushy then bin I am afraid. My method seems to work as I have the descendants of some varieties I bought over 30 years ago!

 

I agree with @hailbopp - just get them out and check them, and then follow that process. If they're small, it's easier to store them, so that's an advantage.
The biggest problem I have is getting them dried well enough to store. If there's too much dampness around them, it can transfer back to the tubers.

 

No frosts down here yet but the hail, sleet and excessive rain has battered a lot of soft leaved plants.