The late spring frost

Ain't fittin, ain't fittin, just ain't fittin!!!

I have been growing here at Blackrock for around thirty years. That's a pretty long time I think.
I have NEVER seen damage like the frost on Monday night did to our plants.
It did not just do damage to the things that we have gotten in at the farm to sell but to trees and perennials that are in the ground!
We knew enough to cover all the new stuff. Plants that might have come from a warmer climate, like our beautiful Japanese Maples, we covered with huge pieces of plastic. The few perennials that we got in that we weren't sure of, we covered. But the things that had been out all winter we did not. How could we? No way that we can cover the whole farm!
We covered all the topiary that was too big to carry back into the already stuffed greenhouses. But plants that had been outside all winter and things that were in the gardens we left alone.

And so....the two Cladestris (yellow wood) that I carefully planted to create shade where the old Elm that we had to take down because of Dutch Elm disease was, had just leafed out. Their leaves are totally shriveled and gone. All the Magnolias that had sent out there new leaves are a mess. The ferns and hostas that were coming up in the gardens are wilted and brown.
Ferns....dead? These are ferns that had been in the garden for years.
I really can't tell you if they will come back. I have never cut back a fern in spring.
The only thing that I can say if that we will learn from this. I think that it is just that the plants had not hardened off yet in a natural way. No frosts for over a month and they all just came out and never got strong. It will be interesting to see what flushes out again and what can't quite manage. We will feed gently with compost and prune and hope for the best.
I knew that I was nervous about this spring. Easter with it's hot weather and dry winds held a bit of fear for me. I like it when things are normal. I don't like an early spring, or a really open winter with no snow or a rainy, rainy, summer. I am more content when it is 5 degrees in February like it should be and April is rainy and cold and May has it's cold nights and warm days.
I don't like to be tricked.
Apparently, neither do the plants.