Q.I Bought 10 Summer Snow Hemlocks And Havent Planted Them And Pots, Ground Has Just Frozen..
I put all these hemlocks (aprox. 3 ft tall) into non-heated shed, covering with canvas (but not touching plants). Im located in zone 4B, outside of the twin cities, day temp is 30, night temp low 20’s. Plants look fine,but are frozen in store bought pots (3 gal). I can still break thru first couple inches of ground soil to plant and have worm casings,hollytone, clay pellets (very sandy soil) and insecticide which supposed to protect from known bugs their first year. I’ve backfilled with topsoil and compost after just finishing 3 tiered retaining wall and they were to be planted between top and middle tiers that are 16 ft apart. Ive removed dozens of very large Buckthorn and planned to plant them 5′ apart on west side for privacy screen. Do I thaw them (warm water, bring inside house and then plant, put them inside for the winter near window. Please let me know if there’s some way of saving them? Thanks for your time, Matt N.
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
They can survive down to zone 3, and are very cold hardy. They will not tolerate a planting at this time, though. This needs to be done in spring or early summer. Caring for them, in container, and covering on the colder nights will be your best bet through winter. Just be sure that they do not dry out. This will kill them, certainly.
Here are some articles that will help you to care for them until spring:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/hemlock/canadian-hemlock-care.htm
