Trees didn't wake up.

WHOA just realized May 27th is wayy too early to write off an american beech as dead. Even in zone 7 they can still be dormant in late May. Hope you didn't toss that one yet. I don't mean to insult your knowledge at all but some trees take forever to wake up in the spring. American beech an bald cypress are brutallly late for me in 6b

I just lost a zelkova that was planted in the ground, a small one, that leafed out on only one branch this spring, and finally gave up the ghost this week.

AZbonsai said:

Agreed! No peaches or plums on my fruit trees this year! I do have apples but they are subpar. Not enough chill hours.

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I think I may get three peaches off one tree. The second doesn't look like I will get ANY. And this is mid-June!

Normally I am harvesting my peaches in mid-May, and I get about a 5-gallon Home Depot bucket from each tree!

I went through and got rid of all the dead stuff the other day, which probably comprised well more than half of the little trees in pots that I had (a lot of them seedlings). Going to need better root protection this winter. In addition, I am repotting the trees that are in "soil" into a looser medium that won't stay so wet over winter.

I'm in the "give the least amount of protection" camp. Ginkgos in the ground around here thrive, they're common landscape trees. In a pot even mulched on the ground, our winters are fatal.

Dawn redwood, junipers, Hinoki, jack pine, buxus semipervens, and crab apple all seem bullet proof. Go figure.

I prefer to have as much control over the process as possible, so I keep most of my trees in shelters that are heated with a thermostatically controlled space heater. I try to maintain a temperature no lower than 27 F for most species. Trees are in the barn or garage, up on tables and enclosed to protect them from harsh winds, mice, etc. I have heard too many horror stories about trees destroyed by mice and voles during the winter to risk leaving them outside, in mulch, etc. Plus snowfall is erratic and isn't always available to provide that additional insulation. Maybe if you live in the right area there isn't much risk leaving them outside but if I did that here, I don't think I'd have anything left come spring.

Some trees get less protection (ponderosa pine, spruce, cedar, larch) but even those are in the garage where temps rarely go below 20 F.

I'd be in @coh camp, protect everything, but my best shelter is accessed only thru the basement and involves stoopping over to get into a 42 inch high x 5 ft x 5 ft well house. Too difficult for my aged back to move all my trees. Ginkgos and cork bark JBP and a few others do get the well house, but as many as possible get left outside.

I do have my list of what needs protection, but I'm always testing to see what I can get away with.

Amelanchier seems totally immune to cold, wet or dry, it flowers every spring. Siberian elms seems equally hardy, jack pine also.

Leo in N E Illinois said:

I'd be in @coh camp, protect everything, but my best shelter is accessed only thru the basement and involves stoopping over to get into a 42 inch high x 5 ft x 5 ft well house. Too difficult for my aged back to move all my trees. Ginkgos and cork bark JBP and a few others do get the well house, but as many as possible get left outside.

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Yeah, I wouldn't be able to get too many trees into a space like that either, my back would not last. It's tough enough getting them all into winter storage up on tables.

Leo in N E Illinois said:

Amelanchier seems totally immune to cold, wet or dry, it flowers every spring. Siberian elms seems equally hardy, jack pine also.

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Don't say "amelanchier". I had one that I really liked and it up and died on me. I'm still triggered...

Yeah, I'm putting certain species like trident maple, Hokkaido elm and Japanese maple in the garage from Decemeber through February this year as it is clearly to cold to leave many little deciduous trees on the ground here. It really is strange to see these hardy trees killed like that.

I lost several cold hardy trees for the first time in a decade this past year. For me, the biggest issue, I think, was the very warm February followed by a colder then normal March and April. Trees breaking dormancy can be damaged if they freeze again, which, I suspect, was my problem here. You throw in poor soil which may lead to a weak tree entering dormancy the fall before, and you're going to have problems. Good luck going forward.