Fairygirl, you have just described the weather here, for most of Jan Feb, here in S.E. Frost then Thaw, and lots of rain, but the persistant frosty period with some thawing etc, is unusual for this area last 20 years +
What I'm trying to explain @plumb, perhaps not very well, is that it isn't just frost thawing that causes it. It has to be severe frost, or even worse - ice after lots of rain, thawing, which has been the case this time. Coupled with much higher temps in between, that's what's hard for potted plants of any kind to deal with. It's normal here to have lots of that weather right through winter, but not those extreme swings that this winter has had. Usually it's a gradual change from warmer to cold from late summer, and then back again at this time of year, as I mentioned earlier. Harder if you aren't used to much colder weather through winter though, and all sorts of plants become accustomed to their conditions/temps over time, but this has been a different set of conditions, which is a bridge too far for them.
I grow phormiums, and have done for decades, and although they often get quite badly damaged, this is the first year I've lost them all, and that's because of that particular weather pattern, Many folk have lost cordylines - same reason. Sometimes these things happen with gardens/plants and there's very little we can do. Hopefully - they'll still be viable and will be fine for you next year
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I tipped some of the pots this afternoon. Most had absolutely no sign of any bulbs at all, a couple had roots at the bottom so they'd obviously made a start on growing, and one or two had a couple of very sad soggy bulbs remaining.
Even though they were up on bricks and in sheltered locations, it clearly wasn't enough this year. Fortunately the tulips seem to have come through unscathed.
All my potted new narcissi planted last autumn have come up fine except for a few pots of tete-a-tete that were on the outer edge of the top shelf of the mini-greenhouse frame that I stood them on for the winter. They produced a few shoots but they had brown tips and when I turned them out of the pots some of the bulbs were soft and soggy. Others from the same batch closer to the shed wall were fine, so I reckon it must have been wet/cold that did for them.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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It's normal here to have lots of that weather right through winter, but not those extreme swings that this winter has had. Usually it's a gradual change from warmer to cold from late summer, and then back again at this time of year, as I mentioned earlier. Harder if you aren't used to much colder weather through winter though, and all sorts of plants become accustomed to their conditions/temps over time, but this has been a different set of conditions, which is a bridge too far for them.
I grow phormiums, and have done for decades, and although they often get quite badly damaged, this is the first year I've lost them all, and that's because of that particular weather pattern, Many folk have lost cordylines - same reason.
Sometimes these things happen with gardens/plants and there's very little we can do. Hopefully - they'll still be viable and will be fine for you next year
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Even though they were up on bricks and in sheltered locations, it clearly wasn't enough this year. Fortunately the tulips seem to have come through unscathed.