A model for coordination of stresses that limit winterhardiness in plants based on the thermodynamic equilibrated state of freezing and melting provides a rational basis for distinction of freeze-induced energies which can stress and injure living organisms in various ways. The departure from equilibrium, other than the energy required for maintenance of the steady state, is the free energy of freeze stress when defined by forces that interfere with essential function or disrupt essential structure in plant tissue. Published by Elsevier B.V.