Even the lemon balm doesn't seem to be coming back much and that was practically a weed on my property. I didn't think anything could kill it. I've never seen anything like it, but then I wasn't much of a gardener back in the 70's when we were having winters like this.
If I had realized, I could have started some of this, lavender, sage, thyme, etc, from seed to replace, but back when I would have needed to start that kind of stuff it was still winter and I hadn't realized all this stuff wouldn't be coming back.
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rainbowgardener
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rainbowgardener
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My beautiful redbud tree that I grew from a baby and is now about 12 x 12, didn't die, but it did get damaged. It looks like close to half the branches are dead. It will need a lot of pruning. Fortunately since it has been mature, it's been putting off lots of babies. Soon my property will be full of redbud!
In the meantime, I did harvest a bunch of the flowers, which are currently steeping, on their way to becoming redbud flower jelly!
In the meantime, I did harvest a bunch of the flowers, which are currently steeping, on their way to becoming redbud flower jelly!
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Ohio Tiller
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I am pleased to announce my Japanese maple I planted early last year has started to bud out so it looks like it made it through.
But the biggest surprise was my big goldfish that I have living in my tiny little pond that I knew had frozen to the bottom is some how still alive and well he came out sunning himself yesterday I was shocked to see him. The pond is only maybe 2 foot deep and we had ice on the lakes just about 30 inches. I ran and got him some pellets and he came over and started eating like crazy.
But the biggest surprise was my big goldfish that I have living in my tiny little pond that I knew had frozen to the bottom is some how still alive and well he came out sunning himself yesterday I was shocked to see him. The pond is only maybe 2 foot deep and we had ice on the lakes just about 30 inches. I ran and got him some pellets and he came over and started eating like crazy.
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applestar
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Oooh! I forgot you can eat the flowers! My two trees are just starting to show pink. Actually, the one in the full sun front yard is probably at its prettiest while the back yard one in semi-shade is just starting.rainbowgardener wrote:In the meantime, I did harvest a bunch of the flowers, which are currently steeping, on their way to becoming redbud flower jelly!
So what do you do with them?
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rainbowgardener
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It's the same basic recipe I use for all the flower jellies: steep the flowers in boiling water (don't boil them, just pour the water over them), strain the flowers back out, bring the infusion to a boil, add a bunch of sugar, bring to a rolling boil, add fruit pectin, boil hard for about a minute, decant into sterile jars.
So far the jelly is all I am doing with them, but I did eat some of the flowers that were steeping. They had an interesting taste, sort of tart and nutty.
Clearly you could dry them to add to a floral tea mix. You can also candy them for garnish on deserts - beat egg whites until frothy, paint the flowers with the eggwhites, then coat them in sugar, put on wax paper to dry.
So far the jelly is all I am doing with them, but I did eat some of the flowers that were steeping. They had an interesting taste, sort of tart and nutty.
Clearly you could dry them to add to a floral tea mix. You can also candy them for garnish on deserts - beat egg whites until frothy, paint the flowers with the eggwhites, then coat them in sugar, put on wax paper to dry.
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!potatoes!
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rainbowgardener
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aww... that's too bad about your toon tree. Pictures of them look like beautiful trees.
I am now starting to look suspiciously at my beautyberry bush, which has been an incredibly vigorous grower, that I have to cut back twice a year. But it is so far showing no signs of leafing out and it seems like it should by now. I will have to do some clipping on it, see if I can find any green stems.
Wow! I had no idea how much damage the winter was doing.
On a different note, the redbud flower jelly came out very nice. The infusion is a gorgeous purple-pink, but by the time you add lemon juice and a lot of sugar, it tames down to rosy pink, but still very pretty. Very interesting taste. All the flower jellies come out a bit similar, because of the fruit pectin, which adds its own tart/fruity flavor, but the redbud has interesting notes of its own. Now that I have gotten good at this, I need to start experimenting some - try making it with Splenda instead of sugar, try something besides the fruit pectin for thickening. I like making syrups out of them. It is basically the sugar and flower infusion without the pectin, so it doesn't jell. But retains more of the unique character of the flower that way.
I am now starting to look suspiciously at my beautyberry bush, which has been an incredibly vigorous grower, that I have to cut back twice a year. But it is so far showing no signs of leafing out and it seems like it should by now. I will have to do some clipping on it, see if I can find any green stems.
Wow! I had no idea how much damage the winter was doing.
On a different note, the redbud flower jelly came out very nice. The infusion is a gorgeous purple-pink, but by the time you add lemon juice and a lot of sugar, it tames down to rosy pink, but still very pretty. Very interesting taste. All the flower jellies come out a bit similar, because of the fruit pectin, which adds its own tart/fruity flavor, but the redbud has interesting notes of its own. Now that I have gotten good at this, I need to start experimenting some - try making it with Splenda instead of sugar, try something besides the fruit pectin for thickening. I like making syrups out of them. It is basically the sugar and flower infusion without the pectin, so it doesn't jell. But retains more of the unique character of the flower that way.
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rainbowgardener
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skiingjeff
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I think I lost my beautyberry as wellrainbowgardener wrote:aww... that's too bad about your toon tree. Pictures of them look like beautiful trees.
I am now starting to look suspiciously at my beautyberry bush, which has been an incredibly vigorous grower, that I have to cut back twice a year. But it is so far showing no signs of leafing out and it seems like it should by now. I will have to do some clipping on it, see if I can find any green stems.
Wow! I had no idea how much damage the winter was doing.
I'm so disappointed! I was going to ask here if it should have leafed out by now but then read your post. Should I just cut a bunch of branches to see if any show sign of green? I broke a couple branches off and they weren't totally crispy but not green and shouldn't have broken so easily. I don't know at what point I should give up on it.-
rainbowgardener
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Yeah, I'm still wondering the same thing. I did clip some branches on mine. The little branches were totally dead, but some of the main branches had some green inside. So I'm giving it a little more time.
As the season progresses and the late bloomers that are slow to leaf out in spring should have leafed out, I'm still finding more things that didn't make it. I think my butterfly bush didn't make it either. And I checked my neighbors yard. Her butterfly bush and a big fountain grass that I gave her both seem to be dead.
Oh well, it will give me a chance to replace some of these with natives. We bought this house 13 years ago and I didn't always pay attention to that back then. My native woodland shade garden I always did, but not always the rest of the yard. Now I will probably only plant natives. Since these exotics died, I will put natives in their place. If I had done that in the first place, maybe they wouldn't have died!
But the non-native herbs like lavender and sage I will replace!
As the season progresses and the late bloomers that are slow to leaf out in spring should have leafed out, I'm still finding more things that didn't make it. I think my butterfly bush didn't make it either. And I checked my neighbors yard. Her butterfly bush and a big fountain grass that I gave her both seem to be dead.
Oh well, it will give me a chance to replace some of these with natives. We bought this house 13 years ago and I didn't always pay attention to that back then. My native woodland shade garden I always did, but not always the rest of the yard. Now I will probably only plant natives. Since these exotics died, I will put natives in their place. If I had done that in the first place, maybe they wouldn't have died!
But the non-native herbs like lavender and sage I will replace!
Out of curiosity, what are you hoping to replace them with? In addition to some of my freezing temp losses (an aucuba and possibly beautyberry), I had a number of RoS removed when they installed our fence this winter. I'm definitely excited to add some natives. Just wondered what was at the top of your list!
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rainbowgardener
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Instead of the beautyberry, probably a viburnum or serviceberry. I would love the serviceberry, but have had trouble getting them started. It's another that likes acidic soil .... sigh. But I have a couple of small struggling azaleas in the same bed, so I keep working on acidifying it, so maybe. This is in front of a living room window in the front yard. I have a viburnum in the back yard that does great.
Where the butterfly bush is, is next to one side of a garden arch. The other side of the arch has a trumpet honeysuckle vine climbing it. So maybe another vine. I don't think the arch is sturdy enough for a trumpet creeper; those things get so massive. So some kind of native vine that butterflies like. I have a pipevine in my shade garden that grows well, but never blooms. I think it is too shady for it. I might see if I could get a cutting from it going and if so, if it would bloom in this sunnier location. Otherwise maybe a maypop.
Where the butterfly bush is, is next to one side of a garden arch. The other side of the arch has a trumpet honeysuckle vine climbing it. So maybe another vine. I don't think the arch is sturdy enough for a trumpet creeper; those things get so massive. So some kind of native vine that butterflies like. I have a pipevine in my shade garden that grows well, but never blooms. I think it is too shady for it. I might see if I could get a cutting from it going and if so, if it would bloom in this sunnier location. Otherwise maybe a maypop.
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rainbowgardener
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man, the list is still expanding. I had two little bonsai in training in gallon nursery pots, a burning bush and a redbud tree. Neither of them has come back.
And I have (had?) an interesting Rose of Sharon. On my side of the driveway I planted a white flowering RoS. On the opposite side, my neighbor has a purple flowering one. At least five years after I planted the white flowering one, when it was well established, I suddenly discovered a branch of it blooming purple. It turned out that a scion of the neighbor's tree (from seed or from the root I'm not sure) popped up right in the middle of mine. Over the next couple years both trees continued to get bigger, with more and more of the combined "tree" being purple, but with the white one still considerably larger. So far this year, the purple one is now leafing out, but the white one still showing no sign of activity. (both are ground planted, not container)
It seems weird with the two trees growing right together, why one would have been winter killed but not the other. Only difference (besides variety) is that the purple one was about five years younger. So I don't know if the purple one just succeeded in choking the older white one out, or if for some reason the white one was more cold sensitive.... It's too bad, I liked the bi-color effect.
I guess I really have to pay more attention to winter protection, especially for stuff in containers. But everything that died had been through other winters in their containers, so I didn't think about it.
And I have (had?) an interesting Rose of Sharon. On my side of the driveway I planted a white flowering RoS. On the opposite side, my neighbor has a purple flowering one. At least five years after I planted the white flowering one, when it was well established, I suddenly discovered a branch of it blooming purple. It turned out that a scion of the neighbor's tree (from seed or from the root I'm not sure) popped up right in the middle of mine. Over the next couple years both trees continued to get bigger, with more and more of the combined "tree" being purple, but with the white one still considerably larger. So far this year, the purple one is now leafing out, but the white one still showing no sign of activity. (both are ground planted, not container)
It seems weird with the two trees growing right together, why one would have been winter killed but not the other. Only difference (besides variety) is that the purple one was about five years younger. So I don't know if the purple one just succeeded in choking the older white one out, or if for some reason the white one was more cold sensitive.... It's too bad, I liked the bi-color effect.
I guess I really have to pay more attention to winter protection, especially for stuff in containers. But everything that died had been through other winters in their containers, so I didn't think about it.
It does seem that there must be other factors at play for 2 RoS in the same location to have fared the winter differently. I'm still pulling a gazillion RoS saplings that came up from seeds last year if you ever need any... or 500 of them 
I'm still not sure about my beautyberry. I pruned off a branch and did find some green so maybe it's just taking it's time waking up from slumber. If it didn't make it I think I'll replace it with a dark variety of ninebark because it's next to a gold false cypress that would be quite a striking contrast. I planted some serviceberry twigs in December that have leafed out and the one in more sun is blooming. I'm pleasantly surprised and might have to move the other to a sunnier location.
It looks like I lost one of three Geum, a few Guaras, tootie fruity and sunset agastaches, and all my scabiosas. I'm not sure whether or not I want to replace my pink muhly grass. I love all the photos I've seen of them online but mine were all so small last year and not worth replacing if they're going to act like annuals. If I could get them established that's a different story! Unfortunately I'm also having trouble finding them this year.
I'm still not sure about my beautyberry. I pruned off a branch and did find some green so maybe it's just taking it's time waking up from slumber. If it didn't make it I think I'll replace it with a dark variety of ninebark because it's next to a gold false cypress that would be quite a striking contrast. I planted some serviceberry twigs in December that have leafed out and the one in more sun is blooming. I'm pleasantly surprised and might have to move the other to a sunnier location.
It looks like I lost one of three Geum, a few Guaras, tootie fruity and sunset agastaches, and all my scabiosas. I'm not sure whether or not I want to replace my pink muhly grass. I love all the photos I've seen of them online but mine were all so small last year and not worth replacing if they're going to act like annuals. If I could get them established that's a different story! Unfortunately I'm also having trouble finding them this year.
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rainbowgardener
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ElizabethB
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The nurseries and garden centers are going gang busters this spring. No one is exempt from plant loss after this winter. A lot of folks may be replacing plants that are still viable - jut slow to recover.
If you are not certain about a plant do a scratch test. Scrape the bark with your thumb nail. If the stem is green then it is still alive. Some times the outer portion of a stem/branch is dead but there is live wood closer to the trunk or larger branch. Cut off whatever is dead just above a leaf node in a section that still has green flesh.
Check the stem/trunk just above ground level. Is that still alive?
Give them water and treat them as you normally would and see what happens. Mother Nature may surprise you.
Lose some, win some - it is all part of the joy of gardening.
Good luck
If you are not certain about a plant do a scratch test. Scrape the bark with your thumb nail. If the stem is green then it is still alive. Some times the outer portion of a stem/branch is dead but there is live wood closer to the trunk or larger branch. Cut off whatever is dead just above a leaf node in a section that still has green flesh.
Check the stem/trunk just above ground level. Is that still alive?
Give them water and treat them as you normally would and see what happens. Mother Nature may surprise you.
Lose some, win some - it is all part of the joy of gardening.
Good luck
Well I finally see some green leaf buds emerging on my beautyberry. However, it looks like I probably lost some stems and the shape is pretty awful. Do you think it would respond to a hard pruning to reshape it late next winter? I'll give it this season to recover. Any sign of life on yours yet RBG?
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rainbowgardener
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nope, nothing, but I haven't paid much attention to it either, being busy with spring stuff. I am also thinking about cutting it down hard and see if it can come back from the roots.
Yes, to Elizabeth re the nurseries. I was trying to replace some of all the perennial herbs I lost. I particularly wanted lavender, but the local nursery was all out of it. He said he had some earlier, but it flew off the shelves. Everyone in the same boat. He said he had a huge (for us) 15 yr old one that didn't make it.
So yeah, I guess it's an ill wind that blows no good and at least it is making a great business year for the nurseries. If I had known earlier, I would have started lavender and sage from seed, but at the time I should have been doing that, I still had no idea they weren't coming back. The last time we had winters like that, I wasn't a gardener yet.
Yes, to Elizabeth re the nurseries. I was trying to replace some of all the perennial herbs I lost. I particularly wanted lavender, but the local nursery was all out of it. He said he had some earlier, but it flew off the shelves. Everyone in the same boat. He said he had a huge (for us) 15 yr old one that didn't make it.
So yeah, I guess it's an ill wind that blows no good and at least it is making a great business year for the nurseries. If I had known earlier, I would have started lavender and sage from seed, but at the time I should have been doing that, I still had no idea they weren't coming back. The last time we had winters like that, I wasn't a gardener yet.