it was a hard winter

[rainbowgardener]

Now that spring is progressing and I can see what is what, it seems that my miniature rose bush, my hardy rosemary, and a lavender all in containers AND two more lavenders in the ground all didn't make it through the winter and are dead. The hardy rosemary had been through one previous winter and all the rest had been through at least 3 - 5. Also my big old sage plant that was probably more than five years old and gave me all the sage I could possibly use from one plant didn't make it.

So a lot to replace this year....

[gardeningwithe]

Oh, I hate to hear that. It was a hard winter though, hopefully we won't see another one like that for awhile.

[applestar]

My rosemary is a goner too, it seems. It had grown to my waist so a big bummer.

It's really interesting how something's didn't make it and others did. I had hazel, huckleberry, divisions of blackberry and raspberry -- all in relatively small containers (as small as 4" in the case of huckleberry) outside on the patio. They spent most of this winter buried in snow -- and they are all coming back. The blackberry is winter killed to about 2" above the soil but is breaking out in bud.

Still haven't determined if my two lavender plants have come through, and I'm eying that grape vine - ugh can't remember the name of it right now ( scup something wasn't it? ) wondering if it made it.....

[imafan26]

Climate change anyone? We had all better get used to it. While we have been unseasonably cold. The rainfall has been less than spectacular and in an El Nino year, the summer is likely to be hotter than usual. Although if it does come in late summer, California may benefit from some extra rain.

[rainbowgardener]

sigh... probably also the thyme and oregano aren't coming back...

[!potatoes!]

My rosemary is a goner too, it seems. It had grown to my waist so a big bummer.

It's really interesting how something's didn't make it and others did. I had hazel, huckleberry, divisions of blackberry and raspberry -- all in relatively small containers (as small as 4" in the case of huckleberry) outside on the patio. They spent most of this winter buried in snow -- and they are all coming back. The blackberry is winter killed to about 2" above the soil but is breaking out in bud.

Still haven't determined if my two lavender plants have come through, and I'm eying that grape vine - ugh can't remember the name of it right now ( scup something wasn't it? ) wondering if it made it.....

scuppernong, perhaps?

got a list as long as my arm of things that didn't make it through the winter. didn't help that we didn't have snow cover and I was out of the state when the 5degree weather hit.

[Ohio Tiller]

And its not over yet this is what we woke to this morning.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, me too! High yesterday 80 deg. High today 40 deg, going down to 27 tonight. Snow sitting on green grass and flowers. Lots of fruit trees aren't going to produce because their blooms are getting blasted with two nights of freezes -- pears, plums, apricots, etc were in bloom already.

[applestar]

Noticed today that I might have lost my Pristine apple espalier due, of all things, to failed critter guard.

The tree is crossing branches in the Belgian fence inspired style with the neighboring apple and pear trees and it was the only one not showing bud movement. Looked closer and there was a gap in the tree guard at the base of the tree where the trunk looks lovely bare wood color, and there is even a vole/field mouse hole right next to it.

These trees spent mist of the winter buried in snow, and here I worried about rabbits getting in over the top of the bunny fence....

I don't even want to think about the ramifications right now....

[pinksand]

What a disappointment

I helped a friend redo her garden last spring and got a text from her yesterday saying her azaleas look terrible and the heavenly bamboo is bare stems. Being baby shrubs I'm concerned they were zapped by the harsh winter. I feel so bad after she spent so much money last spring and was looking forward to things filling in this year.

It also looks like my hydrangea is only showing new growth at the bottom while my oakleaf hydrangea has new leaves emerging on the old stems. Could this be due to the crazy cold temps or is it normal? It seems that I'll have to cut all my 2-3' stems to the ground where the new growth is emerging, which doesn't seem normal for hydrangeas in zone 7.

My fall pansies that have always been gorgeous the following spring are all gonners as well

[Susan W]

After looking around at the many 'dead' pots, and not being out much for cleaning etc, now taking a more philosophical approach. It does help that I have potted up a few containers, and a few things showing green, so not feeling totally beat! (there are 150+ containers + in ground stuff). I am also hearing what folks coming through the farmers market are saying.

Plants that are zone marginal may or may not have made it. That happens. I have a pineapple sage in ground showing green, and those in pots history. Lavender is mixed, but most made it. Lemon verbena toast. Rosemary is mixed around town. My big one slowly coming back with some green leaves. Ones in containers crispy.

We tend to pride ourselves growing plants that are zone marginal. Then a colder winter, many don't make. Well, that happens! This doesn't imply NOT to grow that plant, just realize it could be annual in your situation.

Purged - Plants that were weak or not fully rooted tend to be the biggest casualties. Most of my thyme had the caterpillars from H. I was dealing with it, hoping they'd winter. No! Purged! The French tarragon faltered. Some had cooties in the fall and I had sprayed with copper. The weak ones didn't make it.

We can only hope if the cold took out some plants, took out some of the bugs.

[skiingjeff]

We've been out poking around at all our shrubs and things and noticed even some of our Rhododendrons didn't make it through this winter very well

As we are looking things over it is obvious that we had one of the worst winters for our plants. Then of course, Spring isn't doing so well either....it does get depressing.

At least it looks like warmer weather is finally arriving in the next week

[rainbowgardener]

the list goes on and on.... my azaleas are alive but suffered damage. My beautiful big pink muhly grass in a large container (that screened the front rainbarrel) is not putting out any new growth and is likely dead. My little ornamental blue fescue grass in a smaller container may be dead. Coreopsis that was in a container with lavender is also dead, like the lavender. Clematis in a container growing up the deck trellis is apparently dead.

A whole lot of containers full of perennials will have to be redone. I didn't create them all at once, the collection has been building over the past decade. I may just retire a few containers for awhile, rather than trying to recreate the collection in a season.

But definitely time for a trip to some local nurseries.

[applestar]

definitely time for a trip to some local nurseries

[pinksand]

My pink muhly and blue fescue are also looking rough Only a blade or two of new growth the rest is just brown! My less established azaleas also have some dead branches and don't look nearly as healthy as last year. UGH what a harsh winter!!!

[rainbowgardener]

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.

[rainbowgardener]

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!

[Ohio Tiller]

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.

[applestar]

In the meantime, I did harvest a bunch of the flowers, which are currently steeping, on their way to becoming redbud flower jelly!

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.

So what do you do with them?

[rainbowgardener]

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.

[!potatoes!]

I'm a fan of redbud flowers in salad. it's like a slightly tart pea flavor.

looks like my chinese toon tree (3 years old, grown from seed) didn't make it. may have to search out seed again.

[rainbowgardener]

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.

[rainbowgardener]

I'm currently making an infusion of more redbud flowers, to make syrup from....

[skiingjeff]

Would an unflavored gelatin work instead of the pectin? It possibly would not carry a flavor of its own into the jellies but I'm not sure how the consistency would be....

Just a thought for an experiment. I know we use gelatin in other types of cooking: mousses and such.

[tomf]

We had a mild winter out west.

[pinksand]

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 think I lost my beautyberry as well 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]

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!

[pinksand]

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!

[rainbowgardener]

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.

[rainbowgardener]

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.

[pinksand]

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.

[rainbowgardener]

I loved my pink muhly grass, that died. It was a little slow getting started the first year, but after that it was huge and beautiful and had made it through a number of winters.

[ElizabethB]

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

[pinksand]

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?

[rainbowgardener]

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.