Today was the first real nice day we've had in I don't know when! After dinner I decided to mess around in the yard and check on my flowers. I had 2 different roses planted on either side of the gate. My "Zepherine Droughin" and "Yellow Badge of Courage" did not fare very well :'( The pink one had canes about 10-12 feet high, climbing over the arbor and the yellow one was about 6 feet high. Upon closer inspection they were deader than a doornail :-x Down at the very bottom there was a little life left in them, but not much. Then I went on to find my "Krossa Regal" hosta and all but one of my mini hostas perished in the cold. We were so cold for so long, and so dry that my poor garden suffered. NONE of the new bulbs bloomed that I planted, some of the old bulbs don't look so hot either. Thankfully my peonies look ok and the mock orange looks like it just might do it's thing. The lilacs are hard to tell. There are buds but they are tight and tiny, I hope they bloom. If they don't bloom I will fall into a deep depression Did anyone else have any losses?
Oh Strats, I am so sorry. It is so tough to discover losses from the winter, especially in plants that have seemed so hardy. Rosa Zepherine Droughin is ordinarily a zone 5 plant. I can only guess it was as you say: the combination of cold and dry. Very tough for plants. I have a Zepherine Droughin too & I will check on it later. Right now it is pouring rain out & the sun is not yet up! I hope the rest of your plants have pulled through.
I would give everything more time Stratsmom. It was a long, cold winter and spring is taking it's time coming. I think we are at least 3 weeks behind here.
Like Netty said, give your plants more time to revive. Hostas are deciduous so unless the roots are dead, they will be coming back as the temperatures rise and the roses are the same way. I don't loose so much in winter since we don't have that much winter but I loose plants in the summer from the heat and lack of rain for months without end.
That is so sad. We too had a hard winter this year and some of my perennial in the pots did not make it! now we are facing heavy rain and storm which is drowning the onions and garlic in the bed . But as they say "Hope floats", Hang in there!
I lost a couple of things, mostly things in pots. My Ponytail Palm is the one that I'm the saddest about. I still haven't had the heart to throw it out. It got hit hard one other time a few years ago and returned with lots of new growth, so I'm going to give it more time. My brother's Mandarin tree doesn't look very good, but it's alive. My Creeping Charlie is another one that I'm going to miss. I'm going to try to cut back on things in pots (I say this every year). So... Deanna... I sure hope your plants will make a comeback, maybe they just need a little more warmth and sunshine?
Thanks everybody :-D I will give it more time, it is only May and in Klamath County, anything can happen :-o I noticed tonight my lavender looks dead :-| I'll keep my fingers crossed that it perks up
I am so sorry if you lost plants. I want you to know what I do if something looks dead. I plant the new item right next to the old dead plant. Once in a while the dead plant isn't really dead and beginning to sprout much later in the season. If that happens I just move the new one to another spot. That way I don't rip out something that can be saved.
I'm still waiting on a few plants to return from the dead. Gardenias and rhubarb so far are the worst.
Stratsmom, my Lavender looks dead every spring. It is one of the last things to look alive so give yours lots of time. Once you see new growth you can trim off any dead. Also - I can only see the pips of 3 of my 34 varieties of Hosta. They are very late to come up this year.
Three of the missus' roses are dead to the ground. New sprouts coming up. One is completely dead. The Knockout needed radical pruning. I didn't think anything could kill boxwood. This past winter did it in though. Parsley and Kale usually winter well, not so much this year.
