I still don't see any signs of life on Fairy Duster (Calliandra eriophylla), Barbados Cherry or Lemon Grass, just off the top of my head. Not sure about Desert Crossvine...something green is coming up near the base, but it might be something else. The one Spicebush that has been struggling since last summer is alive, I think, but the original above-ground parts are dead. Two other Spicebush are fine! Weeds are thriving now! I absolutely positively can't keep up with them. When you're supposed to avoid much sunshine (even with the hats and sunblock) because of previous skin cancer, that's quite a delimma! No room in the budget right now for a garden guy!
What are you still waiting on to come back?
Nutgrass is coming up everywhere. I swear that stuff could withstand a nuclear attack and just keep on going. I'm glad I took the time late last year to dig it out, following the runners until I got what I thought was all of it. If I hadn't done that, it'd be so thick I could never deal with it. I'm beginning to think it's coming in the mulch I'm buying. Maybe time to try a new supplier of the bulk stuff.
On plants not coming back, I've lost one huge brug, two plumerias, 3 hibiscus, 1 duranta, 3 esperanza, dozens of cupheas, several angelonia, some cactus, a bleeding heart vine, all my dragon wing begonias, all the oleanders, and a partridge in a pear tree :) My back garden is totally barren except for the tomato plants I've put in this spring.
I hope some of y'all have fared better with your stuff than mine did. I will be planting more of the things that survived and not replace the ones that croaked, so I'll just look at it as a learning experience, albeit an expensive one :(
Crow
Hmmm... now that you mention it, I don't have a bit of nut grass. I was pulling at it last year, but I certainly hadn't got it all. How weird...
My barbados cherry has two teeny new branches growing out of the main trunk just above the ground. Above that, it's blatantly dead - dry and brittle and the bark peeling. So you might get way down at the base of yours and see if you see anything. They're pretty good at growing back from the roots, too.
Unless there's something I forgot about completely (I was planting like a mad dog last fall), I don't think I lost anything completely other than my winter potato crop. Everything is way far behind where it should be this time of year, so I'd sure say don't give up if you have something that hasn't shown any signs of spring yet.
All the nursery owners are thinkin'.........YEAH BABY,...IT"S GONNA BE A GOOD YEAR!
Lost a lot of oleanders, durantas...most of my natives are OK...imagine that!
I HAVE gotten down to look at the base of both of the Barbados Cherry....so far, absolutely nothing! I think the nursery owners are cashing in! I've seen the crowds at nurseries. Of course, there's mail order...don't know how that is going!
Ive been watching, waiting and worring for my lone crium to sprout and today I found little tips pushing thier way upwards.. Yeah!!!! I also have the HotLips salvia David gave me last spring with blooms on it
My maypop is missing as is a native hibiscus and the ginger I planted last fall. As for the weeds, mine are bad but not especially bad. I found last year that nut grass has a small bulb. It takes a lot of work to find it but its there and that is why the darn things can come back when you are sure they have been killed.
C
I know I lost one for sure - Queen Victoria Agave. So sad! :(
My 4 foot bushy Bay Laurel tree that I put in ground last fall made it through, but I lost about 1/4 of the leaves and the tips (all brown). Usually it's starting to bud out with new leaves but the damage slowed it down.
The crinums I put in last fall are coming up too.
I have several marginals that I am worried about...
Copper Canyon Daisy - mulched well, but worried
Bi Color Sage (S. sinaloensis) - no sign of it, even dug in area and not looking good
Lion's Ear (Leonitis leonurus) - did not expect for this to live through even last winter so no biggy
Pineapple Sage (S. elegans)
Lemongrass - trimmed it back because it was brown and there was quite a bit of moisture at the base so maybe...
Coral Vine - another one I figured would not have lived through last 2 winters. It's always very late to come up so no telling.
Hummingbird plant (Dicliptera suberecta) - it's always late to come up so I will have to be patient
Hill Country Penstemon (P triflorus) - did not think of it as marginal but it's not showing any sign of life though usually is by now.
Nierembergia gracilis 'Starry eyes' - not marginal but looks dead
I dont think my lemon grass made it either but the copper canyon daisy next to it is coming back strong. my bay laural was in a pot I could bring inside which I did to save it along with my geraniums... its amazing who lost what where.. theres just not a pattern to any of it..
Oh, Esperanza, I forgot that...no sign yet on my two...isn't it usually a bit late to leaf out? Mexican Firebush always comes back late, so should see something about April if they're alive. I'll definitely replace it if it doesn't come back! I have a scented geranium that I assumed was dead...well, there's growth at the base, I swear!
" I have a scented geranium that I assumed was dead...well, there's growth at the base, I swear!"
see what I mean about no pattern to it???.. things like my wax begonlas that should have bit the dust made it and other things like one of my roses didnt
I'm waiting for my Cowpen Daisy, Zexmenia, Turk's Cap (I think it's a goner.), and my Esperanza. The esperanza is ALWAYS the last thing to wake up, so I'm holding out hope. I winter sowed some Zexmenia and just have one little seedling in the jug today, so I'm thinking that the one I got the seeds from will be coming back soon if it's not dead.
My Mexican Mint Marigold is coming back!
My older zexmenia are coming up well no sign of my turks cap either, but I do not remember if it is late to break dormancy or not.
C
Stephanie & C, my Turks cap does not usually poke itself out until May, so there is still a good chance.
I remembered a few other marginals. I was also worried about my St Josephs Lily Amaryllis and Ice plant and they are both coming back. And the spreading yew in the front made it.
My wheeler's dwarf pittosporum has just a very small amount of leaf burn (glad I did not listen to Neil Sperry and skip this one) but one of the two variegated pittosporum lost 80% of it's leaves but the tips are budding out. May yank them if they still look bad at the end of the summer. Shrubs need to be tough.
My camellia japonica lost 90% of her blooms and the few left are just now starting to open.
I noticed some new growth around the Hill Country Penstemon today! yippee
I did remember that I lost the spike draecena that had been in the two front door pots through the previous two winters, with no protection. I already bought replacements at Calloways because it's a great backdrop in containers and fairly cheap.
The turks cap here is just in the past couple of weeks poking above the ground, so yall probably have some time yet.
I was helping this woman dig some of hers out earlier this month, and there were horizontal roots at least six inches under the surface with little plant stem shoots starting out. If yours are that far down, surely they couldn't have frozen.
What about butterfly ginger? No sign of mine yet, but I can't remember if it's still early for it. The gingers that I stored in the garage are out already.
Stacy, my bicolor sage is just starting to peep out.
I have leaves on my Turk's Cap. The fig tree is fine. The Anacacho Orchid Tree is putting out little leaves. Some of the salvias are blooming again.
I looked around today. MIA are my:
root beer plant
Indigo Spires salvia
Argentine Skies salvia
Sometimes the salvias are late to come up. Anyone know about the root beer plant? I would really hate to lose that one.
My Indigo Spires is already up and so is the new baby plant. If your plant doesn't come back and you're coming to the Arlington RU, I can bring the offshoot to you if you want it.
I noticed my red shrimp plant had tiny leaves on it yesterday. So excited to see that!!
What kind of shrimp plant is it Stephanie? What species is cold hardy?
Cheryl
Hello everyone, my first post here! Well, me and the wife have done a TON of plant shopping here in the past month since we pretty much lost a lot. We lost 4 Hibiscus, a Bottle Palm, a Foxtail Palm, 2 Roballini Palms, a Queen Palm, a Bismarck Palm and others as well. A few of the plants that made it were our Lemon Bottlebrush, Bat-face Cuphea and Mexican Milkweed. But thats okay, cause now i have around 72 plants to plant! :)
I was really surprised that my Crinum 'Ellen Bosanquet' came back. They got a double whammy this year. First, our little calves broke into the yard back in November and ate all my Crinums right down to the ground. I did pitch a couple of bags of mulch over what was left. I lost but the rest have come up.
On the dead list:
Erythrina x bidwillii - Coral Bean Tree
Hamelia patens - Mexican Fire Bush
a pink and yellow lantana. It had developed a variegated branch last year. That's gone, too.
Hibiscus Lucy - a red Rose of Sharon
2 Mexican Sage. I was surprised this one died.It is supposed to be hardy in this zone.
Several chilipequin plants
I couldn't get all my potted plants into the greenhouse before our first freeze. So I left several vitex cultivars, an orange Esperanza, a peach, a Methley plum and a redbud outside. I hired a young man to plant them in the ground for me. He didn't show up the week we had that low of 13ºF so I figured they were dead. They all came back!
I think I have lost my bourganvilla and possibly my coral vine. My black-eyed susan doesn't look like it's going to come back.
The amaryllis are fine and starting to bloom. All the salvias made it. The petunias and the verbenas came back and I didn't expect them too. The lemon grass is doing fine. Most of the brugs in the ground are doing ok, except the Tiara, which is showing no signs of life. The Welsh flax seems to be recovering.
My morning glory tree and my Tricolor Hibiscus seem to be dead. We are going to Austin next weekend and will get another morning glory tree, and I will try to find the tricolor somewhere. I really loved that thing.
I thought the castor bean would come back since it's hardy to zone 9, but it is showing no signs of life.
Kimas Nursery on Highway 71 just before you get to Bastrop usually has the Tricolor Hibiscus.
Oh thank you! I love that thing.
Cheryl~I don't have any idea what kind of shrimp plant it is! LOL I got it from someone at the spring swap last year. It looks like it's rotted in a couple of different places. If it does, I can dig one up to share with you if you'd like. I'll know in a few weeks if that's the case.
I had bouganvillia in AZ and got hit with a freeze it didnt die, just took a while to rebound so be patient
One thing I forgot to mention was Corona de Cristo, Passiflora foetida var. gossypifolia. Most years, some foliage might make it through the winter and it would be actively growing in March. But no sign of life at all yet!
I have a 6 foot red Bottle Brush shrub that I'm still wondering about. It's hard to tell if it's going to come back or not. Just to look at it it looks dead but I've found sometimes the looks can fool you.
What do you think??
Dancey
I am still holding out hope for the bicolor sage Patty. :) Need to check one my black and blue salvia. It really struggled last year so I would not be surprised if it died.
Another loss - New Zealand Sedge. Three were planted in the front yard landscape 2 years ago and they look dead. Those, I need to come up with a replacement for very soon. May go with Gulf coast Muhly in the big bed, but don't know what to replace the one that's in 75% shade with. Another sedge would be good if I can find a hardier one.
Also my Dietes Bicolor Iris went completely brown again so I am giving up on them. They are in the front landscape and they are supposed to be evergreen. Last winter all the leaves died and it took all summer to partially fill out and never bloomed. It looked ratty the whole time. Last weekend, I dug one big clump up and the roots had a few green shoots, but it just was not worth it. I replaced them with 2 white crinums. :)
Isn't that funny about the black & blue? Some people on here consider it the worst garden thug they've ever owned. But mine really struggled for a couple of years and I didn't think it would survive. I've heard a couple of people in north Texas say the same.
Stephanie, thanks for the offer. If I get to make it to Arlington, it'll have to be a last minute decision. But if I have to start a new Indigo Spires, I think I can do it from the plant I started for my parents last year.
I'm still worried about the root beer plant and the Argentine Skies. My maypop is also a no-show so far. Anyone have extras of those, and if so, are you going to the ET RU?
My root beer plant is coming back now. It was just planted last year and after the big freeze, there was no sign of it until a couple weeks ago.
my blk and blue made it.. I love it the first year I had it it was fantasic.. the hummers LOVED it
My black and blue and Argentine Skies are back. Has anyone seen their bulbine emerge? Mine looks quite dead.
I thought Id lost my hostas and astille but I finally saw their little noses sticking out of the ground!! Im so gald I marked them last year...lol
My bulbine looks like it's toast. :( I'm going to try trimming around it this coming week to see if there's any hope of life in it.
I think my bulbines are gone also. But my shimp plant is showing a bit of growth at the base!
I think my kidneywood might have bit the dust. Does anyone know if they are very late to bud out?
I believe that kidneywood does leaf out late...it seems like I remember it that way. But I did go ahead and do the under-the-bark test on mine and it showed green! So be patient!!
I can't see a hosta dieing as they are hardy to zone 4!