Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice' help needed

Okay, I need a wee bit of help. I planted this Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice' on the North East side my house, protected from wind. It went through last winter with no problems. This Spring its still in deep slumber...no signs of any waking activity. Does anyone else have sleeping plants in zone 6a? I've got a beautiful little Hydrangea doing the same thing.

Clethra is late into leaf from what I remember of it.

Quite a few trees and shrubs not yet started leafing out here, and I'm in zone 9.

Resin

I would never have thought that there are woodies not yet leafing out in zone 9a Resin! You are a gift, thanks so much!

Mipii, I agree with Resin, Clethora is a late leaf.

Great news about Clethra! Should I start making funeral arrangements for my Hydrangea?

Has any growth come out of the soil yet? I assume it died down to the soil?

No new growth from the soil, I just checked again (67 times in the last 30 days). I do have some new bud growth on the Clethra though, I'm so relieved. If my Hydrangea bit the dust, I have an opportunity to put in another Viburnum and layer a bit more. There's always a bright side!

Sounds like the hydrangea is toast. I know a lot of them died back or down to the soil this winter. You're right about that bright side; plants don't die, they provide opportunities for upgrades :)

Thanks Sequoia!

I'm not sure I'd give up on the hydrangeas just yet.
They may be dead, but I'd give them a few weeks before yanking them.
No sign of spring yet with my clethras, so they're probably just snoozing.

Yay!!! You were right Weerobin...I found one leaf at the base of the plant. Since my 'Endless Summer' blooms on new and old wood, it will just be smaller this year. I still want that Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Molly Schroeder' though.

Glad your hydrangea made it through Mipii!!

Sequoia...thanks, you were right too, it died down to the soil (hope you didn't see my happy dance)!

LOL...nice :)

My fancy Endless Summer hydrangea died to the ground, and my local nursery put out a bulletin saying that "now that the Crape Myrtles have finally leafed out, we can assess winter damage."

Turns out, the winter was rough on many hydrangea types, "hardy" gardenias, Crape Myrtles, and butterfly bushes.

I believe that life is too short. I yanked my offenders, and bought older, more antique shrubs. I mean, if something has to be coddled all the time, it had better deserve the attention.

After 4 years of messing with the hydrangea, and learning that winter die-back is expected with this type, and when the shrub DOES GROW BACK, it only gets half as big and the blooms then look very weird on the short stems, hubby yanked it. It did not deserve the spot it occupied.

I do have two other hydrangeas, a "Pinky Winky" and a "Little Lime" and they are within spittin' distance of the now demised hydrangea, and they are JUST FINE. They're keepers!

Grayce, that's the culprit cultivar mine is 'Endless Summer'. Thanks for the info, I guess its not all the weather's fault (and here I was so quick to lay blame).

My Crape is just starting to leaf out but it does look like some of it died. I don't have much experience with them and this is my first spring for both of mine. The one in the back yard hasn't done anything yet. We'll see how they do I guess.

Resin...interesting! Are the late leafers usually the last to drop their leaves in the fall?

I hope all is well with your Crapes Sequoia, it's heartbreaking to lose mature trees. I don't have any experience with them either...but fixin' to get some. I'm sowing seeds this year.

Yeah these have only been in the ground for a season so if they do belly up I only lost a year. We'll see.

There always seems to be a bright side.

Lol...yeah the bright side is that if they die or look like they will perform poorly, I get to buy new ones! :)

:-)

I still see no sign of life on my crepe myrtles, nor any new growth from the roots.
Mine are 15+ft tall, so I'll be bummed if none of the above-ground growth makes it.
I'm still going to give them more time.
We've been unusually cool (days 50's/nights 40's) - ridiculous for this time of year.
Maybe the slow arrival of warm weather following the brutal winter has everything stuck in idle.

Perhaps, I hope at least, for your sake. It's a little harder to replace a large one like that.

Oh Wee, you've lost quite enough already...keep us posted. I was talking to someone in NJ (same growing zone as you and I). He was down this way and said our large deciduous trees have not leafed out at the same time, he said MI is about 10 days behind. I also know people in MO and you've been having unseasonably cool temps for a while now, just like the rest of the Midwest (predicted in the Farmers Almanac BTW).