Are these plants coming up for you yet??

Last fall, I planted a whole bunch of stuff in a new garden bed. Soon after, a bunch of it was dug up by my darn dog. Some of the stuff she dug up I made note of, but after a while I gave up. I know the dog dug up and destroyed my Roemer Acacia, Musa Banana, Beebalm, Barbados Cherry, Dwarf Pomegranate, Mexican Mint Marigold, Banana Canna, Hardy Hibiscus, Ruellia Elegans, Argentinian Rain Lily, Mexican Salvia, Mexican Milkweed, War Bonnet Dianthus and Four Nerve Daisy. :-(

I noticed a whole bunch of stuff still has not come up, though it could be lost due to dog or weather. There is no sign (including when scraping back all mulch) of my Copper Canyon Daisy, Justica Spicigera, Flame Acanthus, Indigo Spires Salvia, Argentina Skies Salvia, Hamelia Patens, Hot Lips Salvia, Zexmenia, Hummingbird Plant (Dicliptera suberecta), and Dragons Blood Sedum. Can anyone tell me if these are showing signs for you yet and if not, when?

I ordered an invisible fence system since intensive training and enforcement did not help. Making the purchase has given me hope that I can actually have the garden I want so I am trying to make count of what was lost and think towards the future (buying more plants to replace stuff!). I am putting the system up this weekend. I hope it works!

howsy staci.
banana, just barely peeking out
canna, just barely peeking out

Like you said, the unexpected harsh Feb snap send everything for a loop. Normally I would see more action by this time, but it's been a slow start, with many tropicals not even showing, like hibiscus. no action yet whatsoever! And I'm in a zone warmer than yours. Maybe weather is to blame and Pooch is innocent??

So sorry to hear about it, sweezel! Hard not to get mad when a dog just does what a dog does. The only thing I have that you listed is a dwarf pomegranate, which I planted bareroot a couple of months ago. It's leafing out and has put out another little trunk.

I hope the invisible fence works. I've known it to work on boxers and chows. Good luck!

Wow Stacey, that is a lot of plants, are you sure you want to keep him? Just kidding!!!
My Salvia guaranitica, and Flame acanthus are up, and many others too, but if your plants were small, it may take them a little longer to come up. Also the temperature may be a little lower where you are.
I would not give up till the end of April, so just be patient, and see what happens.
Josephine.

Don't give up just yet, Stacey. Some of that stuff is incredibly hardy -- especially the Flame Acanthus, Dwarf Pomegranate (which lives in a big pot in my backyard and comes back every year), Mexican Mint Marigold, and the Salvias. The Copper Canyon Daisies, which bloomed like crazy all fall, still haven't shown signs of life. I keep telling myself "It's only March 23!!" So be patient for just a little while longer.

That is one energetic dog you have, btw! :-)

Carla

thanks brigidlily, she's a pit bull mix and is so darn tough. Boxer's are similar so it's good to hear that you know of one it's worked on. We had a chow lab mix at an old house about 6 years ago that would jump the chain link fence constantly. We put up in the invisible fence and it slowed her down but something would get her attention and she would just run and jump as fast as possible. It was the old style which only had one level though. We had to get rid of her because she was chasing these senior ladies down the block and scaring them. This time I got the "stubborn dog" one which has 5 levels so I can put our Golden on the vibration or lower level and Susie on the highest if need be.

Josephine, my thoughts exactly!! Susie is my husbands dog. She's was a tick infested stray that we "saved" up in Oklahoma and he just loves her. And, this is the same dog who dug up two Japanese maples, 4 Hydrangea's and an azalea in the shade bed last year. I though I could train her to stay out of this new bed, but it did not work for long. One other note, I lost a few bulbs too, but it was my own fault. I put in tons of bulbs and used bone meal in the bottom of the holes of some. Whoops! I had to rebury some several times over because even the Golden was digging them up over and over.

I am going to try to wait patiently for another month, but will probably go ahead and pick up a few things that I can't resist next month at the plant sales. :-) I will wait on actual matching replacements though.

And an extra note for you Josephine, a couple of the plants you gave me are doing great in the bed. :) The Fall Aster and Carolina Phlox are showing themselves. Plus the Elderberry you gave me is growing like gangbusters down by the creek. It's amazing how much it's grown since it was just a little rooted cutting last fall. I will have to try to get a picture of it. It has settled in to the dirt around it and is no longer in danger of being dug up. I did lose the Coral Bean and Eve's Necklace I bought in Austin in October. :( Either the neighbors dog did it or Susie when she got out once in late fall. Our neighbors don't have any fence and used to just let their dog roam the shared creek area. The recently installed an invisible fence though so I should not have to worry about him anymore. And we reinforced our fence recently so Susie can't get out.

Stacey, thank you for letting me know about the plants, it feels great to know that something you gave someone has worked well for them.
I will try to get some of the Willow leaf aster potted for you too.

Yes she is Carla! She is almost two so she is calming some, but she is still a big trouble maker. She destroys almost all dog toys within a day and immediately shreds any paper or plastic products that blow into the yard . She was digging out of the fence constantly until we sank 12 to 18" lengths of rebar every 4 inches under the back iron fence and in a few places against the side wood fence. She has to be the center of attention when there are other dogs around and thinks she is a male dog if you know what I mean. Also, has to be the center of attention period with my husband. You should see her when he cuddles with me on the couch. She immediately starts pawing at him for attention. But she is very playful, fun, and sweet and loves to play chase/hide type games and was housebroken from the time we brought her home.

Yay! Good to hear there is still hope for several of the plants. I do know that the Dwarf Pomegranate is gone though. That is one of the plants that I found she had dug up, played with and chewed to almost nothing. :(

hmmmm.. i guess not an "innocent" pooch after all.....

sweezel, the Hamelia patens comes back pretty late. I don't think mine is showing signs of coming back yet either, but I'm pretty sure it will. I'm waiting for a verdict on 2 Barbados Cherry plants I have. I can't remember when they usually leaf out. They're not extremely cold-hardy, but I'm not giving up on them....I just don't think the 20° we had here one night would kill them. I could bring you a couple of Four-Nerve Daisies at the RU, if you'd like. They grow all over my property!

Good to hear about the Hamelia patens Linda. I got the Barbados Cherry pretty cheap when I was in Austin and mulched it really good hoping it would make it at least a few years. They are just so pretty that I had to try. It's disappointing because I will have to go south to get a replacement, if I want to try again.

I don't know if I am going to make it to the roundup, but if I do go, I will definitely take you up on it.

My Great Pyrenees digger dog will take yours on any time! Sara now has a large pen and is out only when supervised. She is past two, and I have given up on training her not to dig up my stuff. She was my first dog in a long time, and she is also my last dog.

My Indigo Spires is up and going, the anisacanthus is just leafing out, and other perennials are also just beginning to show signs of life. I would not give up on anything yet.

I've got the exact same problem with my dog so I feel your pain! He digs up plants and then chews them up! I've got a fence in place as well, hoping it and enforcement works, so far so good. Had to put up a 4 foot fence around the veggie garden because he was running through it pulling out broccoli and cabbage and eating them. Talk about one stinky doggie....lol. The things we do for our plants and pets!

:) Kim

all my salvia are coming up and i am shocked cause we got below 20 degrees a couple of time here in wasted texas....; my hostas are coming up also; wanna plant more stuff but i am anticipating a freeze that always zaps us around easter....so i am holding off....

Even the small mesquites on the ranch are not putting on many leaves, and none of the big mesquite trees are. Old belief that there will be another freeze if the mesquites have not leafed out. The tomatoes are growing happily in gallon pots in the greenhouse, and the peppers are in 4" pots. We'll wait another week or so and see what happens.

Pat, our friend actually asked me why I did not put in a dog run. I told her I just could not do that. Mostly because Susie would have to be stuck in it all day while we worked. I know how she gets when she is stuck in the house during long cold spells or long periods of rain. She gets stir crazy so I just could not imagine how she would be. After sectioning out the beds with this underground fence, she will still have plenty of room to run around so hopefully it will work out.

And about the mesquites, they say the same about Pecan trees. I checked the Pecan tree at the creek today and still don't see any buds. The closest limb was 10 feet away, so I could have possibly not been close enough. Our neighbor to the south has a giant Pecan tree in their back yard and it looks like a scary skeleton next to all the Elms, Ashes, and other trees leafing out in their yard.

Kim, that's frustrating about your dog digging up the vegi garden, but I did get a good laugh about his food choices. Cabbage and Brocolli... I bet he did stink! :)

I too have a lot of salvia's coming up. My Hot Lips is really filling out, Mex Mint Marigold, and Blue Mist are coming out again. My Shasta's are already blooming, Mexican Sage putting up shoots along with the Maximillan Sunflowers, but Milkweeds are no where to be seen yet. My Rue stayed strong through the winter freezes (thanks Debnes!). Also (thanks to Josephine!) my Frostweeds, Phlox, Asters, Indigo Spires, and Primrose are healthy and leafy. However, no sign of the Tx Star so far, is it not time yet?

The Texas Star likes warmer weather like the Turk's cap and Lantana.

Great, maybe they made it then!

I think so, mine are not up yet either.

My copper canyon daisies are covered in leaves already...and my 4-nerve daisies are blooming their yellow heads off... (one of my favorites) :) Alot of my different salvias are blooming...their colors seem so extra vibrant after our lovely rains last week. And my beebalm, bluemist and milkweeds are coming up great. My rose campions are looking great...and the Indigo Spires are pretty tall already.
Hope your garden comes back, sweezel.. :)

Melanie

Boohoo, I think the Hot Lips is gone if it's up for you in Ft. Worth Sheila. I seem to remember it being up in Oklahoma by now last year (my friend has one at her place there). No sign of the Frostweed down by the creek, but it's pretty weedy there and hard to find where I planted them. If most of the other stuff is not up by the time the Native Plant sales roll around in mid April, I am going to buy replacements.

I think it was around first week of Feb that we had a death- knoll- final- big freeze that really did in my hibiscus which were 12-14 ft. high. They had lost their leaves previously and then we had a short spell of warmish weather which caused them to bud out yet again and I think they used all their saved up energy doing that. So, for about 6 wks they were the ugliest bunch of sticks you can imagine. Yesterday my lawn service finally came, cut and hauled away a huge load of those sticks. The hibiscus now are at the most 1 ft. high and all but 1 has some green leaves at the base. The yard finally looks cultivated again but it will have a while to go before we see any blooms from those. My SIL came over in the morning and I prevailed upon him to dig the holes I needed to plant my (non-blooming but promising) 5' tall angels trumpet (brug), my budding Bird of Paradise, a frumpy, small Ixora, a budding and blooming Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. He came over last evening and mulched all my plants lightly, per my instructions. The gardeners really did a great job around everything getting all those nasty little weeds that I can't stand out and edging around all the beds. The tiny Star Jasmine and equally tiny Mr President Clematis both have buds. The star of the show, however, is the Clivia. It has put out 3 stalks (evidently there are three bulbs), one is blooming, the second is about to bloom and third is just up and budded. Those orange flowers are really fantastic and there are so many flowers per stalk. But, I have never experienced such devastation of such huge in ground hibiscus in my yard and the whole neighborhood. The plants we put in the ground were in pots and got put in and pulled out of the garage so they weren't affected except for the Ixora and I think that it proved me right when I kept tell DDH I didn't want to get one of those as they couldn't really take the cold weather and are better suited for 10-11z temps. It's still viable but needs lots of sun and heat which we will eventually get. My Pride of Barbados hasn't shown any signs of life but I'm hoping that continued heat and sun will revive that. If not, I do have seeds that I can plant so I'll have some POB - maybe in a different location where it receives full sun ALL day. Ofcourse all the ruellas - tall and Katie - are doing well and I'm looking forward to flowers on those pretty soon as well as the Mexican Milkweed which the monarchs and hummers love.So, now I don't feel so bad now that everything is shipshape again and looks neat if not growing in places.

Ann

All my salvias are up now, and the hibiscus just threw first shoots up this weekend. Veronica, Mexican Mint Marigold, and Turk's Cap have also all put on first leaves.

How are your salvias doing now? Maybe this weekend they crossed into green for you?

Stacey, I saw Barbados Cherry at Rohde's (in Garland) recently. If yours doesn't come back, you might give them a call. It's certainly closer than going to Austin. :-)

Carla

Oh yay! Thanks Carla. It's nice to have an excuse to go out to Rohde's anyway. :)

Nothing else popped up this weekend. I did find some chewed up baby plants (just roots and a woody shoot) at the back of the bed this weekend. I have decided that every thing that had any bit of woody or thick stem, Susie dug up. A couple things were next to woody stems and were victims too, but every once of my plants that had something sticking up, I lost. The rosette type or mounding plants seem to be fine. For example, I had planted about 28 daylilies, and only three seem to be lost.

The only thing keeping me from pulling my hair out after looking at that bed are the blooming daffodils, species tulips, crocus & starflower, and the budding nana coreopsis and penstemon triflous. :)

And I went ahead and bought a replacement Mexican Mint Marigold this weekend. It was a pot-bound 4" for $2, so I could not pass it up. It will go in as soon as the fence is done this week.

I worked on the invisible fence yesterday. The planning was a little harder than I thought, but it's all placed and about 75% attached. I just need to do a bit more fence stapling and bury it around the shade bed. I am trying to get it done so I can fertilize the plants. I am too scared to right now, because the scent might draw the dogs in.

I'm sorry for what you lost. But at the same time, you've got almost a whole bed to fill and for that I envy you. Sometimes I've got plants crammed in together and I really want to put in a new bed to be able to fill it in.

Yep, I get to shop! I am sure after I fill it back up, I'll be ready to build another bed too. :)