I'm not sure how to check if a daylily is evergreen or not...don't know enough about them, I suppose. Mine seem to have rebounded well, too. There are one or two stunted, ugly fans per each clump, but there are healthy looking ones too, so they should be fine.
Spring Report Card
I read what the catalog said. But it was a long time ago.
Amy - don't worry. Worrying won't help you or the daylilies and it's probably not a pest problem. I get the same thing on many daylilies and just remove the offending foliage.
Noreaster - if you have the name of the daylily you just go to Tinkers and look it up. tinkersgardens.com
Also - 'evergreen' depends on location.
By far my biggest disappointment this year is my macrophylla hydrangea, Merritt's Supreme. I planted it in '06 and winter protected it with a cage of leaves. Last year it was huge and full and I had something like 18 gorgeous deep purple blooms. It was probably close to four feet across and high. Because I lost some branches under the weight of the wet leaves in the Spring, I decided to build a styrofoam box to put over it this past winter. I thought it was looking great when I gradually removed the box this Spring, and I kept it covered when there was very cold temps or frost/freeze warnings. I have a flush of new growth from the top bud or two buds on every single cane, including some flowers that I can see starting to form. And I have about six sprigs of new growth coming up from the ground. The problem is that every single bud between the top of the plant and the ground is either dead, gone, or green, but stalled out. There are green buds that have not changed or grown one iota in about six weeks now, so something is seriously wrong and I don't know what. It's going to look so bad this year, with green at the top and the bottom, and several feet of bare branches in between. Does anyone know what could possibly have gone wrong? It makes no sense to me that the top buds survived and the lower ones did not...I thought just the opposite was more likely. Where do I go from here with this thing...is it ever going to look normal again?
Here is one of the stalled buds...looks alive, right?
Well you can alway give it a hard cutback after flowering. The roots are still fine so it will eventually come back. The missing middle is strange. Is it possible they started to bud and the later cold got them? That's strange.
I don't know, Victor, I kept that thing covered up well whenever the temps dropped...I was obsessive about it. And if the cold got them, wouldn't they have shriveled and died? So after I get my flowers, which is gonna be fairly late in the summer, I think, I should cut it down all the way to the ground? Except for the new growth coming up from the bottom, which I would expect to reach about a foot by season end. I'm so bummed about this. I keep going out and studying those stalled buds, and nothing. It's like watching paint dry, only with less action.
Well the bud does look green. How long has it been in this 'frozen' state?
I would say six weeks, easily. The tops are growing as normal, as is the new growth from the ground, but no change in the middle green buds for well over a month. There are some smaller buds that have just a hint of green showing that don't like dead to me, either. It's like my hydrangea is in a partial coma. I expected to see it wake up after the recent warm days, but nope.
Hmm - strange. Try posting on the hydrangea forum.
My Blue mophead did the same thing, it's sheltered so the frost missed the partially emerged leaves.
They are still the same size but beep in the plant new growth has regular leaves. This is a three plant set and over twenty years old.
Wait and see is what I'm thinkin.
Yeah, I posted in the hydrangea forum weeks ago and got only one response, which was wait and see after it warmed up some more. I'm waitin', but I'm not seein'!
Maybe you shouldn't watch!
I can't seem to stop myself.
I do feel a little better to read that I'm not the only one with a hydrangea looking odd, so thanks, ge.
I believe we are having unusual weather and plants don't like cold anymore than we do.
It's EL Ninjo's fault.
just found this topic - does anyone have a purple smoke bush and has it leafed yet? I transplanted mine a few feet back between two viburnum (doublefire? blooming for the first time, very nice) because I liked the color contrast. No leaves yet and leaf buds appear dead - when I scratch the bark it is green.
one other thing - i have two celestrial dogwoods that did not flower - besides that trees are healthy - and I am not sure about a white kousa as i do not see flowers there either.
I have 'Grace' smokebush and it has leafed out and is starting to bloom. I'll check my (pink) kousa, but I don't think it bloomed yet. Should be soon though.
I have to check, but my Clethra 'Hummingbird' does not look to be leafing out.
I can see the flower bud on my Satomi pink dogwood so I know it will bloom. Can't find any on the others. to bad, after JM's. DW are a favorite.
I have Satomi - love it.
My "Ahoya" DL from Pixie has put up 2 scapes - 1st of the year.
(Until she graciously sent me several varieties last year, the only DLs i had were a lot of Happy Returns put in by the landlords, and one Sir Modred that i bought because i thought it would go with them. (hahaha). But i am looking forward to seeing a variety of colors this year! )
Noreaster - try asking this company. http://www.hydrangeasplus.com/home.php . I've bought several hydrangeas from them and am very impressed with their knowledge.
Great advice, Anita.
Thanks Anita and Pirl, and I will definitely do that. I'm desperate to understand what went wrong. Some of the buds that looked alive to me a few weeks ago now appear to be declining. Some are still green, but are still just buds. The new growth at the base of the plant just seems weak to me somehow....I dunno why, but it just seems like there should be more of it considering the size of the shrub overall. Yet, meanwhile, the top of every cane is still growing and I can see flower buds forming on all or most of them It's gonna look like a leggy rhododendron...or like a Dr. Seuss Hydrangea. And I am absolutely certain it was well covered on the chilly Spring evenings, so I don't see how those middle buds could have been damaged.
After it gives you whatever blooms it's capable of this spring cut it back so it has plenty of time to perform for next year. How long has it been in that spot? Could you possibly move it to a warmer spot in the garden?
Any photos would be a tremendous help.
You may be able to root the cuttings so don't throw them out!!!
I found a new iris 12" hi(one stem ,many flowers) on the ground this AM thought someone had stepped on it.
I picked it to enjoy the reast of the bloom time, when it twisted away at the base I thought it was odd. The inside of the stem was hollow and into the rizome there looked like a mite of some sort or tinney spiders.
Whaaat the?
Check it out at the Iris Forum. If you post the question there the pro's will help you find out what went wrong. A photo would be a big help. Take a photo of the rhizome, too, and feel it to make sure it's firm. Mushy is not good news with irises.
Still finding casualties! Helenium I planted in the fall. Planted three. One is dead for sure. A second is barely sending a shoot up. The third is fine. Thought these were easy! Last fall's perennials did not fare well as a group. And they were all large sizes. Weird since it was a mild winter.
Which Helenium, Victor? I planted a few from Dutch Gardens in April and had to pot them up. They're in full sun and all doing well.
Maybe the mild winter was the problem.
One variety was 'Morheim Beauty' and the other 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'.
My three are 'Morheim Beauty'. So far, so good.
Still in pots?
Uh oh! Yes. Is that the wrong thing for the time being?
I thought this was a colder than usual winter, no reliable snow cover and not mild at all...
No, I was just asking. I'm not the one to ask about them since these were my first. I'm a failure so far!
They ended up in a big pot because the space I thought I had for them was taken by other plants that arrived from a trader and they're far prettier than the Helenium. They'll end up in the "no I.D. daylily plot" when it's vacant - hopefully after they all have names and are either put at the curb or planted in other gardens here.
Wow - sounds like it's being banished to Potter's Field! What were the prettier plants?
Lilies, lilies and more lilies.
Hey, that's a good name for that plot, Victor. Potter's Field! I love it.
Pirl, my hydrangea was planted in summer of '06, so I haven't had it long. It was a pretty good size when purchased, and I was amazed at the growth last year for such a new plant...I guess I didn't realize they grew so fast. It's up against a fence that is on the north side of our property. Unfortunately, my yard is so small, that I don't know where I could move it to. It's sort of do or die for it, I think, unless I just give it away.
Here is a recent pic of it in all it's weirdness, with the naked canes in the middle. Pretty much every top pom pom of leaves there has a flower bud forming. After it blooms I am gonna have to come back here and get specific info about cutting back and rooting cuttings, because I know nothing of that!
