Brutal Winter-finally most pips are showing

[boops]

Good Lord what a winter we had here, sub zero temps, snow, ice, flooding rains, lots of wind-late freezes . I didn't think it would ever end. Raked and bagged 72 large construction bags of leaves and debris early in March so as not to step on any pips. Did this also in the fall after cutting back the Hostas, (50 bags of leaves).
Finally signs of spring , most hostas are showing pips. Day lilies are all up looking pretty good. Lost numerous perennials . Most gardens still look like a plant tag grave yard.
Hope you all did okay with your winter weather, will be posting photos when I have something to take pictures of LOL.

[Linda P]

My hostas are just breaking ground this week. I'm almost done raking, just a few more small spots to go. Thankfully, I don't have to bag everything up. What I don't shred with my lawnmower gets hauled out to the pasture to put on a brush pile. I was thinking yesterday about the spring two years ago when all the hostas were not only up but unfurled by this time; so glad they are not up yet! There's another cold wave on the way. We escaped to Texas for a couple of months and missed out on the worst of the brutal winter here in Illinois, where we had record snowfall, record cold, and lots of wind to go with it all.

[boops]

I feel for you Linda-this winter was awful. Finally breaking the 50's and 60's only pips here, nothing unfurling yet. Planted a few new ones I got from Chris. Hoping for some rain today, or else here starts the water bills . Good luck with getting your cleanup done. I have to bag everything because we don't have a lawnmower.

[Linda P]

It's amazing how quickly the hostas are springing up. Every year it seems that I forget how fast they come on. We had a little rain last night, more on the way today, and that's a good thing! Those spring rains really perk the garden up in a hurry. I'll try to blow it your way so you don't have to break out the hoses. It's just way too early to have to start watering.

[boops]

Thanks Linda, we got a drizzle yesterday, not even worth mentioning, supposed to rain tomorrow a bit. I will start using hoses if we don't get a substantial rain because the trees have not leafed out yet and the sun is drying the soil quickly. Crossing fingers for some rain.

[kHT]

Out here we have a week of wet, sending it all your way as I'm starting to think about building an ark there is so much water.

[redcrx]

I'm out looking at the damage from this winter. A large yellow flowering butterfly bush is gone. My purple ones are all dead on top with some life at the bottom but I use these to shade some of my hosta pots. A large gardenia is gone - that shaded some "in ground" hosta. I just noticed some of my Encore azaleas were damaged - hopefully they have some life at the bottom.

[boops]

Sorry for all your losses Redcrx-my azaleas are pretty puny looking as are my roses. Lost one butterfly bush, my bloomerang lilac is spindly, can't find half of my Columbine and my potted purple pygmy agastache and my potted gaura all gone. All my Daylilies & Hosta appear to have made it. However brunnera & sedum that was coming up was hit by a late freeze w/snow now they look wilted. Don't know what to do with them. Do I cut off the wilt or just leave them alone???

[Linda P]

Many losses here this winter, too. Plants that are reliably hardy here and have gone through many winters were severely damaged. Quite a few of the evergreens are browned to the point I'm not sure they'll recover, though I'm leaving them alone as long as I can stand to look at them. I lost almost all of the ground cover sedums, a big patch of thyme has been reduced to just a few sprigs still alive, and a little creeping veronica that was a pass along plant from a friend who is no longer living is almost gone. I hope there is enough of it left to be able to survive. I haven't even looked at the azaleas yet, and I'm afraid to. I planted a couple of new ones last fall, the super hardy types, but not sure if they were able to make it. I bought a beautiful oak with cut-leaf foliage from Botanaphila in Wisconsin that has been eaten down to a stub by the rabbits. There seems to be some life near the bottom, but it will be a long time before it will look anything like a tree. I guess the best way to look at it is that it's a great time to restructure parts of the garden!

[boops]

Gosh we all took a beating this winter

[Linda P]