I am also noticing some strange patterns. All of the most tender southern plants in my yard came though this winter unscathed. But as I drive around, I do see a few rhodies with severe burn. Why? These same rhodies were untouched last winter. And at my work place, there is a large patch of leucothoe that has been growing fine for many years with no winter damage. But it is very scorched now. It doesn't make sense!

I''m glad to read about your thriving garden, Bill; since you may want to live in it while your house is being fixed after the flood.

In my RI garden my rosemary (not Arp) would survive 2 or 3 years then somehow die at the next springtime. Go figure.

What doing really really well (that's sarcasm) are the wild onions, sprouting everywhere. Spent too much time yesterday and got sunburned in spite of SPF 67 sunscreen, digging them out from in between oregano, iris, lily of the valley. Some weeds are like rust, "it never sleeps" and the weeds cozily spread all winter under the mulch and snow. It's either onions or ajuga repens (bugleweed) everywhere.

Carol

Maybe some plants only get into a semi-dormant mode (if there is such a thing) because of the milder-than-usual winter? Then they are susceptible to less of a freeze than they normally can handle. Just a thought.

Even my spring-blooming camellias are fine. Not a leaf out of place and the buds all swelling nicely. Often, only some that are deeper inside the shrub (protected?) bloom OK. But this year they are all fat and ready to bloom.

Carol,
Thanks for the note of concern! We are able to stay in the house OK. Just completely weary from wet vacuuming, bailing, wringing out towels (we put them on the carpet, stomp on them, and take them outside, wring them, let dry and repeat ad infinitum!) But it seems to be working. Been spreading some Arm & Hammer (product placement!) stuff that says it removes odors and kills mold/mildew/germs. Let it sit a while then vacuum. Every window in the basement is opened and fans everywhere. Just so tired...............
I hope they were right that this only happens every 100 years because next time I'll be too old to do it myself! LOL!

Bill

I am also scratching my head at what did well and what didn't. We had a low of minus 2.5 over the winter which is better than past winters. The problem for me this winter was a definite lack of precipitation. Not very much snow and periods without snow cover and not very much rain until March. I remember last fall was unusually warm for a long time and I wonder if that had something to do with it.

All my hydrangeas are leafing out all the way up the stems too. Yet Hellebores, although they all came back, were late to start showing and now I only have two that are blooming and two that are not. They are also smaller and fewer blooms than last year. I did plant some very small pots of double hellebores last fall and they all came back which surprised me.

Luecothoe looks gr*eat and so does Ilex Sky Pencil and Ilex Hon*ey Maid, but Sunny Foster is dead as a doornail. One Blueberry Bush made it and one didn't. Three Southern Comfort Verbascum and my only Eupatorium Chocolate didn't come back and neither did any gaura.

I had buds on the lilac bush last year on April 8th and this year, I have leaves already. Two clematis came back gr*eat and one montana Mayleen didn't. Even the viola odorata came back for the fourth season but not blooming as well as last year.

Last year, I didn't have one loss in the spring, but if I remember right, we had great snow cover all winter that year.

Oh, yippee, I'll have to go look - maybe some of those darn eupatorium chocolate bit the dust; one can only hope (they are pernicious weeds here, sorry, PM2!). On the other hand, I guess I'd better stop crowing and patting myself on the back about the camellia that survived. I thought it was due to my horticultural talents, but maybe it's just the result of an odd winter.

Bill, my rosemary all looked good in late winter, too, just a few weeks ago, and is now fried. It's not Arp, just the straight species, as far as I know. I was getting ready to celebrate that one, too.

My potted rosemary had to be moved to a sunnier, drier spot. It was just getting waterlogged.

It's much too early to be writing things off. Though looking at the garden this afternoon made me realize that before I can figure out what I lost, I have to remember where I put it. A lot of things got moved around last fall.

I'm always surprised at what comes through well and what doesn't, there's not always logic or consistency there. My rhodies and pieris came through great, but a leucothoe and dwarf mountain laurel planted late last summer have a lot of winter burn. My one hellebore is blooming but I had to cut off most of the foliage which was really crisped. I had a couple of miniature hollies in a container on a post, totally exposed to the elements, and was surprised to see them green through at least February--when they suddenly turned brown and crisp (and sharp!). They were bought as disposable seasonal decorations anyway, now replaced with pansies. The hydrangeas are budding out, but the oakleaf hydrangeas are still basically sticks. Do they bud out bright green like other varieties, or darker? I guess I'll have to wait a bit to decide whether they're still alive.

I'm liking more and more the microbiota we've got in several spots: it does OK in shade, it's much softer than rug juniper, it takes TONS of snow load from shoveling the driveway without complaining or breaking, and there's been virtually no winterkill. It's fun to watch it lose its bronze winter color and turn green this time of year, it seems to happen almost overnight.

dtd, I have expected to see seedlings in the yard but in five years, I've never had one seedling from that chocoate eupatorium. Have no idea why.

Pieris and Rhododendrons look pretty good. one native rhododendron has some ugly leaves but not many.

My oakleaf hydrangeas have me wondering. One doesn't seem to have that many buds on it while the other one has more but on one side. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to prune them hard. They were just starting to take on some decent size. I would be very sad to lose these, I just love them.

PM and lovesummer,

My oak leaf hydrangeas are just showing typical tiny light green leaves all over. Performance as usual. Mine are standard size, and an old variety I'm sure as they were given to me by my grandfather years ago. PM if you lose yours I have tons. I am always pulling out babies that spread from the older parts, to keep the pathway clear. I could send you one no problem.

Bill

I may take you up on that Bill. My wife planted a couple of Oak Leafs that presently don't look like they made it. Strange, because all our other hydrangeas did just fine.

Hi Bill, I just came in from the gar*den and to my delight, I see buds that are actually turning green, I see enough of them that I think there is hope. On both shrubs I'm going to have to trim off a couple of branches, but I think I will still be left with a good frame. I'm going to wait until it leafs out to trim off any dead branches. Yay! Very considerate to offer your seedlings. Thanks a lot! Funny, I never see seedlings from mine. I do mulch a lot, maybe that's the reason.

Oakleaf hydrangeas can be slow to establish, but they are really reliably hardy and will come back from the roots if pruned hard - although flowering is usually on the previous year's growth.

If you managed to kill one, donaldb, I'd like to know how you did it. I get a lot of volunteers, some a good distance from the parent plants - far more than I really want. I'm going to have to start a ruthless pruning scheme, or resign myself to having a garden made up mostly of oakleaf hydrangeas, or move away.

Oh, I've killed oakleaf hydrangeas. It's simple - just stick them outside in an exposed location when it's -15°F.

That also kills a lot of other things.

That's good to know dtd. I will have to start looking harder for seed*lings, but we keep a good mulch down and I wonder if that would help you to have less seed*lings? Or could it be that one zone colder isn't allowing seeds to survive?

Ann,
I don't see a lot of seedlings, probably because I mulch that area and weed it often. What I do see are a lot of are new suckers sprouting from/near the older stems. I have to thin them to keep the whole shrub in check. So some of the plants I pull out are pretty well rooted and ready to thrive. I just don't have room to plant them anywhere else.
Bill

Hmmm....I'll have to check around the base to see if I have suckers too. It really doesn't take long to fill a garden does it? [g] I think I still have a few areas I am planning on renovating but before I know it, I won't have room for another shrub, unless I am replacing something. Your oakleafs must be large. Mine have only been in the ground three years but are doing well.

Some of the volunteers from my oakleaf hydrangeas are about 20 feet from the closest parent. I think they may be root cuttings left by voles - can't imaging a root traveling that far without some kind of help.

I don't think they're seedlings, though ... something about the way the stems are already thick, where I'd expect a seedling to be wispier. These are along a brick path along the long side of the pool, if that sheds any light.

My oak leafs are probably 40 years old. They are well established. I have a clump of the old standard daylily (from Gandma's garden and have no idea if it's a hybrid or now.......just the familiar orange). The daylilies and oakleaf bloom at the same time, and it's a nice combination.

Oak Leaf Hydrangea and daylilies

Also nice in the fall!
Oak Leaf Hydrangea (H. quercifolia) fall colors

Wow, Bill!! That is some gorgeous oakleaf! I also just love the view of your property. A nice clear sparkling day there, too. Do you get winter moths there? We have been having them for the past 6 years and they make a mess of the fol*iage on some of the shrubs nearest to the trees. My oakleaf fol*iage never looks that good by fall. [g] Although I do get that great color. Do you have a certain variety of oakleaf? I look forward to mine being even 10 years old. Thanks for posting great photos.

Ann,
I don't know what winter moths are so I'll say no, I don't get them. I suppose I would have noticed something eating my garden!

As for the variety I have no idea. A gift from my grandpa over 40 years ago. Same as those daylilies.

Bill

You're right, you would definitely know it if winter moths were in your area. Well, since your oakleaf is 40 years old, I guess we can rule out any recent hybrids. :-) It must be wonderful to have gar*deners in the family and to be a second or third generation gar*dener. No one in my family gardened when I was growing up. I have been told I had two great aunts that were avid gar*deners though. I wasn't able to ever meet them though. Thanks again for great photos.

Bill,
Rather than telling you what I think you want to hear I would suggest you read the thread below and its links before you become too "cavalier" about the winter moth reeking havoc in RI.

Here is a link that might be useful: When to treat for winter moths?

Katy I don't really know what you're trying to say. All I said is that I haven't seen or had any type of moth problem, or I probably would have noticed and then researched it. I don't see where my message was "cavalier" about the subject, nor how you know what I want to hear. Did you mean "wreaking havoc"? Unless of course the moths smell bad! LOL!

Did you mean "wreaking havoc"? Unless of course the moths smell bad!LOL!
LOL! Well I hope I never have to smell one. The thought of the caterpillars raining from the trees as described by those hardest hit by them is enough to turn my stomach. Bill all I was trying to gently say was as they are established in RI they could unexpectedly show up and do a good amount of damage to your lovely property.

Katy,
If they show up here I'll have to deal with it. So far I've been lucky. Maybe they aren't as common in urban areas. Could that be? I do see a lot of those tent worm caterpillars in spring, but usually only out in the boonies and woods. Fingers crossed!
Bill

Survivor...my white ball butterfly bush has sprouts on all the stems, usually it dies back to the ground. No sign of life from my oakleaf hydrangea yet. I think I need to move it, I think it needs more sun (north side, mostly shady, just some sun first thing and then later), it has never bloomed (3 years?).

Sue, in the photo I posted above, you can see that my oak leaf hydrangea is in full sun. The back of it is somewhat under the blue spruce tree, and seldom has flowers on that side. So I think moving yours to full sun would be a good thing.
My butterfly bushes are also sprouting from old wood all the way to the tips. Usually there is some die back.

Bill

My Eupatorium 'Chocolate' finally showed up but the Gaura are still a no show. Still not seeing Eupatorium 'Little Joe' though.

I also just wanted to add, that I tried my oakleaf in more sun for two years and it barely survived the location so I finally moved it. I think the issue was that in the more sun location it received more wind and it was drier. It did a lot better in the new location with morning sun. It doesn't bloom as much as Bill's. I do have one more that is sitting facing south but is shaded by late afternoon by a tree to it's west. That one is growing faster and it's base is shaded by a fence, so it stays pretty moist. I'm expecting this one to bloom more. It's still young, so I'm waiting for it's best year to come.