hi Njtea,
I have also been noticing winter losses and setbacks. Among plants which usually I would take for granted would come back after the coldest winter.
2 common sages, one of which I already dug up after getting tired of waiting for it to come back to life. It had some green, so it was alive, but 95% of it was brown, and I've never seen that happen before. The other common sage, has a little more new growth, so I'll give it a chance.

I know there are other plants of a normally hardy nature, which I can't remember now, but when I'm at the garden I look for them and realize that they're gone. It's ok, gives me more space to plant new things, but I do think in my 5 years of gardening, this was the worst winter as far as taking a toll on plants.

The bad part for me of this winter is that I was planning to let a lot of volunteer plants come up and flourish, so less work for me. A whole bunch of them, gaillardas for example, emerged during the winter warm spell, then got zapped when winter returned. So I have a lot less volunteers than I had expected.

ellen

I seemed to have lost alot, but also gained alot from reseeding!

I believe my "new" echinacea's are toast. "Mango Meadowbright", "Harvest Moon", "Double Decker" aren't showing any signs of life. I can't recall if "Mango Meadowbright" was a late starter last year. I ordered a 3pk of "Double Decker" from Bluestone two years ago; they never returned. They sent me replacements last year, and this year, they haven't returned. I've had it with the new echinacea's. I'm sticking to "White Swan" and "Ruby Star"; at least they're reliable in my garden.

I lost a foxglove, 2 penstemons, some columbines, some tubular agastache canas, a few Agastache "Salmon & Pink", a native lobelia, Oenothera "Sunset Blvd", just off the top of my head. I'm still in doubt about a hibiscus coccineus; there's absolutely no sign of life, and the hibiscus moscheutos are just starting. I know there's still hope for the h. coccineus, since someone else in MD said they could show up in June. I'll keep my fingers crossed; what a beauty!

My phloxes seem to have reseeded, pretty far away from the main plant. This hasn't happened before and it actually quite a surprise, welcomed of course. Some of my agastache's (the poofy ones) have reseeded nicely, and far away from the parent plants. This might be a problem, but for now, they'll do. The "Lady In Red" salvias reseeded HEAVILY, much more than expected. There's seedlings everywhere! The plants were in windowboxes on my deck, and they reseeded to potted perennials on the deck, as well as the beds beside the deck. The hummers will be happy ;)

As sad as these losses are, at least I know it's not me-I thought somehow I had killed my sage! I think that weird thaw and then the hard freeze was just brutal for my plants. I'm still sorting out which is gone, and which is late.

Dianthus Bath's Pink is barely there - I got it 8 years ago and it had spread and thrived. My southwestern salvias and agastaches all croaked, but hesperaloe and zauschneria held on.

Crocosmia Lucifer is back, but C. masonorum died out in the good loose soil - the corms had pushed themselves to the very top and the cold got them. But where they grew in heavy clay they stayed down low and made it through.

The fig and Salvia Black and Blue were slow, but they're there.

Hibiscus coccineus is sprouting, all three of them.

The spigelia from Mississippi - no problem!

I had cannas, Cestrum nocturnum, hedychium and brugmansia in the garage - not happy campers, mostly DOA.

Tracey, I saw the first hummingbird today - and the clay-tolerant butterflyweed I grew from your seeds is doing fine.

My losses were attributable to vole damage; root systems and stems gnawed. Warmth-loving tender perennials such as cannas, basjoo banana, Hippeastrum (amaryllis), crinums, dieback Cestrums, Salvia elegans, S. guaranitica, Lantana camara 'Miss Huff', L. horrida, etc. are reappearing now. They're a little late, but that's no surprise given the weather. Hedychiums haven't yet sprouted, but rhizomes were ok last month and I keep backups in pots.

Clethra is a late leafer. Mine are just leafing out. Sixteen Candles seems to have died back considerably but a few stems started. I see growth from the ground. You can check by cutting a stem or two back and look for the green just under the bark. Once you find some, you might be able to tell by the color of the stem. I cut them a little back anyway. Also you can try bending a few tips and see if they are brittle.
There is a lot of dieback this winter, especially with broadleaf evergreens. I've done the helpline since it opened and the number one question I get is about dieback especially on rhododendrens - but conifers too.
I noticed most of the terminal buds on my oakleafs are dead but the second set did OK. Some H. macs are budding already. Some died half back. Most of the deciduous azaleas are flowering poorly - but they have caterpillers already and that didn't help. I lost corydalis elata, some hellebores, but I don't think I lost the fancy echinaceas. I'll have to inventory them tomorrow. The hibiscus KopperKing and Plum something or other are just sprouting along with other seedlings. Cryptomeria looks terrible, a ninebark died back a bit, itea is half the size but leafing out, a mock orange died way back for the first time. Camellias look terrible - sorry I got them. The biggest disappointment is the azalea 'Koromo Shikibu' which died 2/3 back and a fancy toadlily which is still missing.

Oh, I did lose Musa basjoo too. It had survived the previous winter :(b

My zone is milder, but this Winter was the worst. Perhaps the warm Fall, into almost Christmas, did not give plants the chance to get ready for the terrible February.

Bogturtle, I think you are exactly right. Everything was so confused, even into January, and they simply did not have a chance to harden off. I too had a lot of die back on a lot of my roses, some of which is just now showing up. I only had one foxglove to survive the winter and one hollyhock. You just never know what to expect.

I have noticed that some plants, although not woody plants, have done very well.

Where I had 5 of the asclepius that the Monarchs feast on last year, this year there are 23. I've also noticed in the woodland that the Solomon's Seal seems to be much more prolific this year.

One woody plant that returned was a Salvia greggii. That amazed me.

all but one of my perennials made it, i lost a newly planted black-eye susan. but we've had a fair bit of shrub/tree death. i just shovel pruned my skip laurel due to ugliness from dieback. had significant dieback on some of our recently planted leucothoes too. sadly two small (oak) trees in our wooded area didn't make it due to root/light competition. and i'm eyeing my neighbor's yard where a big ash has not leafed out.

but i join loretta in saying 'wait and see' with your clethra. mine is just starting to leaf out now, starting with a few green leaves at the bottom of the plant. of course i've also found dozens of aphids on everything and already lost a dozen peony and rose buds to caterpillars. the wierd winter might have killed our plants, but it's another banner year for them pesky insects!

I just came across this thread. In central NJ, I lost a LOT of material on my small lot. All these items were fine last season and had normal winter buds.
Rhododenron bakeri and R. cansescens were killed back to near ground level. OK, both species naturally occur further south, but the former has been in the garden 3 years, and the latter 12 years without problem.
Several heather, Calluna vulgaris, in various locations which have been growing fine for 7 years or so.
Cercis canadensis "Silver Cloud", fine for the last 7 years or so, just a couple of live branches now.
A large, old yew that has been in place for decades.
A Shasta Viburnum that has been fine for 6 or 7 years.
A Japanese Maple had several branches killed, this was transplanted last year (in Spring) and fine in fall, but it may have been weakened by transplanting.
I think it was the odd weather pattern that caused problems. Oddly, my crepe myrtle seems to be fine.

The fancy echinaceas are all accounted for.
Kitova - I have a zoo in my yard this year. So many plants are being munched on, new ones I haven't noticed before. I haven't sprayed though because the beneficials are around too and mostly I don't spray. Lots of baby lady bugs and hover flies eating the aphids but there are a lot more than aphids around.

Losses

1 tricyrtis (the other survived).
Viburnum bodnantense "Dawn"
Viburnum, "Michael Dodge"
Substantial dieback on magnolias Ann and especially Jane.

(The two viburnums and the magnolias were not doing well last summer as well).

Possibly musa basajoo (my friend who gave it to me said theirs has not broken ground but they dug up and saw life underground).

Poor flowering on camellias and more burnt leaves than normal.

The pluses
Unusually long lilac season.
Magnolia virginiana Santa Rosa was entirely evergreen
Very good flowering on phlox divaricata.
Nice hellebores (double the flowers and good growth.