Water the dead things. It is very dry and they need all the help they can get. There are so many things to water I can't get it all done. The asparagus was doing nothing so I siphoned some water from a stock tank. In a few days, I had shoots. We have had lots of cloudy days with sprinkles but very little rain.

Dont give up on your crape myrtle, might take awhile.

Like you, I thought my Nandina were goners. But I pruned them anyway and saw green beneath the cambium layer. They are slowly leafing out...same for Endless Summer hydrangea (I didn't care if it made it or not!) , buddleias and salvia farinaceas.

Even the Black and Blue salvia which is iffy in my zone 6a came back larger than last year!

I can't figure it all out!

I definitely lost some sickly (due to RRD) roses and am wondering about ordering more. If I could get 4 years out of them, that would be worth it for me.

My Black and Blue salvia is coming up also. Nice surprise. I just noticed today my crape myrtles have a few little leaf buds starting near the bottom but in past years when mine were younger, they didn't start to leaf out until almost June.
Best surprise of all is that my Oscar Mulberry is still alive. It's just starting to leaf out and even has a few blooms. I was sure it was dead.

I haven't checked my crape myrtles yet down at the bottom. That is one bed that I haven't cleaned . It is full of cheat grass which is really thick this year; also henbit and dead nettle. The dead nettle is already dying and I have cleaned it from most beds.

I can't find time for planting for pulling weeds!

I sometimes wonder if we spent our time planting weeds, if we wouldn't have a weed free garden.

It seems what we try to coddle, dies :)

The first international symposium about Kurdistan's oil and gas

On Monday 21 April 2014 with the attendance of Soran University president, Dr. Muslih Mustaf and many local and international academicians as well as experts of oil and gas, Soran University held its first annual symposium on oil and gas. The symposium was under the title "KurdistanâÂÂs Oil and Gas: Curse or Blessing?â The symposium took two days and during this period, many international and local experts delivered their researches.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.soran.edu.iq

The first international symposium about Kurdistan's oil and gas

On Monday 21 April 2014 with the attendance of Soran University president, Dr. Muslih Mustaf and many local and international academicians as well as experts of oil and gas, Soran University held its first annual symposium on oil and gas. The symposium was under the title "KurdistanâÂÂs Oil and Gas: Curse or Blessing?â The symposium took two days and during this period, many international and local experts delivered their researches.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.soran.edu.iq

Our fig tree I thought was dead has put out new growth. Love it!

Cheri

I planted a cucumber where my dead fig was and now I see some small fig leaves under the cucumber vines.

Wow that's a very late return!
What kind of fig tree did you both plant? Had you wrapped them or did they survive with just mulch? I'd like to try planting one but I think I would forget to winter prep it like I should and it would die.
I have never tried a fresh fig so don't know if I would even like them. It's not something you see in the supermarket very often.

I ordered one from either Stark Bros or Henry Field and that one made it through the winter. I forget the variety.

The dead one was abused and had figs in other years that seemed to get ripe very late. It is Brown Turkey. It was in a pot and very neglected not fertilized not repotted. For several years I lugged it in my hall for the winter. I didn't think the few figs tasted very good. I put it in the ground last year after I saw figs outside at Powell Garden near Kansas City. Theirs were planted outside the greenhouse so may have been getting some heat from that. I think I did protect them with chopped leaves.