Alabama stretches pretty far north and south. What USDA zone are you in? If you are in zone 7, it is too early to toss out the plants. They start to pop up as late as mid-May in zone 7.

Do you mulch, and do you know your microclimate? You can grow a lot more plants if you can plan to deal with cold or hot spots, etc.

Thanks. I'm in Zone 7 - Central Alabama. The bed has pine bark mulch. I do not know my microclimate....but we live in a valley on a lake and it's always cooler here than over the mountain, towards town.

How do I find out/learn about my microclimate? I've been gardening for over 24 years, but in new house for 2. Learning to grow in full sun instead of full shade. Different temps (lake vs town). etc.

Well, a lot of observation is needed. A good time to start is to take note of where prevailing winds come from, which parts of the property are first to frost up, the direction that the biggest obstructions to both wind and sunlight come from.

Think of a house as a miniature mountain range and you will start to get the picture. For example, the east side catches and reflects sun first and blocks the colder west to northern winds better, while the west side stays cooler longer, then heats up fast and stays that way until sunset.

Thank you for the info.
fyi, here's a photo from last year of the bed. I had moved several St John's Wort and wasn't filled in when it was taken. I put in the salvia caradonna, black eye susan's, shasta daisies and the mexican bush sage. The wind comes down the lake - pretty much in the direction this was taken, so the bed gets a lot of abuse. I have to be careful not to plant things that are tall and cannot take the wind.

Thanks again.

Allison, I live in z7b in Raleigh, NC and the one Mexican Bush Sage that I left in the ground has been up for about two weeks now. I do not count on them surviving here and usually dig mine in the fall and put them in large pots in the crawl space along with lantanas, elephant ears and brugmansia. Now that I have an unheated greenhouse, I dig up and divide one or two plants just before the first frost and repot the pieces in gallon pots to keep in the greenhouse. These are really growing now and ready to trade or replant. The ones from the crawl space have just been brought outside and as soon as this week's cold weather passes, I will divide most of them to trade or give away. If yours have survived, you may be able to find signs of new growth starting just below the soil surface by carefully scratching around the base of the plants. With the dry, warm weather we have had this winter. odds are good that they will have survived.

I looked this morning....nothing coming in at the base. I was told they would survive our winters unless it was really bad. But like you said, last winter was mild. I'll give them a few more weeks, just in case.

Thanks for your replies.