Hi Patreesh,

Some of my ES are just starting to break dormancy and have leaf buds.

Yes, they still look like dried up sticks but, near the bottom, there are green leaf buds.

Limelight starts sooner. I have another hydrangea, one that is pure pink and have long forgotten the name, and that is late to break dormancy too, as always, but it eventually gets going.

I guess I would tell you to be a bit more patient.

All the best!

Hi Patreesh,

I have the same situation as lionheart...green at the base has been showing for about a week. Everything on the stalks is dead. It's good the stalks are not leafing out yet, as my experience is that they are quite frost-sensitive, and this next week is going to get cold at night.

Good luck with them! Lois

Thank you lionhart and hilomark. I investigated further and sure enough there are tiny green buds at the base of the plant! If only my delphiniums would come back.... Have either of you done climbing roses? If so, what roses did you have luck with and was it necessary to protect them during the winter?

Re: For easy-care climbling roses in our climate, I would look into the Canadian Explorer series--some are climbers...I have a 'William Baffin' rose that is very happy here, and have just ordered a couple of 'John Cabot' for a wrought iron structure I bought last year. I keep William Baffin trimmed, but 'he' would like to climb quite high, and there is little cane dieback even with no protection.

Lois