So what did you lose last winter? By now you should have a pretty good idea, whether it is shrubs (or parts of them) that have failed to come into leaf, or perennials that just haven’t reappeared from the ground this year.
Last winter was a pretty hard one in the UK. Even down here on the south coast, we actually had snow lying and icy conditions. Further north, things were obviously a bit harder, with deep snow lying for weeks.
Slight signs of life in the cotinus
I have been very pleased to find that virtually everything survived the winter. The plant that seems to have suffered most is cotinus. Two of my three cotinus shrubs have lost major branches. Luckily part of the plants have survived, but the shrubs are now looking a little unbalanced. This weekend, I was going to tidy up some more twigs that I thought had also been lost, but on closer inspection, there appears to be slight signs of life on them. So, I’m going to wait a couple more weeks to see if they actually will come back to life.
A new hosta (with canine protection)
Other than that, I seem to have been very lucky. There are very few “holes” in my planting. There have been a few spots where I could put in an extra plant but really very few. Thank goodness the days of mass plant purchasing seem to be over. It wasn’t just the effect on my pocket, but rather the thought of having to dig holes and plant up to forty plants at a time. These days, it tends to be ten or less in one go. I bought three new hostas – this one has gone in a place that hisorically has not been good for plant survival. I’m not sure why it is, but the plant got immediate protection (the metal plant support), just in case it is the dogs that reduce my survival rates.
Our main herb pot
We always anticipate losing a lot of our herbs, after all they are mainly suited to a Mediterranean climate. This year, only a thyme and chives made it through, and the mint of course, but that is in a seperate pot. A couple of new herbs we are trying this year are Sorrel, for salad leaves with very interesting green and reddish leaves (at about 4 o’clock in the photo) and Hedge Germander, said to be good in vermouth, but I liked its lovely dark green leaves (at about 10 o’clock in the photo).
Keeping herbs in a pot is a must for us to avoid contamination from the dogs, but it is easier only having bitches. Luckily when dogs visit, the location of the pot, behind them as they come out of the door and on a small step, seems to mean that it is not an attractive target for leg lifting :).
We were very lucky this winter – hope you were as fortunate.
Gardening and dogs 
May 16, 2010 at 19:20
Interstingly here in southwestern Ohio USA, we had a winter that was more snowcovered than usual! And everywhere I go, garden clubs, etc all are saying how everything just came up healthy and strong this spring. So I am thinking our plants got a wonderful small dose of water during spring elt. Or they just got a lot of protection this winter and not so much freezing and thawing………what’s your take on that Finuala? It also helped a great deal that we didnt’ really have our typical cold snap early spring, which ususally hurts a lot of perennials most springs.
May 18, 2010 at 15:26
Interesting concept Bobbie, one that I hadn’t really thought about. I guess that it applies to anything that is regarded as hardy for the conditions you actually got.
The thing is that with climate change etc, many people are growing and trying to over winter plants that could not have been grown a few years ago. These are the ones that will be interesting to monitor over the years.
I agree about the cold snap. We had one last week, though fortunatley mild enough here not to have much affect, but friends further north certainly lost stuff that had made it through thus far in the year.