o r "Taking Stock," or "Dead, Alive, or Indian food"
There are only three sure bets: Death, taxes and dirty laundry (for the very wealthy and privileged, I'm not so sure about the last two). Life is the gamble. Although the odds of life winning out are strong, the game may be up with a sudden spin of the wheel. This is particularly true in the garden. We anxiously watch for the reappearance of favorite plants or cautiously inspect the stems and branches for signs of life: did it make it through the winter? We sometimes precipitously declare a death, but, to take a line from Miracle Max in The Princess Bride,
"there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead."
It pays to wait before yanking something out or planting something where you think a plant has died. Here's a plant that was "mostly dead" back in April.
Here's the same Centaurea 'Gold Bullion' now.
There's a bud forming in there.
I was convinced I had killed a Caryopteris. It showed no sign of life back in March, but look at it now.
Caryopteris 'Jason' (Sunshine Blue™) is supposedly borderline hardy in Zone 5, and is sometimes listed as hardy only to Zone 6. I'm glad I didn't yank it.
Then I was certain that I had lost all three Asclepias purpurescens, when I discovered one alive and forming buds.
But the biggest surprise came yesterday. Last fall I decided to try to overwinter an Oxalis in the house in a container. The plant was too big for the pot, so I divided it. On a crazy whim (I just love to live dangerously), I stuffed the division in the ground next to the chimney under the 'Betty Corning' clematis. It's the most protected spot in the garden. Spring came and went, with no sign of life. I had written it off. Then, while deadheading the Clematis, I noticed a spot of purple.
It's Alive! Just barely, and nowhere near the two Oxalises I have in containers which are in full bloom. But hey, Oxalis triangularis isn't hardy to Zone 5. I win.
But then there's the situation where a plant is alive when the snow melts, only to succumb later. The Erysium was fine all winter. It was sowbugs eating out the stems that did it in this spring. Similarly, the Scabiousa 'Beaujolais Bonnets' were alive when the snow melted. I didn't realize that they had gotten part of their roots out of the ground. I stupidly watched them dwindle and die.
I experimented with overwintering three shrubs in containers that I received for free as trial plants from Proven Winners. One, a butterfly bush, I put in a hole (the kids' "Worm Cafe") and filled the hole with shredded leaves. The second, a variegated Rose of Sharon, went up against the east side of the house and surrounded by a few pots of perennials and covered with shredded leaves. The third plant, a pink-flowered Annabelle-type Hydrangea "NCHA1" (Invincibelle Spirit™) was plunged into the soil in the new fountain bed. I've declared death in the cases of the butterfly bush and the Hibiscus.
But the Hydrangea is looking spiffy.
It needs a new home before it becomes pot bound.
While I'm on the subject of free trial plants, I have excellent news to report on the promising new lace-cap Hydrangea macrophpylla 'PIIHM-1' known as Twist-n-Shout™. Not only did it come through the winter with limited die back, but it's already forming buds.
I posted about planting it last fall.
I know I'm not the only one. Shyrlene, at The Bunnies' Buffet, recently posted of similar experiences. Have any of your plants made miraculous recoveries or risen from the dead?