Every year, I hold my breath to see if my Japanese maples, Dogwood trees, Dawn Redwood, rhodos etc. have made it through the winter. Since I started spraying them in the fall with an anti-dissicant everything has survived each winter. I don't even wrap with burlap anymore. I live in a pretty exposed rural area, surrounded by empty farm fields in winter so the wind is my biggest nemesis. I've planted over 150 trees on my 1 acre property in the last 10 years but they still need to grow a bit to provide a really good windbreak.
I'm still waiting though to see whether my Yellow Groove Bamboo I planted last year made it or not. And my Foxtail Lily bulbs made it through with flying colours! I wasn't sure about those but figured if Patrick Lima at Larkwhistle in the Bruce Pennisula could grow them then so could I!

Bonniepunch - are most of your plants in pots?
Wyndyacre - my observation with foxtail lilies is that the problem is not hardiness, but providing adequate drainage. I've had the same plants of E. stenophyllus here in zone 3 for many years, but had many failures intially until I figured out that I was rotting them out during their dormancy period and/or over the winter. If you have the book or access to it, take a look at the photo of Eremurus native habitat in Rix and Phillips' Bulbs - a gravelly slope - it pretty much tells the story.

ABgardener - all of my plants are in pots!

My backyard is completly paved, and since we rent, I can't really dig it up. In order to have my perennials survive the winter, I build raised beds every fall next to the exterior walls. I fill these with soil from my veggie and annual pots, and burry my perennial pots in there. I can then mulch the whole bed and get a survival rate that is at least as good as those who can garden in the ground. It's a huge amount of work to set up and tear them down every year, but I have to do it - otherwise I'd be really limited in what I could grow. I'm still limited, of course, but more by lack of space than anything else.

I didn't know that there were some Eremurus hardy to zone 3! I guess this is just another case of the lower boundries not being thouroughly explored! I never even thought about trying them. I have way too many bulbs to overwinter inside as it is, so I didn't want any more. Hmmm... I might have to try them after all!

I was just out checking on my still dormant plants, and it looks like one of the rose of sharons that I got last year is waking up already - I was pretty sceptical about that making it, but whohoo!

I think I'm most happy to see that my 'Destined to See' daylily that I got last year has not only made it, but has twice as many fans as last year.

BP

What a great idea for patio and balcony gardeners, Bonnie! I didn't think i had a chance of overwintering anything on my balcony, but a box right next to the apartment wall filled with soil and mulched is something I'll definitely try someday! I am two zones down from you, but still, I think I'll try to overwinter some hostas in pots next winter using your method. Thanks for the great idea!

BTW, is 'Destined to See' really like the picture in the Vesey's catalogue? (I posted the link below) Did you get yours from Vesey's? I was very tempted to order it from them this year, and also 'Edge of Darkness' Daylily from Botanus, which looks even more purple, but I thought what's the point? I'd never be able to overwinter it. . . I may just have to order it next year. . . =)

Here is a link that might be useful: Daylily Pic

sahoyaref - the photo of 'Destined to See' in the Vesey's catalogus isn't accurate. It's waaay too blue. Here's a photo that I took last year. I still like the flower, but I was kind of peeved that the colour wasn't accurate!

{{gwi:526932}}

BP

Hi Bonnie,

I too was impress with this year survival rate but then again winter this year wasn't so bad in Montreal. I think we had like 2-3 weeks of really cold weather, the rest of the time it was mild.

Most of my plants made it through the winter. Its like Christmas all over again when I went out to clear the mulch 3 weeks back. Its so fun to see those that made it are sprouting. I had probably lost 3 - 4 plants one of which is my fortuni hosta and clamatis.

But I still have my finger cross to see if they will still come up. Perhaps they are late riser?

Cheers,

Chi.

Thanks for the info, Bonnie! I, too, am endlessly peeved at these companies who edit their photos to make flowers look more blue than they really are. It's really quite a difference, too, comparing your photo to theirs! People should have a right to know exactly what the plant looks like.

My photo is a bit dark, because there were a lot of dark clouds - it had just finished raining, as you can see :-). But the colour is accurate. Someone pointed out last year that it helps to know what colours are avaliable for any given flower, and since daylilies don't come in blue, there's no way Vesesy's photo could be accurate. I'm not sure I would have bought it if I'd known that earlier, but I don't mind so much, since I bought it during their half off sale (I still like it, I just liked the Vesey's photo more). I think I would have demanded a refund if I'd paid the full price - even at half off, it was quite expensive(for me anyhow). It was also quite small, only one *tiny* fan (it was up to three by the fall). I was pretty pessimistic about it surviving the winter, but I'm glad to have been proven wrong.

EthanCote - Hostas are pretty darn tough. Yours is probably just slow waking up. With all the cold rainy weather we've had, mine are only up an inch at most, and one has only just come up in the last week. I don't know about the clematis though - I've never had one. I know that there are several in my neighbourhood, and I didn't see any growth on them today - I was out snooping at all the local plants (mind you, I was on the sidewalk, a good 10 feet from them).

BP

Wyndyacre,

I never thought of trying anti-dessicant spray. I usually wrap in burlap or else cover with an old box. That's good to know that it works well. Does anyone else use this product?

I also heard that mulching the plants year round (or at least for the winter) helps prevent winter dessication. One theory is that by mulching the frost doesn't penetrate the ground so deeply, allowing the roots to thaw out quicker in spring and start taking up moisture. As long as the plant is taking up moisture, it can replenish moisture lost through the needles or branches by the sun and wind.

Here it was a fairly typical winter with the usual cold spells. I have yet to do a 'tally' of what survived, but alot of plants look good. I was amazed at how well my sungold falsecypress survived, basically covered with newspaper and buried under snowcover. My Hick's yew, however, suffered winter damage but more because it warmed up so quickly in late March, and I kept it covered too long. I shouldn't have had the blanket touch the branches, at least not when it warmed up.

Another theory of mine is that sometimes it's not the winter temperatures that determine how well plants survive, but the fall weather. A few years ago we had an unusually cold October. By the middle of the month the highs were only getting a bit above freezing. I don't think the plants had the proper warm days and cold nights to prepare for winter, because the next spring many conifers were damaged and especially plants in the 'prunus' family such as my purple leaf sandcherry and 'Rose' sour cherry.

Glen

Couldn't help but let you know that my Destined to see from Vesey's is gorgeous. Even last year - it's first year - it was far more purple than BP's photo above. It's not blue - of course, but the markings are purple (not reddish purple) and it's stunning. The markings are more violet than my Prairie Blue Eyes and deeper.

Just thought you's like to know...maybe in a few seasons yours will colour up nicely too. I too adore purple and hate duds that end up burgandy or purplish-red. I'm trying Epsom salts lately to improve colour.

So far my bluest daylily (ie more like purple) self is Hint of Blue - it is a slightly more intense shade than Prairie Blue Eyes.

Mary

Glen, I used Wiltpruf for the first time last fall and it worked great. (I'm in Hamilton.) All the evergreens I used it on came through with no brown and the rhodo leaves, in particular, looked plump and green in the spring. I've heard others use it on rose canes as well, so I'm going to try it on some of my roses which died back to the ground (although survived) this year. I'd like to find a cheaper source though as I paid $20/spray bottle for mine at a local nursery.