I had a baby crepe myrtle in a pot (about a year old) that lost all of its leaves. I just noticed yesterday that there were tiny buds on it again, so all may not be lost with them.

I would wait a little bit before digging seemingly dead plants up in disgust - some of them may still come back from the roots. My crepe myrtles and vitex are only now even starting to show faint signs of revival. Just keep them watered, without drowning them.

My crape myrtle looks pretty dead too--but I am giving it more time. I did transplant it to what I hope will be a nice spot- it was still in the nursery pot. Just in case it is ok. If it doesn't do something soon--well.. dunno. I could return it to the nursery-- but that doesn't seem quite fair somehow--it does have a guarantee but I feel like they took a bigger hit than I did with that cold.

You know...there are times when I ask myself WHY I am gardening. I don't need punishment. I don't need this grief. What am I thinking?

I hear ya about the losses. I'm so sorry. Man, do I know that pain!

Our trees are not leafing out yet. They are in full leaf over in Camden where I work but not here. Not ONE leaf. Five acres of bare trees because of one weekend of freezing temps. It's cruel. That's what it is.

So why do we garden? Well, because even when it freezes or gets nematodes or is eaten by pillbugs or dries up in a drought or gets whacked by Japanese beetles....(fill in the blanks - there is a wide smorgasbord of disaster) we still HOPE. We hope for that flowerbed that looks like we dreamed. We hope for that plant we've tried forever to start. We HOPE.

Sometimes it is hard to remember that.

If your crape myrtle and vitex are in the ground they will come back, don't worry.

Mexican bush sage is one of those iffy things in 7b. I usually try to root cuttings to overwinter in the fall because I can't trust it to come back. MBS roots very easily. Most pineapple sages are not hardy in this zone. I know there's a variety that is, but mine have always died. Did your monarda get killed in the freeze, or just die off over the winter? My B & B is just starting to peek out of the ground again after the freeze -- the first shoots were killed but not entire plants. So like Dibbit says I'd wait for at least a week of consistently warm temps before giving up. A lot of the plants you listed are hot weather plants and are often late to emerge in a typical spring.

Know you are not alone Hb, I had a smoketree, fringetree, sweetbay magnolia, azaleas, sweetspires, crossvine, snowbell, oakleaf hydrangeas, viburnums all with either flower buds or just beginning to flower and ALL zapped, every bud and flower gone....
All the new growth and leaves on everything else is just too numerous to mention and all dead looking...

BUT, I did take heart this weekend while listening to Mark Underwood from Underwood Nursery on his radio show in Greenville. He said to wait at least 3 more weeks before you get rid of something or prune anything in order to decide what made it and what didn't. It was his sentiment that almost everything still has a chance of bouncing back...
I'm crossing my fingers!

My gardens weren't badly hit but it's disturbing how many trees in the forest behind us are failing to re-leaf. Mostly the walnut trees and pawpaws.

My Henry evergreen Clematis stayed green all winter and it was just finishing blooming, but this freeze for some reason seemed to kill it and now it's all brown and crispy. Just too weird!

I'm so relieved to report that a sugar maple I thought was dying because it was so behind other maples in breaking bud has abruptly broken bud over the weekend. Hooray! It's the second tree in that front yard spot. The builder's landscapers put in the wrong variety, a red autumn color.
They replaced it with the sugar that colors to yellow orange.
All the street maples are autumn red but I had to be the oddball and request different. I have a ginkgo in the front yard also for fall color and it really got frosted.
I do hope it and my vitex trees re-leaf.

Are there any trees that won't put out a second burst of foliage if they're still alive?

No. But it may take another 2-3 weeks for the plants to leaf back out again. Until now it hasn't been as warm as it was before the freezes.

Rootdigger, to my knowledge, Henry isn't one of the evergreen clematis, so it must be another one that you have. My Henry seems to have died over the winter, but I am hoping for re-growth from the roots. I love the big white flowers over the summer. My other clematis that were either blooming or in bud seem to have come through the freeze fine, although the high winds a little later did burn a few leaves.

You're right, it's armandii. For some reason I was thinking Henry was the cultivar but it's snowdrift.

It is disheartening to have to look at the damaged plants when we go out to do our usual happy spring gardening. My "Grandma" gardenia was burned horribly and is very visable in my main large bed and my poor new Fringe tree I see every time I pull in the driveway. It makes it hard to get back to business as usual and imagine what it will hopefully look like after the plants recover. Between the freeze and the critter damage I just have to focus on the beautiful things that are still there.

my persimmon still looks so sad. it's breaking my heart. i know it will probably eventually leaf out, but i hope it didn't really set it back. i love that tree and its fruit. most of my other freeze damaged stuff is releafing already, at least to some degree. the sweet cherry still looks very sad, though, as does the one fig.

speaking of critter damage, the deer are getting bold and last night ate the tops off a bunch of my strawberry plants. guess we're going to have to get serious about doing something now that they're getting bold and doing damage in the front yard. i don't want them tasting everything and deciding it's a smorgasbord. then i'll really have a tough time breaking the habit.

you're right though, shari- just concentrating on what does look nice helps offset the problems. i guess it's always something.

I have a childhood friend who just lost her 21 year old son in Iraq. I count everything I have as a blessing. I thank God for every frost damaged plant and tree. For in them I can see new life emerging with time. Let this freeze be a lesson, however beautiful and perfect things may seem, they are but a temperary gift to be cherished while they are here.

Well, that sure puts it in perspective. And you are so right.

Please tell your friend from this total stranger that I cannot even imagine the extremity of her pain and loss but, as one mother to another, I feel so sorry and wish her peace somehow.