I planted a native Fringe Tree in March of this year that is barely hanging on from the freeze/drought conditions. I may lose it yet. I think I have lost a variegated white cedar that was planted last fall. Dwarf Bald cypress barely hanging in there. A bad year for newly planted woodies to say the least. My established old fashioned Gardenia has rebounded well though. As far as perennials go- I'm in the yanking mood. Put up or get out. I've got replacements waiting in the wings.

I haven't really noticed any difference, probably because I am on a well and have been able to water. There are always losses every year due to something.

Glad for you, Alicia - watering has been key and you're very fortunate to have had ample well water rather than the treated City water many of us have been stuck with. City water is better than nothing, but takes a toll in its own way on frost and heat stressed plants nonetheless.

My first full year gardening, what a year to start huh?

I lost a fall planted Endless Summer that had just begun to leaf out when the freeze hit. It never recovered.

I also lost a Tom Knudsen camellia, also fall planted, that seemed to come through the freeze fine. It withered up and died in July despite regular watering. It was only a baby and I was told the freeze probably got its vascular system. I also have a Debutante camellia that is touch and go. Same symptoms as the Tom, but when I did a little cutting I found green, so she may make it yet.

I did loose a few daylilies that might have been too small a division and that I probably didn't get enough water to.

That freeze was bad for a lot of somewhat marginal plants like camellias and gardenias -- the earlier warm weather must have triggered a hormone or vascular change in the plants, because the "late" freeze killed off at least a third of a gardenia in my garden that had done fine in lower temps all winter. The gardenia has since recovered, but still hasn't bloomed.

Yes, we do have a lot of water here. There needs to be some big advantage to living near (instead of in, after moving the house) a bottomland. :)

I am also lucky to have a well and the drip irrigation system I set up (on a timer so I don't have to remember.) All of the new shrubs I planted have done pretty well. However anything not on irrigation is really suffering, including most of the large trees on our property, especially the ones who's roots were compacted during construction in 2005. Of course the grass is toast and the pastures are awful- that, coupled with a bad hay year, spells trouble for the horses come winter.
The late freeze got 2 newly planted white chocolate crepe myrtles and killed them to the ground, but they returned and are now blooming their little heads off. My 2 year old climbing rose "Eden' had a hundred buds and all were nipped. It tried to put out new ones, but the dry spring brought thrips, so the second batch was gone too. The plant looks great now, but I think I got one measly bloom.
On a positive note- several of the plants I got at the spring swap have done great on the new hillside garden (without irrigation) including yarrow, purple stockings monarda, sedum, liripoe, and a purple penstomen

We have a well, but no irrigation system. I've only watered enough to hopefully keep most things alive. Partly because it's a pain to drag hoses all over the yard, especially in 100 degree heat, and partly because my husband has heard too many stories about wells running dry. Forget that those were much more shallow wells than ours. He is a professional worry-wart. Many of my daylilies have gone dormant this summer. They're still alive, at least most of them, but they have no leaves. My cannas never did do much this year. I think I got about 3 blooms out of all of them and the foliage never got as tall as it should. My colocasia has pretty much disappeared. Most everything else managed OK with the freeze and is sticking out the drought - lost a couple of newly planted things. BUT, the deer have done a real number on my yard this year - eating things they've always bypassed before.
Dana

dana, i'm so relieved to hear your daylilies went dormant! only a couple varieties even barely bloomed, then promptly lost most or all their leaves. so, i was beginning to think i killed mine by not watering. i don't recall them doing this during the last bad drought and i didn't water them much then either. whew!

out of curiousity how deep is your well? i worry about ours too and it's 100'. but, so far so good. i have been watering a lot more than i normally do this summer because i put so many things in the ground early on. i only hand water- no irrigation or sprinklers (i do use child labor, heh heh). unfortunately, even with the watering i've lost about 1/2 or more of what i put in this spring. the watering does seem to do some good- esp when we do get rain, it really helps it sink in since the soil isn't dry and cracked. i have a lot of stuff in containers for myself, permanent and temporary, and the fair, so i have no choice but to water them every other day or so.

everything looks pitiful- not many blooms except on really drought tolerant stuff, and half or less of the size that things typically get to. but the bulk of my established stuff is hanging in there and should be back for another show when we eventually, ever? get rain again. i'm really hoping most of my woodland stuff chose early dormancy and haven't croaked. i did loose a couple of my dwarf potted fruit trees to the freeze subsequent problems. but most of the freeze damaged stuff bounced back fairly well, given the drought.

Thanks to all above - I'm still counting myself among the lucky .... few lossss so far. Some of my underperformers really were ready for the lift and divide phase, so I'm not really sure what has been beat down by the heat & drought and what would have been tired anyway.

Alicia above mentioned camellias and gardenias - fwiw, I have gardenias that I have spoon fed for years w/no blossom return, seems I get no respect and no thanks for keeping them alive. OTOH, I have a few winter blooming camellias that, when not hit by deep January temps, have over-performed. This past pseudo-winter was prime for them - they were spectacular and are now my desktop background.

So, the beat goes on .... such an adventure!

The outer garden (started in fall 2006) has done better than my cottage garden started in 2005. I intended for the outer garden to be deer and drought tolerant and that's successful. I'm sure it would look better with rain, but it doesn't look bad.

My cottage garden has been hit hardest with the drought since it's full-sun all day. Only the shady corner against the garage wall looks lush.

The crepe myrtles came through in spite of the frost. The JBs hit our shrub variety, but left the large trees alone.

My KO roses did okay through the frost, but the JBs really devasted them in spite of organic efforts. I think I will just cut them back to canes next year at the first sign of JBs. They are now rebounding and will look great in a week or so. Last October, they were spectacular.

We are on a 250' deep well, but our neighbor's well (rumor) went dry, but I'm wondering if her pump just went out as she's been there for 15 years.

My brugs tried to flower but dried up as they opened in the convection heat! They are on drip irrigation with the elephant ears and cannas. Cannas look great (Tropical Rose).

The big success has been with butterflies -- both Monarchs and Swallowtails have done well with our host plants of milkweed and bronze fennel. We've now got a certified Monarch Waystation here. The hummingbirds have been getting up close and personal. We've had some construction going on (deck building) and having to leave the garage door open. It seems everyday, I have to "rescue" a hummer from the garage. They seem to understand and perch on the long pole I use to lower them down from the ceiling and out the door!

Cameron

Our well is 250-300 feet. Your daylilies are most likely OK. I know most of mine are definitely alive because I can dig around and find the crowns and they are firm and green or white. There are a few I can't see any live tissue on, but the roots are good, so I think they will be OK too. This is the first year I've had them do this too. I don't know if it was the relentless 95+ degrees or a combination of freeze/drought or what, but they didn't like this summer that's for sure. Except for 'Dot Dot'. That one bloomed all summer - just finished up.
Dana

thanks for the reassurances about the daylilies, dana. i'll double check the crowns of some. i know they are near unkillable, but was concerned (we've built campfires over top of some of the stray ditch lilies in the back yard- we have a huge patch- and they actually came back out!).

i know our neighbor's well is the same depth as ours and hasn't run dry since it was dug in the early 60's, so that's at least something. i keep hoping because we are so close to lake benson that that somehow helps the aquifer, but maybe that's simpleminded. couple yrs ago we put a new pump in the bottom of our well instead of in the basement, which has made me be extra careful, because if it does run dry the pump is toast. that's part of why i don't use sprinklers. handwatering really helps me keep and eye on things and prioritize, too. we do have soakers laid from years ago, but found that unless the soil is keep fairly moist they don't do a good job of watering. and it's too easy to turn them on and forget, which could affect our well.

it's been a great year for me for monarchs, too. it looks as though i finally have gotten a colony established. next year will tell for sure if they come back and lay eggs for me. i had 16 cats this year late in the season (the last couple are still eating now). i plan to tag them, and will be spreading lots more a. tuberosum seed around and am hoping to get a good patch of a. syriaca going, too. the black swallowtails have been much more scarce than normal this year, which is ok, because i don't have much in the way of food for them this go 'round. seen some of the tigers, but fewer than in past years- i assume the late frosts knocked them back some, and we did take down 2 more tulip poplars, though there are still quite a lot of big ones in our back yard. never saw any spicebush cats or butterflies this year, either.

I lost a few smaller plants, but my biggest worry is my hickory trees. I have quite a number of very large ones that lost their foliage during the late freeze. I assumed they would just drop the dead leaves when the new leaves pushed through like the oaks did....but they did not. the dead leaves still hang there, on now dead branches. I bet those trees have 1/4 to 1/3 of their normal foliage. There is going to be a huge mess to clean up when those dead branch ends start coming down. These are not small trees.....they are massive old hickorys. Every hickory on my place looks the same way. Ijust hope the lack of foliage followed by a drought isnt enough to kill them. I will be heart-broken if I lose them all.

I know that this is a survival thread not water, but they are connected. I am just west of the triangle on a well. I have been here for 2.5 years and have already heard of near by residents running out of water. Our well is 150' deep but others in the area are all over the map in depth. Our water is in granite and I have geologist friends who tell me that this means the well is getting the water from a couple of streams spilling over rocks. A little shifting of rock and the stream might move and give more or less water. I suppose others (not in granite) pull out of a localized central pool area. In either case, if more people use more water, then there is less in the passing stream or pool. I don't think we can assume that if we have water, that it is necessarily wise to use it. It could cause damage to others or ourselves and we should probably be acting more like our friends on city water.

Survival/loss and water are, indeed, connected Chas ... good point about the wells. My son just bought property northeast of Raleigh and is on a well. I've been thinking alot lately and just this morning I felt the meddling-mother need to warn him that this is not a infinite source, given the current status of our water table (or any other time, for that matter!), and judicious use was in order. He agreed and is practicing conservation as a matter of course.

Yes, everybody should stop treating this resource 'like water'. Respect for natural resources is long overdue.

No freeze damage here - I covered everything also I seem to be in a favorable microclimate where we get more wind and less frost. But a new hosta I got, white Christmas, I believe was the name, completely melted away to nothing, seemingly overnight. I just lost my caladiums, but I was smart and only put in 3. Oh, and a brunnellia (?) Jack Frost or mirror something? dried up on me. Other than that I planted stuff that has been drought tolerant and done okay or else I was able to see them (impatiens and coleus) from the kitchen window and catch it in time.

Well, it looks like I lost my 'Hartlage Wine' calycanthus. It's pretty crispy. Major bummer! So far it appears to be the only thing of any real importance to succumb yet, but if we don't get some rain soon, I doubt it will be the last.

I've lost a vitex, a variegated honeysuckle and hydrangea. They were off by themselves so I just didn't notice them in time. The freeze took my autumn clematis and armandii clematis. Gardenias, even a couple tiny rooted cuttings finally came back. They're saying we'll have rain Wednesday, I'm not holding my breath as most of the storms have went around us this summer.

Rootdigger, strange about your loosing a vitex. Mine I whacked back seriously last winter and it is surviving just fine with no water. I have finally even had seedlings come up after several years with none.

Kville, The 3 I lost were new plants put out this spring after a trip to BB's, before the drought started. They just didn't have the root system they needed to withstand this. I put drip buckets on them but I guess it was too little to late. I guess there's always a chance they'll come back, but it doesn't look good.

I hope that tropical system stays weak and gives us a nice soaking, but it looks like it'll be a coastal hugger for now :(

Rootdigger, I can always see if I get more seedlings next spring and send them to you. I think that there is one reasonaby sized one in the backyard that might be transplantable. I have never taken the time to remove it and for the last year or so I have whacked it back several times.

I really believe in planting as much as possible, especially shrubs, in the fall rather than spring. It really gives the roots a chance to establish without putting energy into the flowers. It's harder to find a good selection of perennials, but many varieties will do fine if planted in the fall. I like to plant in October, assuming we'll get rain!

Cameron

Yeah, I plant a lot in the early fall, and spring for zone pushing tropicals, but that early spring trip to BB's is a must and most years is not a problem.

Kville, Thanks that would be great and anytime you want it I have plenty of butterfly ginger if you ever decide to try it again. We had talked about that last year I believe. The white has been hardy for me even without mulch and I'm not far from K'ville.

I faired the freeze pretty well, only losing 1 rose bush that I had only planted days prior to the freeze, but it was the JB's and then the drought that have reeked the most havoc in my garden. I still consider myself fairly lucky considering the number of new plants that have survived for me.
At the height of the JB infestations I succumbed and bought the Bayer rose food/pesticide for the JB's. I went out and sprayed all of my rose bushes, hibiscus and calla lillies because they were just inundated with JB's. When I was all done, I remember turning to my husband and saying, "hmm, I probably shouldn't have done all of them at once. I should have waited to see how the Bayer producted affected the plants". My rose bushes, I planted 12 in all and lost 1 during the freeze, but they were really small to begin with, no more than 6 inches tall and once I treated them I killed 4 bushes within days of the spraying. Then I was down to 7 and they were alive but not blooming. I am on a well but I am petrified of going dry, but I did hand water all my plants every other day through July and August. I've lost two more rose bushes from the drought as well as a Rose of Sharon and 1 peony tree. The other peony tree looks so sickly that I can't imagine that it's going to make it too. I'm very sorry because they were my most expensive plants and despite my vigilance they just couldn't take the lack of rain. I also lost about 4 zinnias.
However, without a doubt my worst loss are my Oregon Grape Hollies, "mahonia aquilfolium". I bought 15 of them mail order and they arrived in good condition but because I had to dig such big holes in what was basically "the deep woods" it took me forever to get all of them in the ground. It took me all spring to plant those shrubs. I lost about 4 of them because it took to long to plant them. At one point I had 9 bushes that were leafing out and while I wished I had more, I was at least happy that 9 were alive. And then I decided to fertilize them with those tree spikes . . . it was late June early July, I guess the wrong time of year to fertilize and I promptly killed 5 of the 9. I nursed the 4 remaining plants but lost another 2 to the drought. So after digging 15 huge holes, that took at least 2-3 hours to dig each hole in the roots and underbrush, after all that hard work, I only have 2 pitiful little shrubs left. They each have one grayish green leaf on them and I don't know how much longer they'll last. My only salvation, is that I can at least reuse the holes and plant something else there next spring.
But, I have black and blue salvia that I planted in July and they're doing well. All my lantana are blooming and they're magnets for butterflies. My verbena is doing just beautifully. My mexican petunias and begonias are blooming and surviving the heat. I planted all of them this spring and summer and for them to still be alive after the August we just had, I am completelely shocked and...

Rootdigger, I remember about the white ginger. My patch of Dr. Moy has grown considerably since then and we could swap some of that if you wish. Don't know if it is going to flower this year however due to lack of rain. It is still doing well though.

I will check about the one existing vitex plant I think that is still there. I can dig it up if so and send it to you or meet you somewhere for the transfer. I also like planting in the fall. I have successfully planted clematis as late as Halloween and not had an issue doing so. Dormant plants are also best planted in late fall and into early winter.

I will get back with you Rootdigger!

SE TN near Chattanooga. I had considerable damage from the March freeze and more still from the drought. Even the crepe myrtles were badly damaged. Some had considerable height before the freeze, but the top branches were killed. What effect does a terrible freeze like this have on tree height? If the expected growth is 10-15 feet, does 3 feet of kill mean the tree will likely grow to only 7-12 feet?

My zelkova serrata was on its way to becoming a lovely single trunk tree. It was about 8 feet tall. The freeze killed the main trunk and what's left is multiple branches growing from the trunk bottom. Can zelkova's be multiple trunked or should I give this one up and replace it? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

i would think your trees will eventually get to their projected height they'll just be set back however many years of growth that got killed. in other words, if they normally grow 1' a year, and you lost 3' of growth, it'll take and extra 3 years to catch up to the mature size. maybe not as long for specimens that have been planted a long time, since they have the roots to regenerate growth fast.

as to the zelkova, i don't know. i know redbuds typically are grown as 1 trunk trees and we had a big one knocked over by fran in '96. up comes the octopus arms. on my dad's advice, i mounded dirt up to the newer growth point, and took out about 3 or 4 'trunks' a year til it was down to 3 main trunks. it's done very well. my only complaint is because it was so old and huge, it grew really really fast and the joints are much further apart than they would be normally, so it's lanky and doesn't bloom as well as a gradually grown one. it regained all its prior 30+ year 20-25' height in 2 years. the girth of the trunks is now getting beefy, but nowhere near what it was- which admittedly was huge for a redbud. the new growth has been weaker, though, and we had some branches break the first few seasons. it's stiffened and strengthened since then. you may have a similar situation with the zelkova.

Thanks, tamelask, for the advice. I will saw away the old dead zelkova trunk and hope for the best. As the drought persists and is projected to persist through the entire year, I can muster little enthusiasm for even replacing the shrubs I lost. But then again, what is a gardener but a hopeless optimist.