I have a RED orchid tree that has come back nicely. Also, a cleradendon 'Musical Notes', and a big cleradendron "Bleeding Heart", a pink Jatropha, an almond verbena, and a Rangoon creeper. Most of all, I am pleased that the bloom has returned to all my Red Volunteer daylilies and my Chicago Apache daylilies. They didn't bloom for 2 years, then just up and started the best show I've ever seen!

Janie

Hardy hibiscus, Turn of the Century. She's a real beauty.

I divided her in December. One section is up and growing very well. Another is putting out new roots, finally, but isn't sending up any sprouts. I've already taken a cutting of the one that's growing. It rooted and is awaiting transplant. I want to place them all around the perennial bed.

Ballota (horehound). I bought three of them (B. acetabulosa, B. pseudodictamnus, and B. nigra 'Archer's Variety' which is a variegated one) last year. I had wondered about thier hardiness, and was even told by someone here on GW that I should not expect them to survive. They did. The first two are comming back slowly, but the variegated one is doing great.
My Salvia officinalis (culinary Sage) came back! I put it in a protected site, hoping that it might.
CMK

Can I say surprised more that tickled.? Late last fall I tried to move a baptisia. I wasn't that fond of it and dug down about ten inches, exposing lot of roots, but still couldn't budge it. The bad weather moved in and I thought "Oh, I'll just leave through the winter. It will be sure to die and the roots rot." Not a chance. It's starting to grow again. I'll recover it with compost because the poor thing wants to live with me so much.

Libby

I cut back impatiens and then covered them with sheets every time it froze. The "stumps" green all winter and now have gotten big again.

Blue daze has also returned, though it is sold here as an annual. Salvia coccinea has returned from the roots, as well as having reseeded itself.

This is slightly off side, but your post made me think of an amazing thing I saw on TV last night, about a garden razed in our recent bushfires, and the way all sorts of things are coming back. It was truly inspirational to see things that had been burnt to the ground sprouting up again - 100 days since the fires. Made me realise that gardens are often hardier than we think - people too.

Here's a link if you're interested - there's a streaming video to watch.

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/

Sorry, this link will take you there faster

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2570785.htm

For sure it would be my brug that suffered from frost two years in a row. It came back and it looks better than when I first bought it. I love that plant.

Traceyc that is amazing. I'm surprised anything survived that horrible fire. Still remember those poor koalas on TV.

Along the lines of what Traceyc is saying -- here, the NC Botanical Gardens do a "controlled burn" of the Coastal gardens section. That happens naturally in our swamps when the peat burns. Then, the new wildflowers emerge. So, the gardens do what nature does by burning off the undergrowth in that section every year. My husband was once a forester down on our coast and has seen nature's fire and the result of wildflower blooms later on.

I was surprised to see my baptisia come back after army caterpillars took it out in a matter of hours last fall! Actually, I'm beginning to think this is the most prolific reseeder in my garden as there are thousands of babies.

I finally see a tiny EE emerging. Although I piled on the mulch, we had some really cold temps and two heavy (by weight on the plants) snow this winter.

I was surprised that my agastache 'Salmon & Pink' died in the 2nd snow. It was alive prior to that. I have a few babies around, so I can continue, but I lost my two largest clumps.

Cameron

My angel trumpets (brugmansia) are all coming back. The ones in big pots are really getting big. The ones in the ground are just now showing a few leaves. My blue plumbago is coming back. I love this plant! And I have a geranium that is coming back for the third year. It's supposed to be an annual. I'm tickled to see all of these coming back! I took cuttings of the brugs to root over winter just in case. Now I have some to plant in other flowerbeds.

I just put everything that was in pots on the porch for winter protection. When it warmed up, I moved it all back into the yard. Since we live in the woods (lots of shade) I have lots of stuff in pots.

We've had the wettest spring, here in Oklahoma, that I can remember and I was afraid plants would drown. My lantana did not come back yet. I thought it was hard to kill lantana. Does anyone have experience with lantana coming back in zone 7?

Susie

Susie, lantana should come back, but it's only hardy to 10 degrees. Wet feet will rot it over the winter. I've had lots of customers complaining theirs died over the winter too here in NC.

FINALLY, a warm sunny day :o).

Annette

Annette -- that's the best answer! :-)

Cameron

Colocasia Coffee Cups. This was an impulse buy last year (and quite cheap). I loved the way the leaf would tip over an empty after a rain. It reminded of that song we used to sing/pantomime when we were little--"I'm a little tea pot...tip me over and pour me out". Every time I looked at it, I would start humming that song and laugh. We had a very cold winter this year and several late frosts, so I was really surprised to see it popping up a few weeks ago. We have had a very wet spring (it's WONDERFUL!)so far, and everything has put out enormous growth compared to the last several springs...10 inches or more on japanese maples and camellias. Even hostas (which can be pretty iffy in zone 8B have come bigger and better than ever (usually I watch them dwindle each year). I guess all the cold temps and water have made them think are in a different zone (for now!)

MY DH's hostas...he put in 3(I don't remember the names) 3 years ago. They did nothing the first two years. We both thought they were duds. This spring, they are Huge...fat and happy and really very pretty. I'm not a big fan of hostas, but these are a good surprise.

Also, my daughter gave me a bearded iris 3 years ago for my birthday. We planted it and it has always put up leaves, but this spring it has bloomed! Such a beautiful ice blue, almost white color. I love spring!

I'm happy when anything comes back. I'm tickled that almost everything (99%) has come back.

I lost literally dozens of plants this past winter and my garden looks almost like it did the first year I planted it so I am very thankful for the things that still remain. I hope the mulch police don't come around, heee! I have to say that in spite of all the losses it is kind of funny because the plants that are known for loving a cold winter look better than they ever have. The antique iris are the deepest, richest purple that I have ever seen and they really are show stoppers against the green of the grass! All of the peonies will bloom this year, two of the three for the first time ever. They are all just loaded with buds. I can't even remember what color they are supposed to be anymore, I've been waiting so long! There are about three times as many lilies as in years past and it looks like the Allium will do well to. My Miss Kim Lillac who has taken so much abuse from the goats and the cattle is growing like gangbusters and even though she has been chewed on time and again she has never done more than get a few leaves and then just sit there. Perhaps there is hope for a few little blossoms yet this year. That one has never bloomed either but no wonder why. The one thing that I am the happiest about though is that my Nearly Wild Rose is coming back, although from the roots. It will be interesting to see if it is the same rose or not because I can not remember if it was grafted or not. In fact, all of my shrubs are coming back from the roots this spring. At least there will be some blooms this year! 2008 was a very bad gardening year for me. I am sure 2009 is going to be much better!

MeMo

I agree with you MeMo, plants that like cold winters are doing very well. My Rhubarb has never looked this big and healthy. I too have lost a lot this past winter, at first I was quite upset but then I realized I now have empty spots for you guessed it more plants. Just what a plantaholic needs bare dirt :o).

Annette

"What has sprouted that you were afraid never to see again?"

Well, although I know it isn't what you meant, I'd have to say that my interest and enthusiasm for gardening is the "sprout" I'm happiest to see. Late last summer I honestly thought I had lost all will to go on with it. Depression and discouragement got the upper hand and I really lost my gardening "vibe". And a dismal, boring winter it was without the slightest desire to wintersow or plan new beds or sigh over seed catalogs.

But this spring my garden has roared up (for once a decent amount of rainfall and no late killing freeze) with so many things looking better than ever or finally blooming. The baptisia I wintersowed 3 years ago is blooming! I have hollyhocks in bloom (I've always had ridiculous difficulty growing them) and even a hydrangea! The beds have filled in so that you can actually make sense of my plan in several places! So many things reseeded and in such clever spots and combinations! I could go on...it is really pretty spectacular.

The main thing, though, is that I no longer feel empty when I walk around the beds and borders. I don't question myself for the effort and, frankly, money spent on plants and fertilizers and tools. As corny as it sounds, it is really as if the plants themselves have asked me back to the dance. And in quiet moments I can almost hear them whispering, "Come on, get your gloves on. You can do it. We'll be good."

lindakimy-Thank you for sharing that.

lindakimy..Just lovely the way you put that. We've all been discouraged at times, but I don't think I've ever seen it so eloquently phrased. Where in SC are you? I'm in Bamberg....before you ask, it's midway between Charleston and Columbia.

I feel the same linda. Happy that we've gotten so much rain this year. I had forgotten what spring was like in the Carolinas with our drought the past two years. Maybe it will even be a tolerable summer.

Glad to hear your plants asked you back, linda. May the future be ever fuller with optimism.

I noticed the benefit of the cold winter here, too. Poppies, peonies, siberian iris, they all seem extra cheery and full. Chives, too. I used them to edge one of my beds. They are really full of flowers this year. Almost 18 inches tall, though, so I will have to dig up some more grass to put another, shorter edge in front of that edge!

My jupiter's beard finally looks like the pictures in the seed catalogs. Maybe it's just a matter of it being their third year. Sleep, creep, leap. So this is finally the "leap" year. No pun intended.

My callas! We had snow accumulation here this year which is rare. I was worried about them and my gardenias but only lost one gardenia and the callas are spreading all along the border!

Virginia bluebells... I rarely see these plants up here and so last year a local grocery store had many of these for sale. I didn't buy them then, at the end of the season, I noticed a plant had been trashed. I didn't think it would survive but this year, it came up and I just love it.

Jerusalem Sage -- I started these from seeds thinking they would bloom the same year. No such thing. Then I read up on it and was informed that these are only hardy to a zone 7... Since I'm in zone 5 (USZone 4) I didn't think I would have these plants back.. I was surprised to see them come up this year and this time I'm expecting to see blooms.

My Oriental Poppies. I dug them up 2 years ago to give to a friend and thought I had gotten every bit of the plants out. Lo and behold they grew back from some small piece of root and now they are blooming like crazy and are huge!!!
Joann

I am so excited! I just found a variegated spiral ginger out of the ground! I figured it had bit the dust for sure. It is really pretty, blooms RED!

Janie

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:682895}}

I know this doesn't seem like such a big deal - but I have butterfly weed growing from seeds I put down at least two summers ago. I had given up on them, but they're almost two feet high now!