Same story here in 4b Twin Cities... its the really cold periods when there is little snow cover, and possibly dryness too.

Yeah, I never thought about the drought last summer, although I did water (HUGE water bills) last summer, it was still very dry going into winter. I give up on coral bells! But some of the others I want to plant again. Especially the bleeding heart! I think I will put one where I used to have the coral bells too.

We lost quite a few perennial flower plants as well, including all the bleeding hearts and oriental poppies. :( Also lost some flowering shrubs, berry bushes, two 10 foot cedar trees, and two dwarf fruit trees.

I can not speak for other folks' situations, but last winter was fairly mild here (for Minnesota) with adequate snow cover all season. We had severe drought the last two summers (and the winter of 11-12) so I attribute the losses to drought stress. Watering is all a person can do during such times, but doing so is merely a temporary stopgap measure and never truly replaces all the benefits of adequate rainfall.

Think of it this way: You now have opportunities to try some newer cultivars of what you lost, or even to plant some completely different perennial varieties in those empty spots. You have been given a chance to do something different!

Happy Gardening!
-Tom

I also lost a ton of perennials as well. It seems like two thirds of my mums did not make it, even some of my peonies are coming up thin (along with a quarter of all of my perennials). I would say it was a combination of both the drought last year (I did not water my perennial beds), and the long winter. The perennial beds are a mess of bare spots and weeds (especially with all of this moisture). It is quite depressing. I am going to give it another week or so to let any straggling perennials emerge, and then start digging away to clean up my perennial bed mess . .

- Adam

While many of my clematis are growing rampantly and have buds some including Jackmanni are just starting to green. The oldest bleeding heart has not surfaced and am hoping it is just late though it was weak last year so it may be gone. Most other perennials have come through unscathed. Coral bells are all up and filling out with new growth. Columbines are about to bloom (except the ones the deer have stripped). I watered well into the fall until the ground froze and covered them with shredded leaf mulch.

Daffodil and giant alliums are sparse this year and some leafed out but didn't form blossoms. Hoping for better next year.

My tulips just started coming up about a week ago-I have a few daffodils just starting to break the ground now but nothing like it should be. I was surprised at what I lost and what made it through this long winter.
More frustrating for me was that I lost several plants, shrubs and a couple of small trees to rabbit damage. ARGH!
And the price of plants, even what used to be 'cheapie annuals' has skyrocketed this year. I cut way back on my planters this year--using a lot more of quick from seed annuals like marigolds, zinna's and cosmos than I normally do.
I still have a few plants I'm not sure if they made it or not-fingers crossed I'll know for sure in the next week.
After such a looooong, brutal winter it's sad that spring is turning out to be so cruel as well.

I have to say, after my garden walk today that FINALLY my Jackmani is starting to come up. No sign of about 75% of my coral bells, and 2 of my 4 bleeding hearts are still missing. I have one! ONE! columbine growing, and I had a LOT of columbine, in a number of varieties.

Good news though my martagon lilies are up, hopefully they bloom this year! I have only had them a couple years. And last year I thought they were goners.

Forgive me if you have tried this suggestion as I am too tired to reread all the postings. Some foxglove are supposed to bloom the first year from seed. I think 'Excelsior' is one? Have you tried them? I obviously have not. My 'Candy Mountain' have come back this spring. Some were winter sown and some self seeded. Hope they bloom.

I haven't looked for my lupine yet. Had a couple of seedlings last fall that are promised to a friend. Hope they survived. It is pouring again now. Rain, rain, go away.

So many of my plants are slow this year. At least I am hoping that they are only slow and not forever gone. Half of the different hostas are just barely peaking out of the ground while some of the larger types are up about 6 inches or more. The one I have in full sun is huge already, so I am just going to have to wait and hope they will all come back healthy. Strangely enough, I have astilbe growing again where I haven't seen it for at least 5 years-a pleasant surprise. And I am hoping that some of the plants that have sprouted up are bleeding heart. Mine always seems to die out before I really get to enjoy it-or something eats it. It would sure be nice if I ended up with a few in different spots of my garden. I will keep my fingers crossed on that. This seems like a bad year to have started vegetable gardening. I'm afraid nothing is going to turn out well. :( I guess I can blame it on the weather instead of my ineptitude, right?