Patience, Grasshopper! :-D

Now is not the time yet to be ripping anything out! Normally I'd be seeing new growth starting on my roses, but with the hot/COLD/hot/COLD winter we just had mine have died down virtually to the crown and I'm not seeing any signs of life at all yet this year. Just give them time. I'm not guaranteeing they're alive, but I'd say there's a pretty good chance they are. My best advice for right now is do not overwater them! When they're not growing they're using VERY little water, and keeping the soil/roots too wet just might do 'em in! As long as the soil is moist they're fine!

Don't have a butterfly bush so don't know when they usually get going, but my recommendation would be the same. Just wait! Unless there's something else you really want to plant there Right Now, there's no problem with waiting, and you just might wind up with a very nice bush right where you want it!

One of my lilies (also from Barb!) froze when it was almost a foot tall last spring when we got the Really Bad Late Freeze, and I wondered all summer and winter if it would survive or not. It's ba-a-ack! I had lots of things freeze badly during that freeze, worried about them all, and they're all back.

It ain't over till the fat lady sings!

Thinking Happy Thoughts toward your plants,
Skybird

I agree with Skybird on the roses. And wait on the butterfly bush. It needs more consistent heat to sprout. The new growth will come from the roots. Hopefully yours and mine will come 'alive' in May.
smdmt

Give it some time, Cat. I haven't pruned my roses yet as i'm waiting to see what's alive and what's not.I want to see where the growth starts before I start cutting stuff off. Things seem to be waking up slowly around here, which is probably a good thing given our past April temp swings.

I'm also glad some things survived from last year. I'm still smarting from last years dahlia/lily of the valley debacle. My apologies again to those who got those bum plants from me. Lesson learned, don't swap anything if you're not sure it's alive!

P.S. I sent you an email on the potatoes. They're here!

Barb

Cat--I would wait also. My butterfly bush has been in the ground for 5 years now and I've found that it varies each spring when it decides to sprout, and I've read that they are very late to break dormancy. The first spring after planting it, the new growth was very limited and it was late starting. But, the next year it sprouted very heavily. This year, It's starting to show some new shoots now. They're a pretty hardy plant, so there's a strong chance it made it. Be sure to prune old growth back to the ground each spring or it will grow pretty straggly.

My roses are just now starting to show a little new growth at the base. Last year, I used the advice of CSU and didn't prune until the last week of April and they bloomed profusely. I was pruning much earlier in previous years with really poor results. I'm going to follow the last week of April again this year. It's hard to wait that long because they look so awful, but I think it's worth it.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will wait. I did not cut the butterfly bush down to the ground last fall. Should I do that now?

I did not prune the roses at all yet either. On those should I wait and see where and if they green up and then prune or just let them go?

I will look for that email Barb. Thank you for including me in your order.

Thanks again,
~Cat

Hey Cat! My butterfly bushes die back to the ground every year. I cut them down to the ground and they come back late every spring.
I too have killed far more rose bushes than I want to remember! Advice from a rose grower in Denver was plant deeper than you think you ought to and mound mulch! I do have a few shrub ones that have survived several years, none are showing growth yet this spring so it is certainly not time to give up on yours yet.
Glad the peony survived! Mine are starting to come up, hoping for a reasonable spring to get lots of blooms!

i've had butterfly bushes for years - you do have to cut them down to the ground, if not in the fall, then do in the spring. They bloom in the summer.

Thanks, There is hope yet! I will cut that butterfly bush to the ground today. Hopefully it will return.

I have no sign of life in my snowball bush either. Should I have cut that to the ground also? I just put it in last year too.