Probably is a flower. Caladiums are in the Aroid Family and produce an atypical flower, consisting of a spathe (sheath) and spadix (the inner part that bears the sexual organs and will produce berries [seed] if pollinated). If not pollinated, they wither and fall off. Photo of Caladium bloom below. Rb Here is a link that might be useful: Caladium flower

In 6b you shouldn't have a much dieback on abelia, some tips dieback that's all I have. Yes, it start leafing out very late, like last week of May-beginning of June, but in return it blooms for 3 months and stays green till December. Mine have buds showing now down the stems, but not on a tips of the canes. Try not to touch it and see what will happen.

Hello cargobean, Looks like you have gotten a lot of responses. It must be that this is a topic that struck a chord for many people. Probably because we have all lost plants at one time or another. I have lost a lot of plants for one reason or another over the years. Just two years ago I lost the new Echinacea Harvest Moon, which I can't attribute it to any reason in my garden, but have heard too many reports about problems with the new echinaceas to blame it on anything else. Sounds like you have already arrived at some conclusions about what you want to do next. Already planning a compost bin, already trying to choose no fuss plants....going to try the evergreen boughs. I hope you will forgive me if I embroider the edges of what has already been said, if not for your sake, for the sake of others looking for similar information. On the subject of fertilizer... I use fertilizer in my containers only. I try to improve my soil instead. I was fortunate to learn gardening from someone who had already had enough experience and knowledge about growing plants that he had already worked out for himself to grow organically and to 'feed the soil' not the plants. I seem to remember his family had already been doing that before him too. He also had a masters in Physics. He had a great garden, so I just followed his lead. Since then everything I have read, or experienced has only validated that. The subject of Soil/Compost is not the most exciting topic and I have a tendency to gravitate to the Perennial and Shrub forums etc., but I do spend time over on the Soil forum too. A lot of very knowledgeable people over there at times. Like you, I also take the approach of using plants that can fend for themselves for the most part. It depends on how much I like a plant, how much trouble I will go to for it. For instance, I love delphiniums and they are not usually considered the easiest, 'fend for themselves' plant. You have to stake them for starters, which I try to limit. But if I can get them to grow well, everyone here really enjoys them, so that is the one plant I have chosen to make an exception to my usual approach. :-) I haven't fertilized those either though and they performed well last year. Keeping my fingers crossed for this year. I just wanted to say again, if it hasn't been clear from all the responses. Over the years, I have heard more reports of gaura not surviving the winter than it making it. I have the impression that it is notorious for not coming back in my neck of the woods. The Northeast is well known for having a clay soil on the acidic side for the most part. I did a google search of just your Petite Pink Gaura, as you asked if it could be mislabeled. Most references give it a zone 5 hardiness, but I did find two references that refer to it as a zone 6 hardy perennial. One of them being White Flower Farm. So, it would seem that not everyone is in agreement that it is zone 6. Here are the links... http://www.gardencrossings.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/1110/index.htm http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/29475-product.html Since the last time I posted, I was looking for some information on a variety of Shasta that I have and I did run across an article reporting that they too do not like the moisture over the winter. Where I have mine planted, is a mounded bed that slopes slightly, so the drainage may be ok there for them. You asked how you tell if something has made it. I have never put much store on scraping the stems to see if they are green. I only depend on new growth. I wait it out to see if there is new growth. How long do I wait? Well, that really depends. Lots of times it won't bother me to wait until mid to late June. If it is in a prominent place and I am afraid I am not going to get something else in that position to bloom in time to enjoy it, I might not wait that long and replace it. Of course, if the plant is really important to you, that changes things. You could always dig it out and pot it up and watch it longer if there is some doubt about whether it might come back and then plant the open space in the bed without waiting. Plants have surprised me so many times, after I was sure that they were dead, that I really like to give them a chance if I really like them and don't want to replace them. You mention that you want to fix what you might be doing wrong. Really it is not about doing what is wrong so much as that with gardening there seems to be always something more to learn...lol. I am still learning after 25 years of gardening. I discovered winter sowing on the Winter Sowing forum on GW just three years ago, after someone on another forum highly recommended it to me. Wow, that was an exciting learning experience! I had so much fun and I just wished I had known about it sooner. If you have a lot of reliable plants like those you listed but still find you want to try new plants every year, winter sowing is the way to go. It is not only fun, it is really easy, very inexpensive and you end up with a ton of plants every year. Best way to try new things without it costing you a bundle. PLus a lot of annuals can be done this way and save you even more money. I found that when I did this, it really doesn't bother me to lose something as much because I have so much and I can replace things so easily. I am not able to do as much as I like, but if you don't have any obstacles in the way of spending the time/energy doing it, then you would probably get even more out of it than I have. Hope you are enjoying this beautiful spring weather and that some of your plants surprise you with some new growth. :-) pm2

It has an odd, almost lemon, scent. Considering the history: I dug it out from very harsh soil and potted it in same soil. It was maybe a stem or two back in October. It dried out complete several times over the winter, looked dead, I was about to give up on it and moved it outside where it sat with pots to be cleaned out and now it looks healthy. Looks as if they will survive far too much that I wan it to and now, from one or two stems, it is a dozen or more. It is going out pot and all..... I will attack the location where it was found and kill off anything within a foot of it. Fortunately, there are not but a few plants there and one side is blocked by a retaining wall. Maybe it is a good thing to think about next time I recycle soil back into use after a plant is removed.