Great news Bobbi.

Big news here is the Esperanza is sprouting at the base and so is the Hamelia. All the lantana is back except the newest one may be a goner.

We'll just have to be patient.

That is great! I think the only things I lost are one Lantana and all of my Bulbine. Everything sure is slow, though!

Showing green just this week are: Duranta, brugsmansia, elephant ears, flowering maple, almond verbena and tropical hibiscus. Only plants not coming back yet are my princess flower, red bleeding heart (Clerodendrum) and blue butterfly bush (Clerodendrum Ugandense). I'm not pulling them up yet, however.
Molly

My Lantanas aren't showing anything yet either. Just wait and see, I guess.

I have been looking everywhere for Texas Gold Columbine to get in the ground, local nursery says growers are late in a lot of plants because the soil hasn't warmed up enough. Patience... it's a virtue I need to learn!

However, iris is blooming, roses are setting up to bloom, the weeds are going great guns, Spring in Texas - life is good!

Good luck with the Texas Gold. I was told 2 weeks ago that I was too late to get it here in Houston! Mine died (I think I may have given it too much shade mid-summer last year), but I have found 2 babies that I'll transplant. Maybe next year!

Whooo HOO!!!! For everyone's plants coming back.
Just today I was moving my pile of pots and general cleaning up to find a pot I'm pretty sure it was turk's cap. I figured it was dead and ripped the one lonely dead stem out of the pot... low and behold the roots were fine and there were some stems just fixn to break the soil line!! I quickly replaced it back in the pot, watered it and put it where I could keep an eye on it.

phew.. my poor plants... what they go through just trying to survive ME!

I know that a lot of people in other zones have problems keeping their elaphant ear plants year round, but mine have recently started to come back up around the edges of the house. And oddly enough, the hybrid teacup roses I planted that had a single red bloom when I planted it are coming back as a hot pink. My tubulars, bulbs, and bare root plants are all starting to come in, like my lovely little fern, which is unfurling more by the day. Its rather exciting!

I MAY have pulled the plug a little early on some of my plants-oops!

When taking out my "dead" duranta, plumbago and little john bottlebrushes, a few of them did have small buds near the base. Maybe there was some hope, but at that point I had the new plants there and ready to go...

So, for any of you still holding out hope, you never know...

Oh I don't know you guys so many of my plants look completely dead! I pulled up a dead twig hoping that it was trying to come back from the base and no no go. my poor plumerias the stics are shriveled up and dry. Now one of my brugmansia is trying to come back from the bottom so I am hoping that my dble white brugie will also come back I so wish this so much because it was my moms whom passed away Jan 2009. some of her plants are trying to come back but not all of them maybe in a few more days, they might change their mind, However I am wondering should I use fertilizer at this point?

Woohoo! My Southern Wood fern has tiny little rolled fronds just peeping out of the ground!! No signs of life from the Turk's Cap or Maid of Orleans jasmine yet, but I'll give it another few weeks. The purple heart, salvias, Russian sage, and yarrow have been doing well for weeks. Oh, and my hostas have just exploded in the past week or so. I swear, last week they were just tiny buds just over the surface of the dirt, and now are about 6" tall.

And the azaleas...geez. I bought some Encore azaleas, based on the glowing recommendations in a book. Bought them on clearance last fall, and planted them in a bed that had been extensively ammended. They were doing fabulous, even bloomed for Thanksgiving. Then it froze. And snowed. And rained, etc., etc. The worst winter I can recall in the DFW area. Anyway, the leaves all turned brown and fell off, and I was sure that they were dead. Can you believe those pitiful sticks are BLOOMING right now?! One shrub is all bare sticks except for about 3 stems with a handful of leaves...and it's BLOOMING. Now what do I do? The other shrub is looking much better, and has a lot of new growth, despite having about half of it's branches bare.

Do I yank them? Do I prune them? Do I just wait and see if they leaf out more? Poor stupid azaleas.

Look at this mess:

*sigh*

I'm going to wait another few weeks, and maybe prune off anything that still looks dead. Or would you just pitch them and start over?

Today I found green sprouts on my Philippine violet, one esperanza and the pride of Barbados!!! =D

franksmom - my few Encores look just like that. I have not been very pleased with them. Even though we should have acid soil, I'm starting to think it isn't acid enough for them. I've pulled up several, and found that the folks that planted them didn't bother to break up the bottom of the rootball when planting. Such a waste!

Well my iris are just starting to bloom, some purple poppies and my Amaryllis are getting a good start. Don't know how many more years I will get our of my iris as they don't like this climate. Looking forward to see what all comes back this year. Looks like I lost my Mexican Fire bush, shame so pretty last year. My beauty berry just doesn't seem to want to die off so I keep them down to where they can be enjoyed without taking over everything. My day lilies are starting to fill in a lot of space that needs to be used for something. Looks like one Red Texas Star Hibiscus came back with 4 shoots so it should be nice and full. No sign of my hardy hibiscus but then they do start late sometimes. Lost my tropical hibiscus and my avocado tree. Won't have as much satsuma's this year, at least not as many blooms so far. I enjoy planting herbs within my flower bed as I just don't have enough room here in the city.
Paul

Maryserv, I just don't know what the problem is. I'm blaming it on the rough winter, but it certainly could be the acidity.

The native soil we have is that horrible sticky black clay. After I pulled all of the weeds, I removed all of the landscape fabric, hand tilled the soil, and added peat, compost, and manure. Tilled all of that in, and planted, then mulched heavily with pine bark. The first few months, I also regularly threw coffee grounds around the plants. Oh, and since I'm new to azaleas, I read all about how they should be planted, so I soaked off most of the potting soil, and teased out the rootball, then fanned it out around the planting hole.

I just don't understand how they did so well when they were first planted, and now look like this? And they're supposed to be evergreen? In Texas?

I found a green root on my clerodendrum speciosum today--no leaves yet, but it's not dead!!! =)

Now I am only missing two pentas (out of six) and one Mexican Heather. Not bad. =)

I pulled up the Maid of Orleans Jasmine. The roots were sure hearty, but there was no other signs of life. And I found bougainvillia on clearance at Lowes. Any tips on growing bougainvillia?

One of the three Turk's caps are peeping up, two of the Wood ferns are back. Most of the Purple Heart is coming back.

I had planted a lot of things at the end of the season (thank you end of season sales!) and after this past winter, I'm just grateful that any of it has come back.

My clerodendrum has finally, finally sprouted! =D

Wow, I grew impatient and bought a new Clerodendron ugandense. I just posted a photo from March and a photo from today over in the gallery titled "Blessed Rain." What a difference 2 months makes!

Since the ground is softened with the rain, I'll have to pull all the nutsedge tomorrow!

DH just MOWED over my poor silver Elaeagnus. It had suffered too long in a pot, then went into shock from the heat, and had just started to recover. Now it is two splintered sticks. whaaaaa! snivel.

The rubber tree! It is sprouting from the base. Of course 29' of it is dead & has to be cut down.
Tally HO!