I am pleased to hear that your new echinaceas have returned. I started a thread here on the perennial board not long ago and posts were split on the hardiness of the new varieties. I bought some seeds that were open polinated from Razzmatazz, Sunrise,Orange Meadowbrite, and Prairie Frost. I gave some to a friend who started them last year. They over-wintered in pots covered by leaves and emerged this spring looking very good. She moved them into her greenhouse and called me yesterday to tell me that two have buds already. She has also told me that each plant has different shaped or colored leaves. We are hoping to get something interesting and different from the regular puple. Although, every posting that I have seen about growing seeds from the new varieties have said that their flowers were always pink, like the old echinaceas. I can't see any harm in trying for some seedlings to see what you will get. I just bought 4 of the new ones this spring and look forward to bloom time this summer. Thanks for posting, Linda

Too much sun. Some of my heucheras get sun from 11 til 1, and that's almost too much for them. They have shade and filtered light the rest of the day. The ones that do best for me are planted at the edge of a woodland garden where they get filtered light all day long - in other words they get lots of light, but they are never in direct sun. I'd try cutting off the crisp leaves and moving them to more shade. They probably won't look too good the rest of this summer, but should come back ok next year or over the winter.

Hmmm, strange indeed monsteraston. I am west of you and all my macs/serratas/oakleafs/paniculatas have leafed out. Granted, some are leafing out from the base/crown and the panics have tiny leaves (1/2 to 1") but still. Historically, paniculatas and arborescens have always been slow to leaf for me here (compared to the macs, which began to leaf out earlier in February). Make notes in a wall calendar from one year to the next so you can get a good feel what is normal but I am seeing more instances of early leaf out than in prior years, especially with the macs. I am also noticing -this year- some winter damage on selected shrubs that face north and that are in unprotected locations. Probably due to the mild weather that was followed by cold lows in Jan 5-8. That could result in growth from the crown and dried out dead stems from any of those types of hydrangeas. Hydrangeas that loose stems that way may take a while longer to produce new stems from the crown but if the roots re ok then they should eventually do that. When cold like January's pops up, I check my mulch levels and try to provide water before the cold period arrives but, even though I did so, the shrubs on the north side look like they got hit as temps prior to the cold front were so mild and these guys were not "protected" by the house and other things. Macs located there have dried out looking stems with no leaves (at east none so far) but, the plants have leafed out from the crown. Macs in protected locations look normal and are leafing out. Paniculatas like my Little Lime are leafing out. Oakleafs too. FYI - if no stems leaf out on a shrub by mid May and the plant does not generate new stems either then the whole plant did not make it. For now, I would maintain the soil as evenly moist as you can and keep them well mulched. I usually fertilize at the end of the month since that would be about two weeks after March 13, our average date of last freeze. If they do not leaf out by May then they did not make it. Prune the dried out stems then. I would hope that the roots did make it though as they usually do. If you cannot wait until May, you can lightly scratch a stem that has not leafed out to see if you see 'green'. If you see green, the roots are alive; but the stem with green may or may not leaf out. Hard to tell if it will as sometimes they leaf out and other times they do not even though they are green when I check. Years ago, I had one arborescens that did not make it due to issues with the drip irrigation one year. It did not come back and I assumed it was lack of water during the winter as I did not notice that there was a problem until some camellias started browning their leaves in Feb-March. So it pays to water them during dry winters (but seldom, maybe every 2-3 weeks or when the soil feels dry).

When they are completely brown and dry like in the photo, they can be cut off. I tend to leave about 3" of stem in place so that I know where the bulbs are located in the garden and not dig them up inadvertently when planting something else.