[TheOnlyGothInTheVillage]

Hi all, after a horrific winter a lot of the garden is beinging to bloom into life again, except for a few plants, got some large fushias in pots, they were very woody anyway and look dead but I have thought that with a few plants last year and they suprised me, also my cleminis looks dead, I didn't prune it last year as I want it to grow a certian way, next doors look the same, should they be showing signs of life yet? or do you think they have had it?

[lazydog]

i have fuchsias and geraniums in the green house which was unheated and i am in the same boat,when do you know they are deaded and throw them out 

[hamstergbert]

Fuchsias are somewhat notorious for being lazy slug-a-beds who seem really reluctant to drag themselves awake.  Think sort of fourteen year old, spotty, underpant-flashing, "it's so unfair", midden-roomed youth on a saturday morning in the school holidays, kind of thing.

Always worth leaving them at least until May to see if there is any hope.

As to cleminis  - never heard of them!  If you mean clematis, then it depends on what variety.  The tough as old boots Montanas seem to be off the blocks at least here in Guiseley but even the huge late 'dinner plate' prima donnas should be showing at least some sort of movement at the sprouting level.  Advise you to allow it a few more weeks and if you find it trudges into life but loads of it is dead,hack out the dead stuff then immediately prune it down really hard (lowest visible bit of growth) and give it a wallop of BFB.  Should then sprout rather more vigorously which you cn then try and trainto your choice  and even manage a flush of flowers.  You might however like to think about where it is - if particularly exposed on a windy corner etc you might have to consider some sort of protection for future winters.

[TheOnlyGothInTheVillage]

am hoping the fushias will spring back, they were here when I moved it so they belong to the garden in my mind, the clemintis (sorry-dreadfull spelling) is in a shady spot, next to a fence with trellis on the top so it needs to grow up quite far before its properly supported, think i'm just very eager to see plants and flowers growing this spring, its been a long winter and I was quite worried about a few plants surviving it...

[sclarke624]

My partner laughs at me as I go through this dilemma every year.  Now, as everything is in pots, I just put them around the corner out of sight and wait and see, meanwhile I buy new plants anyway.  Not the most economical method but at least its stops the stress LOL.  If the out of sight ones grow its a bonus plant. 

I also took lots of cuttings this year of my osteospermums, magherites and geraniums.  They all took really easy and I now have loads of new plants to put in which look better than the weedy parent plants I received last year (although I did complain and get my money back).  Last years grew enough to take cuttings but weren't lovely bushy plants, this years cutting are much bigger than the parent plants.

I keep the cutting in the conservatory.  Bit untidy but heh! osteo's are at leat £3.00 each for the size of cuttings I have.

[sclarke624]

P.s my clementis always looks really dead but then springs into leave buds, it now has flower buds.  I feed it chicken poo about late Feb, it seems to love it or its just a coincidence that its starts into bud a week or two after that.  It also seems to like a hard prune.

[Yorkie]

One way of checking whether there is likely still to be life in a shrub is to try the thumbnail  test.  Use your thumbnail to scrape away the top layer of the bark low down on the plant.  If it is brown and dry underneath, chances are that the plant is not alive.  If it is green or white, then it is still alive at that point.

[mumofstig]

My fuchsias would fail that test, but most will grow new shoots from root level 

[TheOnlyGothInTheVillage]

Can't remember what my clemitis is, a Speckled something...

Should roses be doing anything yet?, the ones I was given at Christmas have started shooting leaves but none of the ones I bought in the last month or so are doing anything, I've been buying one a week and they just look like sticks...

[bashful_badger]

I have 8 roses in the garden all of which were recently bought and all are shooting all over the place except for one which looks remarkably dead to me so I rang and complained.  They said they can't refund yet as its too soon to tell if it's dead but will happily do so if I ring back in a few more weeks if it's not done anything.  So maybe there is hope for the roses!

I did do the thumbnail test and it's green low down but brown higher up so not sure what will happen with that really.

[mumofstig]

Have today realised that I have lost my Pacific Giant Delphiniums, Black Knight purple, Guinevere pink , Summer Skies pale blue and Galahad white  sniff sniff 

In the other border the smaller un-named (so cheaper  ) New Zealand hybrids have survived.

Guess I'll be buying more seed, but it means I've lost most of this years flowers

[Trillium]

Aw, now, now, MoS.  Now you know to mulch them over winter and remove the mulch early in spring before slugs come along.

I belong to the Ontario delphinium society and we get seeds from the UK. I bought a whack of started plants last year and they were still fiddly when I planted them in a new bed in fall. Had a look a few days ago and they all made it. But mine have heavy snow cover all winter as 'mulch'. As for Black Knight and guinevere, I find them not quite as hardy as they should be. But Summer Skies has toughed it out in my horrid clay soil for 8 years and is bigger than ever - again, constant winter snow cover. I plan to basal divide it this year as I just can't find started plants anymore.

On the roses: prune down to to live green growth to encourage new shoots and stronger growth.

Fuschias are real slow pokes so I'd wait until late May before tossing any. Have them out in dappled shade and feed them but not with an excessively high first number fertilizer.

Most clematis should start showing a bit of life around this time. Some need a bit longer so don't dig them out right away. Do the bark scratch test low down and you'll know for sure. And yes, clematis do need yearly feedings to put on those great shows. I use a special clematis fertilizer which I'll sprinkle around this weekend along with alfalfa pellets, and later some comfrey or compost tea (whichever gets made first) Today I pruned back an unknown clematis that was here when I moved in, and I see buds on it.

[TheOnlyGothInTheVillage]

One of the fushias has started showing small signs of life, glad to see its not dead, got 9 roses still doing nothing and I haven't kept the reciepts, won't be buying those again, there quite small but I'll have a go at pruning them, such a shame, bought them to climb over the garden gate and pergola, gonna look quite bare out there this year...

[JayG]

Have lost surprisingly little this winter; I suspect this is one of the few advantages of sandy soil in that the plants didn't have to put up with frozen waterlogged soil as well as the snow and very low temperatures.

My Pacific Giant delphiniums have all survived without taking any special precautions, although I have lost some varieties over the years (including the rather aptly-named Blue Jay!) 

Seems like some cultivars are more hardy than others; my remaining ones are presumably hardier than the ones which have "bought it." 

[hamstergbert]

Reckon if your clematis is still showing no signs of life at all by now then it is highly probably that it has shuffled off the coil...

Rather than have a bare pergola and garden gate, why not mix a few varieties of runners and train them over - not only does it provide attractive leaf cover and mixed coloured flowers depending on the varieties you choose, but you get to eat them too!  In the menatime you can be establishing the permanent replacements (your beans can be planted back a little to give the closest bit of ground for the ornamental climbers) ready to try and do better next winter.