I think there are going to be quite a few 'surprises' in the way of plant survival in my gardens this spring. We had an unusually warm winter....for the most part it was a Zone 5a winter. About 4-5 nights in February that would be considered zone 4a. But a few cold nights does not a zone make!

A little too early here to tell what experimental plants survived. So far it is Erica tetralix and Geranium 'Rozanne' showing definite signs of life. Reinforcement of my feeling that our winter was more like a zone 5 than Zone 3a. If I recall correctly, folks in zone 4 had hit-and-miss luck with getting G.'Rozanne' to winter successfully.

Despite the odd-ball warm winter weather not being a 'true' indicator of a plant being able to survive here....I am going to enjoy the heck out of seeing the 'experimental' plants put out new growth this spring! At least I can always say..."It survived one winter!"

Jan

Well daylilies are far from experimental, but last year when I ordered some for fall planting we weren't sure if it was a good idea... but all 6 new ones have come through and have new growth already. There are two semi-evergreens that look just fine, "Always Afternoon" and "Yazoo Wild Violet", which is a relief because I paid $20 and $28 for them respectively. Can't wait for flowers!!

Another happy surprise. Corydalis x flexuosa 'Blackberry Wine' is alive and well!

Another interesting item. Last fall/early winter there was a discussion on Polygonatum. I mentioned that I had the variegated and Giant (Great) form of these and both had remained as a single plant for many, many years.....never spreading or colonizing. This spring...each has poked up about 6-7 shoots. Holy Smolie! I am finally going to have colonies of Polygonatum. Can life get any better than this?
Jan

Last summer I had picked up a 'Blue Pacific' juniper at Home Depot. I haven't seen one offered locally before and the tag said it was a zone 3 shrub, so I grabbed one. When I did a search on it, it seems that every site I found claimed it to be hardy to only zone 5. Well, I'm really happy that it's made it through the winter with flying colours. Only a little bit of winter kill on the tips.

I really like the foliage on this one. It's not prickly at all. And it's needles are soft and remind me of a succulent almost.

Laurie

Jan, yes, it will sure take a couple more winters to really prove "hardiness". On the other hand.... I agree - so far so good, LOL!!
So, in what conditions are you growing the Erica tetralix? Acid soil, I expect? Looks like a beautiful plant.
Laurie, that certainly is a nice, different-looking juniper... Hillier says it's a selection of the Japanese species, Juniper conferta; it will be interesting to hear about how it does through time.
Gillian, your daylilies must be generally a lot more advanced than mine... many of mine show no sign of life yet.
A few more:
Lallemantia canescens - a first year bloomer, though the flowers were not as spectacular as I'd hoped; we'll see what it does this year.
Anthemis marshalliana - this year, when it blooms, should get to see how it differs, if it does much, from Anthemis tinctoria 'Kelwayi'.
Campanula thyrsoides - a yellow-flowering campanula; I grew a mess of these, and all seem to have made it; however, since it's supposed to be a biennial, I guess another season may not really shed much light on its hardiness!
Bergenia strachyi - not much surprise there, to me, anyway.
Barbarea vulgaris - both plain and variegated; not too surprising, given its status as a noxious weed in some northern states. Hmmm, I'll keep an eye on them.
Allium roseum
Hemerocallis thunbergii
Well, more to come... gotta go out and crawl around with the maps to figure out what's there!

Lori - I can only wish I had acid soil somewhere in my gardening areas! LOL. I did add a bit of elemental sulfur to the well-drained, sandy area of my Heather plantings. I suspect in the long run, even excluding a normal winter, lack of soil acidity and consistent moisture will contribute to their demise. Trying to mimic their natural environment is not an easy thing to do in northern MN!

Interestingly, as part of the 'experiment' I overwintered one in a pot in the potato cellar for the winter....and that one didn't make it.

No signs of life yet on the Patrinia's. Should I worry?
Jan

I stuck trifolium repens 'Dark Dancer' in the ground in the fall from one of my containers and am happy to see it has new growth. I'm also delighted to see doronicum 'Little Leo' has returned. I've tried doronicum before with no success, so time will tell if this is just a result of the mild winter.

I checked my containers today and found a couple of sprouts of CORYDALIS nobilis.
I didnÂt know if I should have put this one in the wintersowing sprouts thread as I sowed them when I received the seed in the fall.
Ian

I have pretty much given up on trying the unusual and am sticking to the tried and true. However I did plant a Primula 'Assiniboine' from Skinners last spring figuring we could enjoy it for one season but it is back and starting to bloom making me think I should try more primulas. The one negative surprise was to see so much die back on the Iberis that had done so well the winter before. I think we may not have watered it well enough in the fall.
Leo

It's a little early for much to be up in my garden, also I think I left my mulch on too late :( (I'm new to mulching-an experiment in itself I guess!) But...!!! I planted a variety of Heuchera last summer and it's coming back up! I think it will be a red one, not sure though. Still waiting for Virginia creeper, Phlox "David", and Dicentra spectabalis "Alba". Oh ya! And the Creeping Thyme I direct seeded seems to be quite alive! I'm looking forward to that as I have a "Thyme Walk" planned. Most things are an experiment here it seems! All part of the fun :)
Tootsie

Jan, my Patrinia scabiosifolia are showing good vigor here... I'm sure yours will be making an appearance soon, if they haven't by now.

Ian, it will be interesting to hear how the Corydalis nobilis winters... I think the various corydalis species hold a lot of promise for our cold zones (since a lot of them are from cold zones!), both the bulb and herbaceous perennial types. (Corydalis is yet another group in which I've only started to scratch the surface). The blue-flowered ones are a bit tricky here (not re. hardiness though)... seem to require more constant moisture than our yard and care provides to do well... though they keep coming back.

north53 and tootie, very interesting to hear what you are both wintering over in zone 1! north53, the patterned-leaf varieties of the common forage clovers are very attractive plants and not invasive; it's really kind of funny that they are so uncommonly-grown around here. (I did have Trifolium repens 'Pentaphyllum' for a few years... until it died out. Thinking about it, my white Dutch clover died out... now, is that a "black thumb" or what? LOL!)

Leo, sounds like an interesting hybrid primrose you're growing... I haven't come across it. I think you'd find some other primrose species, specifically Primula veris, P. denticulata, P. auricula to be extremely low risk too, if your experience with 'Assiniboine' makes you feel like branching out.

A few more new ones from last year, that have wintered:
Iris sintenisii, potananii
Delphinium virescens
Arnica montana
Pleurospermum szechenyii
Penstemon smallii
Globularia cordata
Silene regia

abgardeneer:
I am curios about the Silene regia (Catchfly?)you overwintered. I direct seeded some Silene Electra (S. armeria rubra)aka: annual catchfly last spring and WOW! They were beautiful, but annual (under wildflowers in my catalogue)so I left them to self seed. Nothing has showed back up...yet.
What zone was S. regia rated for? The Electra variety was bright magenta and was striking sown w/ California poppies. I highly recomend it for anyone looking for some color.

Tootsie(FTR(for the record) not Tootie! LOL!)

Tootsie (not Tootie, sorry!!!):
Silene regia is native to Ontario and down through the US midwest; reportedly zone 4. However, it's not something commonly grown around here, so it needs testing (and I expect it'll be hardy). Will be nice to have a tall (up to 4') silene in red, or at least, orangey-red.
By the way, there are other silenes that are already known to be hardy here, that would be good for those in colder zones to try... Silene uniflora syn. maritima, S. acaulis, S. dioica, even S. vulgaris is pretty showy.

After waiting for something like a year and a half I have sprouts in the container in which I sowed Trillium grandiflorum. Of course that was after I had got sufficiently frustrated to order a plant (hasnÂt arrived yet.)

AbGardeneer:- This past winter was mild with the coldest I can recall being minus 22C. The summers here are quite variable but are often cloudy and moist. Last year I donÂt think that I had to water past the end of June. Corydalis nobilis is ephemeral according to Kristl Walek. I will have to see how it performs here for me.

Ian

Ian, interesting about Corydalis nobilis - rhizomatous yet ephemeral seems like perhaps not the usual combo? Another site I looked at suggested that it stayed green the whole season, so it will be interesting to hear about what yours do there. (I guess when I referred to the "bulb type" above, e.g. C. solida, I should have actually said "tuberous"... as of course they really aren't bulbs.)
Good going on the trilliums! I have only ever bought them, and am finding them extremely slow going even with that head start, so I don't think I have the patience for seeds.

A few other new winter-survivors:
Hutchinsia alpina
Orostachys malacophyllus
Campanula kolenatiana