Wendy, how awful! I can complain along with you, although with less conviction. [g] I am in the Eastern part of the state and I don't think we got as much snow as you did. We did get a LOT though!

I actually had some kind of borer over the growing season ruin the trunk of a Rutgers hybrid Dogwood tree that I just planted the year before and I know I am going to have to replace that soon. So, I know how that feels. I haven't got a lot of damage this year from snow weight though. I have one Juniper Witchita Blue that I have forgotten to tie up before the first snow flies and that has some lower branches all bending down to the ground, that ruins the look of the very vertical shrub. That's about it.

We had so much snow cover this year, that I am pretty sure there were only about 3 weeks all winter without snow on the ground and that was a plus for me, because all of my perennials came back, including Foxglove that have died on me the past two winters. I've done some of the shrub pruning and I did see some broken branches that I had to cut off, but all my shrubs are pretty young so not as much of a big deal. If I had lost a lovely side branch of my mature Japanese Maple, I would have been very sad.

I have two Oakleaf Hydrangeas and they don't ever seem to come through the winter without damage. Some of the branches are pretty horizontal and they just can't take any snow weight at all.

No voles here yet, what are they attracted to? Saw my first chipmunk today.

I am just getting around to pruning the roses too and haven't touched my one and only clematis yet. It seems so strange, snow was on the ground late, and then there were a couple of weeks of frozen ground, and now I am seeing leaves on shrubs opening and even the maple buds are pretty big today. I didn't get all of my shrubs moved yet and am still working on that. Very small window of opportunity this year for that.

So, what are you going to do with the damage? Going to be replacing or just pruning back hard? Are voles running around because of a heavy mulch or is it just the snow cover? I wonder if next winter will be completely different from this one.

So sorry Wendy that you are seeing so much damage. I am sure it is disappointing, but hopefully when you clean out the rest it won't be as bad as you are expecting.

pm2

well, I love a good complaint as much as the next woman, but my garden is looking unexpectedly good. I'm certain the snow cover was the best thing to happen here in many years. Not much cold damage, except tips of a 'kumson' forthsyia.

On the other hand, my bees died this winter. I am ordering a new package. They left behind some good looking honey, that's a small consolation prize.

idabean

Wendy, I feel your pain on a smaller scale. I lost a chamaecyparis pisifera, a mohawk viburnum and, maybe, a korean lilac. The lilac and the c. pisifera were due to snow crushing.

I'm hoping the lilac will sprout some new branches or something - - it was new last year. It was only a youngster, maybe 2 feet tall and wide, and now it's down to stubble. There are a couple of leaf buds left, but only 2 or 3. Any thoughts on whether I should shovel prune, or wait and see if it sends up new shoots or something?

Now, I should have thought of tying up the c. pisifera. That's the third one I lost, yet this never occurred to me. As my son would say, "duh!" At least I know to do that next year for my junipers.

Like PM2, my perennials are looking super. Too may bare spots to fill in, though . . .

Ida, sorry about your bees. That's sad.

Thanks for the sympathy all. Sorry for your losses too.

pm, I had the same problem with my rutgers hybrid kousa last year. When it was taking too long to leaf out fully, I found all sorts of larvea and egg masses and damage at the base. It was horrible. I treated it and pruned and crossed my fingers. I am curious to see how it does this year. Its too early now to know. Mine was 10 years old.

I was about to dump the phlox skeletons left behind when I noticed there are teeny tiny roots at the base. I potted them and will see what happens. Unfortunately, I mixed up the pink skeletons and the white skeletons.

My Oakleaf Hydrangea is now a stub. I sure hope it regenerates. Elderberry Black Lace is a bit disfigured but not a total loss. One of 3 dwarf pierus, Cavatine, is crushed but not broken. Maybe it will pop up. Rhodies did well.

The roses that didn't have broken branches are very green.

Interestingly I expected the young inkberries to be very broken (their older brethren had damage in youth and had to be tied). But they came through fine.

My perennials are mostly still sleeping. Hopefully the ones that the voles left alone will be happy for the snow cover.

Hi Wendy...you really have had a destructive winter. I hope your Dogwood will recover for you. My damage was to a large portion of the trunk, and I can't figure out why it is still living at all. [g] After a ten year investment, that is major disappointment for you. I would be pretty discouraged as well.

As for the phlox...you are in a zone colder than I am, so I would be surprised if you would determine whether perennials have made it or not yet. Even here in zone 6, I have always taken the wait and see approach and have often been rewarded that a plant was just slow in coming back for some reason. Even my Clethra that died back over the winter last year, took until the middle of June before I was sure it was going to at least fill out the base of the plant and I trimmed off the top dead stems at that point.

Yes, I am sure lots of Perennials still sleeping. I haven't raked back all the mulch yet to see what's what. Just started doing that yesterday in the front.

The Sambucus Black Lace...I don't have that cultivar but have two other Sambucus..SGold and BBeauty and to me they are very resiliant plants that will take severe pruning and provide very fast regrowth, so that one should work out for you.

Hope you have some happy surprises to offset the disappointments. :-)

pm2

O -- I can join the chorus.

I am seeing plots of broken shrubs, but I decided it was a good time for "rejuvenation pruning" and have been actually enjoying cutting things back fairly severely. My inkberries get abused every year, as the snow that slides off the roof lands right on them. They seem OK with it tho. My Oakleaf Hydrangeas also can't seem to survive without damage here. I think they really do prefer a warmer climate.

I also have lots of holes that look like vole holes, and lots of "runways" -- but I think the perennials look pretty good so far. Maybe the voles were eating the birdseed instead...which would be a bad thing in terms of population explosion....

So sorry to hear about Marie's bees. Did your "rescue colony" also die? I am beekeeping vicariously thru your work, you know!

Is it too soon to divide perennials that are coming up?

ML

I think its a good time to divide. I would hold off on early bloomers though. They might be better off divided later in the season. unless it really has to be done, then you do what you gotta do!

Here's a pic of the Jap Maple split:

And here's the patch I performed... hope it works...

and here's the oakleaf hydrangea stub... boo hoo...

I fared much better this year than I did last year I suspect. It is a little to early to have the full report where I live.

Last year we had spring weather for most of the winter and things started coming out in March, just in time for a real snowstorm. I even lost many Dianthus! Those always come back. Heathers and Helleabors also are no longer found.

I was told that snowcover actually protects a lot of plants through the winter. I suspect that a lot of the kill had to do with the late in the season winter storm.

The vole trails are all over the place. I am asking those wandering cats what the heck they are up to.

Right now I have Dianthus and Pinks coming through. The crocus are in full bloom as well as tulips and other early bulbs. I did plant a dozen or so pansies the other day that are brightening up the garden with some color too.

Ouch Wendy, those pics are painful...I hope your "splint" works on that maple.

Overall, it was a great winter for perennials. Last November, during Veteran's Day weekend, Mahoney's had a sale on their perennials and grasses, $5 each. I just couldn't help myself, I went down 4 days in a row and pots kept jumping onto my cart...55 pots in total! (That would be $275 worth of perennials/grasses).

So then I was faced with, what the heck do I do with 55 pots for the winter (along with a few already in the pot ghetto)? I planted a few, sunk most of them into the ground, and overwintered about 15 in the pot ghetto, covered with leaves. Well, with all the snow cover, it was a great winter for the "herbaceous layer" and it looks like almost all of the plants in pots have survived just fine!

However, my baby shrubs that are in holding beds are another story. Most of them suffered some breakage because of the heavy snow. A small Elderberry lost most of it's main branches. But they are all budding out.

Little to no damage on the broadleaf evergreens this winter though! That's a good thing.

It's way too early here to tell if there's much damage. We had little snow cover, and vicious winter winds, as usual.

My first visible damage was caused by a subcontractor maintaining the telephone poles. Who knew they maintained telephone poles? He drilled holes in the pole and injected some chemicals and managed to split a volunteer blueberry next to the pole (I think it's a blueberry).

Wendyb's patch reminded me. As soon as I saw the split I raced into the house and grabbed the first bandages I could find: electrical cable ties. Luckily there was an old stub right next to the split so I could tie the two together.

This was a few weeks ago. The buds on the split section still look OK, but I won't know until the undamaged ones open.

Claire

cable ties... what a great idea. This morning I had to do more splints and cut off many dwarf Kalmia breaks. If it would stop raining, I might redo them with cable ties. I've been trying to establish a patch of K. Tiddlywinks around a birch tree for a few years, but I think I just lost half of each plant.

I also found today that a lot of plants were leaning forward at about a 45 degree angle!! A 8' tupelo, 3' tall Rose of Sharon, a few pine 'soft touch' shrubs. The ground is still a bit soft, I had to adjust them and heel them in. I think it was the voles running mercilessly throughout the area. Lotsa big holes and runways nearby.

I guess its all part of the process...I've been lucky in the past. I think this is the first year in about 12 years of gardening here, that I've experienced so many multiple bad winter problems. ALthough I'm still hopeful that the yin and yang of it will show up soon and all the positive effects will kick in.

Yes, rhodies look good but I haven't taken a real close look yet. And they have shallow roots too well within vole range! go figure.

Oh gosh Wendy, I'm sorry about your winter damage. Sounds awful. Except for the heavy rains that have kept me out of the garden things are doing well here. We had less than 6" of snow all winter & the winds weren't brutal either. Mostly, it just rained all winter (and still is...).

Our ground is waterlogged so I've not gotten things cleaned up yet. I hate it when the garden starts to bloom and there's still winter clean-up to take care of.

Hope those patches take hold for you.

Tricia

Wendy, that looks like a nice patch job. I was reminded of my neighbor across the street who had a large split in an almost mature Maple tree. It was a double leader tree. He bolted it together about four years ago. I was amazed and would not have thought of doing that. I was always the type when I was a kid, who would rip up my schoolwork and start over again if I made a mistake. [g] Amazingly, it worked and the tree didn't skip a beat. I will have to notice if I can see where he patched it now.

pm2

My, I am an impatient gardener sometimes. I'm sure I bought two more peony mollis, and while walking around the garden looking for thick red tips, I found myself mumbling and cursing under my breath about them being no shows. Of course I have no recollection where I planted them, and the tags are no longer there, so my grumpiness may be for nothing.

The rescued hive died too. We think they froze to death. That is not uncommon when the temps get very, very low. The Canadians plan on replacing their hives annually. Our climate is not usually so cruel.

The bees arrive around May 5. I'll post a notice, so if anyone wants to stop by for a glass of wine and see how bees are installed, they can. I have a goal of converting at least one person to beekeeping by next year.

Haha, where's the outrage? I'm feeling it here! I had a lot of vole damage. I think the early snow (1st week in December) meant that they were able to burrow into the ground before it froze. I found a whole network of trails leading from one perennial to another. Grrr!!! I am having a talk with my dogs about keeping those voles under better control next year.

O -- I must add -- I had lots of frost heaving this winter, which I don't usually have. Mostly it was in a "lasagna bed" that I made 2 years ago and planted in last year. I think that system doesn't work for me. It's really hard to get plants in at the right depth, as the soil continues to form around them. Everything seems to pop out! Lost 2 winterberry babies, a vaseyi azalea, maybe a baby halesia, maybe a baby calycanthus. I need to start a nursery bed, and need advice. New post to follow.

well, finally, I found something to cheer about. A few of my Endless Summer hydrangeas have a few live terminal buds!!! That's never happened before. Looking forward to early blooms!

actually, I'm cheering about a lot more... spring has sprung and no matter what the damage, its great that its here!