My cannas made it...all of them. My Musa Basjoo (Japanese Snow Banana) wasn't a surprise that it made it, just that it is growing again with break neck speed. One stalk is already 3 feet high and might be 3 1/2 by the time I get home tonight. Not dead, but disappointing were the Camelias, I think they are getting too much sun in the winter.

I'm anxious to see if my lantana made it through the winter. It's not hardy here, but I was hoping with a mild winter, maybe it would live.

Surprisingly, all my oleanders suffered. It was such a mild winter I figured they'd be okay, but they really must just not be suited to this climate. I don't know what it is.

My dracaena spike survived in a large pot on my front steps. Its east-facing and sits next to a brick wall. I was so amazed! The center appears to be dead but there are little green sprouts around it. This has never happened here before, that I recall, or maybe I just didn't notice before. If anyone knows how to harvest the little new ones, or if I should leave them be, please let me know!

My pineapple sage didn't only make it, but it's thriving. I've never had one over winter here.

My surprises are related to what DIDN'T make it through the winter.... The list includes a verbena "Homestead", a small azalea, a bleeding heart, and a couple of Shasta daisies. I only had one verbena, but I've got other shasta daisies and bleeding hearts that are doing well. Go figure....

I'm the same as artrageous, many DIDN'T make it. I had quite a few salvias die this winter that were borderlines for our zone that bit the dust. Such a bummer. Verbena didn't come back for me either.

This spring, for the first time EVER, I had to water my azaleas, spring bulbs, and a few other things in my sunny front yard. We usually have VERY wet springs (the basement used to flood during February like clockwork) so I've never, ever had to do that before. I have lost some established azaleas and bridal wreath spirea over the past two or 3 seasons, even though I tried very hard to water properly during the draught times. :(

Kathy

Okay, more surprises: my cannas did NOT make it, even though I'd been told they'd be okay in zone 7 and I mulched them very well. What happened?

Babywatson, maybe your cannas actually stayed too moist underneath the mulch. I've found that the marginally hardy plants I grow here in Herndon will make it sometimes in a pot(!) where they won't make it in a bed. I think that's because the pots are usually tucked next to the house for the winter, where they get minimal rain or snow. Also, freeze/thaw can do them in.

I had dracaena survive, also, but only until it rained in March and then froze hard. It was sharing a big pot with Artemisia Powis Castle.

Salvia 'Black & Blue' made it in a nursery pot, with no mulching at all.

Most of the things I lost were due to not watering during the fall and winter, I think - French perennial celery, and a number of small pots of things that hadn't gone into the garden last year.

I'm new to the area, decided to throw caution to the wind and put my rosemary, which was in a pot on the sunny deck all summer, in the ground in my front bed. It looks like its been around the block a time or two, but it survived! I'm not sure if that's typical since this was my first winter, but having moved from New England (where I couldn't even winter it in a pot INSIDE) I was so happy about it!

Well, I think all my agastache made it-Pink Panther, Blue Fortune, Golden Jubilee, & Tutti-Frutti. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for the cannas in pots, no sign of life yet. One Weigela 'Wine & Roses' did very well, while the other 4' away looks rough. My windmill palm seems o.k., as well as the 4 figs I planted too late in the season for them to get adequate roots (I had them in pots all summer, didn't try to put them in the ground til late Sept./Oct., but they all survived). One plant that seemed to laugh at winter were the 2 heucheras I had-a common green & a Palace Purple, never went dormant, tons of new leaves-I took that as a sign & just got lots of new heucheras-Key Lime Pie, Creme Brulee, Stormy Seas, Fandango, Silver Scrolls, Stoplight, & Dale's Strain-I have lots of shady areas & I hope they will do well...

Well, I've got a peice of the low-growing verbena in my front yard that escaped from a container last summer. I've kept a low pink one for several years now- not all of it makes it, but enough to give a good start for the summer.

My 'Victoria' salvias are now two years old.

I just found growth from the roots of a shrubby yellow-to-pink lantana. Which is good, since I haven't gotten around to taking cuttings from the mother plant I over-winter in the house.

They say global warming isn't so much in the summers as it is in warmer winters.

Global warming isn't really how hot you get--it's how cold you DON'T get.

My elephant ears made it just fine. I broke up the 2 bails of hay I use to decorate around Halloween and put that on them, then topped with mulch. I'm very pleased with everything that is growing in my Leesburg garden.

We lost four new azaleas, and a shasta daisy want *kaput*, but there was a shocking survivor.

A cluster of snapdragons that were stuck carelessly in heavy soil next to a driveway where they got showered with road dust all year, well, they're already blooming again this spring.

They belong in Ripley's Museum.

Has anyone successfully overwintered dahlias in Northern Virginia? I always dig mine up, but I just recently was told they might be hardy here?

A small rosemary overwintered (with good mulching) in my herb pot out front, and one canna (out of three) survived for a client. A new client said she had a wave petunia overwinter!