It's almost the end of May and I've had the chance to take stock of what did and did not survive our winter. The greatest losses this year actually have little to do with winter - peach tree borers all but destroyed our apricot tree, and likely did the same to our plum tree (though only time will tell). We do not plan on replacing the apricot, which will give both the Asian pear (a multi-grafted tree with cultivars Chojuro and Drippin' Honey) and our Issai kiwi Actinidia arguta 'Issai' more room to grow, but we will wait and see if the Toka plum survives. A few perennials were killed this winter, likely by the hard freeze we experienced in November. All things considered, we didn't lose as many as I had anticipated. Not that they weren't damaged - the Eastern redbud Cercis canadensis was killed back to about half a foot and Magnolia stellata 'Royal Star' took much longer to break dormancy than usual, despite our rather mild and very early spring. And, of course, neither of them bloomed this year. I moved the redbud to a sheltered area in the back yard, which should give it a chance to regain (and exceed) its previous growth. My plan is to watch them both this year and hope for the best. The Issai kiwi was also killed back to just inches above the soil line, but it is sending up new growth vigorously. Two seedling Vitis arizonica are leafing out; I grew these from seed last year, so I am thankful that they survived - the seedlings were very small when I planted them out last summer, and I wasn't sure how much of a root system they'd be able to develop before winter.
My Ravenna grass Saccharum ravennae survived, but both of my clumps of bamboo Fargesia rufa 'Green Panda' had a lot of winter-kill. They are slowly regrowing.
On the flipside, the wet, mild spring has given the garden a chance to recover from this past winter's harshness. Our mostly buffalo grass lawn is as green as an emerald. I'm glad it rarely gets taller than a few inches!
The only other possible casualties are the two Caryopteris clandonensis 'Dark Knight' in the front yard. No life on them yet, but I keep waiting for them to send up new growth from the roots. They've done it before, but this winter might have done them in. Which, of course, sums up gardening in Colorado.
