Frost! - what died and what survived?

I split my big agapanthus two years ago. Last year, I thought the 'splittings' had perished, but now, there they are blooming away. In Cheshire.

My agapanthus survived here and is in bloom in S midlands. Despite v low temperatures. My poor dahlia that survived has suffered massive slug damage though. I noticed the other day that a massive clump of NZ flax (big spikes 2-3 metres) on a roundabout in w. midlands was re-sprouting from the bottom.

Carboncareful, I too have a fair few baby cordylines, DH took 2 (as you say, no roots of their own) and potted them up. So far they look ok ish, a couple of the very outer leaves have gone brown, but we are waiting to see what happens, as I would like to pass them on to friends.

I might follow your advice and try a couple more in Autumn, but I'm not sure that even then they will have their own roots, they just seem to sprout from the original, but I could be wrong.

Keep us informed!

I lost my beloved tree fern, DH bought it for me (from Homebase!) at a cost of about £27, it would have been around £100 from our local up-market garden centre. We had it for 3 years, it survived the first bad winter and it was really doing well. It was especially treasured because he bought it from his first months wages after a long period of being out of work. Sad to say, that situation has re-occured. Job hunting at 55 is a bitch.

I though I had also lost my agapanthus, but it has put out a few tentative leaves, so I have hope for it yet.

Central Scotland here - lost our bay tree in a pot too. Have bought a new one now and think I will overwinter it in our unheated plastic greenhouse thingy. Also, surprisingly lost a lot of heathers in pots. Well maybe not so surprising as when one of the pots burst (had a lot of cracked pots last winter) there was just a solid lump of ice therein.

Re dead cordylines: we have lots of babies around the base of the (dead!) trunk. Too many really because we don't really want a multi (ten) stemed tree. So what should we do? I think we wait for Autumn and then cut some off? Also I'm wondering if I can pot up some for friends. Just tried cutting one off and it did not have any root of its own, so I'll try again in Oct/Nov. Any other suggestions please?

From Warwickshire,I lost about 30 celtic cabbage usually very hardy.I don't know if it was the frost or the covering of snow that rotted the hearts,maybe a combination of the two

Oh eck. We have two plastic compost bins that seem to boil down fast enough that we never have to empty them. The evil day approacheth though. One day when DH does not want to fit in a 45 mile bike ride and is willing to do wheelbarrow duty. It has got to be done.

Do you make compost, Jess? If so, your daisies might benefit from a dressing down.

I saw half of a programme about the designer recently... I have been there once - should go again. but in the meantime that great little lavender named after it is just coming into bloom. it seems to have had some offspring - and strangely seems to breed true. trueish anyway. It's e perfect for a small area - the bigger lavender in the back is about waist high and growing.
Why are my cosmos daisies only abut 9" tall? Do you think they need fertililising?

baggy - I was at Hidcote in June - it really was spectacular. This was my second "visit" - the first time I was staying with my sister in Leamington and we packed a picnic; by the time we got to Hidcote it was pouring, so we sat in the car with said picnic, venturing out after a little while to have a cup of tea in the little cafe. The rain just kept on coming, so we gave up and went to the shops instead!

I used to visit Hidcote a lot when I lived in Oxfordshire.

I lost a pittosporum the winter before last. The gap it left has been filled up by the adjacent philadelphus which is now rampant. Last winter, my bay tree, which barely survived the previous year, finally turned up its toes and is sadly missed.

Maybe Scotland normally a bit too chilly? I was really pleased that my little hedge of Hidcote lavender has recovered, 'cos it had a hammering. Not even the tiniest bit of green. And surprised to see a daliah sprouting. The tubers in the garage turned to mush but the one that got left in the ground (bit big gangly to really want it again) sprouted up. Would never have made it if we hadn't had an extremely dry spring, which has limited slugs...
I did see some beautiful yukka flowers last night in the school garden - great big spikes of creamy bells.

Sorry about your pittosporum. I'm just off to google it. I've had to google quite a few of the names of plants that suffered from last winter's weather.

Done that. Ah. I'm not familiar with those plants.

My pittosporum died; I'd bought quite a large one to keep in a pot and it was rather expensive.

Nothing seems to have suffered in my garden. But then my gardening is more a limitation exercise than anything else. Left to its own devices it would be forest in a short time, which is quite encouraging in a way — unrepressed nature coming back in strength when given the chance.

Apparently bank voles (which we have in the garden) and field voles did really well in Scotland through the last two cold winters — something about the snow and ice giving them some insulation from the cold air (because they stayed underneath the snow a good deal of the time) and possibly some protection from their usual predators.

I Thought my Ceanothus was dead and cut it down leaving the stump in the ground. Much to my surprise it is now sending up lovely new shoots. I too lost my Cordyline in a pot. When I went to replace it I noticed that the garden center had an abundant supply at a much higher price than previous years!

I was amazed at how much stuff survived the cold winter, the only plants we lost were already poorly before the winter. We only lost one dahlia (all left in ground) that really surprised me. My neighbour lost his Corylines, but even those are breaking from the base. I have about 20 Bonsai, they all survived with no protection.

We've got a lot of bees in the garden. Not sure about actual bumblies though.

We have lots (really lots!) of bumble bees and a swarm of (presumably feral) honey bees has decided to come and live in a disused chimney today. I've had to rescue a few that fell down the wrong chimney into our wood stove. Now I've lit a small fire to discourage them. Shouldn't be a problem in the unused chimney. I hope!

I'm in Kent and we too lost a large branch off the lilac tree due to the weight of snow. Thought we had lost our olive tree and started to cut it down but suddenly noticed buds coming through so it's fine (just a bit smaller!!) Lost some Bishop of Llandaff Dahlias but that was my fault for leaving them in

A grower on the radio said that evergreens suffer because they carry on drawing up water and losing it from their leaves even in the cold. But when ground frozen, nothing to suck up. My bay, which is planted in the ground is absolutely happy and unfortunately winter did not kill off the pest that makes its leaves curl. I dont want to spray it for obvious reasons.
Has anyone noticed a shortage of bumble bees? I tend to plant things they like but i think they are much fewer this year.

The only thing I lost, here in Nortumberland, were pentemmons (sp?) - this is probably because we lost so much the previous year.

A friend who lives in Essex has said that she has lost lots of trees and shrubs - things they had planted to cope with droughts, couldn't cope with the very cold winter.

out of