The Survivors

The snow has melted, crocuses are blooming, and it is time for my annual "I wonder what survived" tour of the garden.

We had what I thought was a pretty average winter -- some serious cold, but nothing too intense. I was worried because we didn't have very good snow cover (snow = nature's blanket) but so far things look great!

After having it 4 years, you'd think I'd have gotten used to this Agave parryi actually being hardy, but every winter I'm happily surprised to see it come through unfazed. Some years the tips of the leaves get damaged it they weren't covered with snow in the very coldest weather, but this year it didn't even get that. It has decent drainage in this spot, which I think is a big part of my success.

This is one of my snapdragons... Pretending to be alive, though I'm pretty sure it isn't. I don't know why snaps do this for me -- it seems they always come out of winter looking fine, and then collapse once actual spring arrives. Little teases...

When I saw the slimy wet mass at the heart of this cardoon, I thought it was a gonner, but looking closer I see a tiny fat white shoot coming up to one side. We'll see if it actually pulls through.

I was VERY surprised to see this bud pushing up through the mulch. It is an Anemone coronaria, which I've always seen listed as zone 7 or even 8! I grew them as an annual last year, and figured that was that. But apparently not! And I'm not the only one. Kylee over at Our Little Acre (also zone 5 -- just a little south of me) said she's had them come back for the past three years!

So, very good news on the winter survival front here! I am SOOOOOOO excited about the gardening year starting up! Let me leave you with some totally gratuitous crocus shots:

First crocus of the year!

YAY!!!!!
(And, in the background, though you can't really see it, is my agave -- still alive! Take that, winter!)

I really think they are alive!

I think my Agave perryi 'Super Hardy' have lived up to their name!
The big one looks absolutely undamaged -- no mushyness or anything:

The small one (a pup from the big one) isn't quite as happy, with a few mushy leaves, but the damage seems to be just on the outer portions of a couple leaves -- no signs that the center of the plant is rotting out.

I'm so thrilled! I didn't even give a special spot -- I put them in a relatively well-drained part of the garden, but no special rock garden treatment or anything. Who knows it they will prove to be reliably hardy over the long run here in zone 5 (unlike the rest of the country, we had a slightly milder than usual winter) but I think I could recommend them with confidence in zone 6. The sad news is that I no longer know of a source for it. I got mine from the always amazing Arrowhead Alpines but they don't list it in their catalog for this year. Luckily it seems to make pups pretty freely, so hopefully I'll be able to have lots of them soon. And you never know -- we you visit Arrowhead in person, they often have plants that didn't make it to the main catalog. If I can, I'm getting more.

The agave lives (for now...)

I thought for a moment we were going to see the ground -- we had a string of warm (highs in the mid 30s!) temperatures, and snow was melting. Of course, we got about 4 inches last night, and are supposed to get 4 MORE today, so I guess seeing the ground will have to wait a while.

However: while poking about outside in the heat wave, I did see this poking up out of the snow:

My Agave Parryi 'Super Hardy'! It lives! At least for now... It has made it through the real cold of winter, but still to come is the perpetual wet of early spring. But it is alive! I hope everything else I'm worried about makes it too.