Artichoke 1 Rosemary 0

[Rubykitchen]

After a hefty argument about not allowing my other half to tear up the 'slimy' globe artichokes that are clearly suited to Tuscan, not Northumbrian whether and snow...I win...yesterday I noticed the smallest little shoots next to the plants the other half thought were dead...I don't like to gloat...but in cases like these...may I also add that no straw or other for of protection was put on the globe artichokes - maybe the thick layer of snow protected them - or maybe it was the fact i didn't cut the plants down...if they can survive that winter, they'll surely survive anything...

meanwhile...disappointed to find the rosemary we bought with us from London and has kept us going for a number of years...has gone crumbly and obviously NOT survived the winter...;(

Vietnamese coriander has died - and I knew that was tres tender, so bought it indoors in good time - maybe I killed it with kindness and over watered the thing!?

Cuban oregano thriving after being bought indoors.

Forgot to bring in sweet cicely, but full of hope moved out of the chickens reach into the greenhouse about 3 weeks ago - and its growing.

isn't nature wonderful...no doubt its probably all a fluke...if I left it all to chance again, they'd probably all succumb

[PLUMPUDDING]

I'm glad your globe artichoke survived. I thought I'd lost all mine as the new ones grown from seed had gone rotten, but today a couple of nice strong new shoots are coming up from one I'd had in the border for a couple of years. Like you said its amazing they've survived this winter.

I've lost one rosemary, but the sweet cicely is tough as old boots and should survive anything. The Vietnamese coriander is very tender and mine has died in the greenhouse. Another survivor I thought I'd lost was the lovage, but there are lots of new shoots coming up this week.

I've noticed that several of the plants I've lost are on south facing banks - hebes and rosemary - whereas the ones with more shade are still OK.

[goldilox]

Maybe artichokes aren't as delicate as we think. Years ago, in north east Scotland, I planted 22 artichoke plants and the first winter covered them well to protect them from the cold. The 2nd winter they were covered, but not as well. The third winter I forgot to cover them at all, and they all survived. After that I just let them do their own thing and we had artichokes every year.

Luck? Maybe, but it did get pretty cold.

[Nature's Babe]

I thought my lovage had died too but it's grown about nine inches high already. The rosemary has a few flowers on it, self seeded stuff like land cress is popping up everywhere, and the artichokes survived too. The pineapple sage looked dead too but on close inspection today it is shooting again.
Last autumn I took a few sprigs of rosemary and shoved them in a tub in the greenhouse, they all rooted so I have a few new plants to give away now, probably a useful thing to do as insurance in case we get heavy snow again.
My broad beans planted last autumn are romping away now, an envirofleece tent kept the snow off them, the previous year I used hoops and fleece and they collapsed with the weight of the snow and I lost the lot.

[oldherbaceous]

I think a little patience is required this year, to see what is alive or dead.

[Johnboy]

What has really surprised me is that things like Marjoram and Oregano have survived but Mint that has been with me through thick and thin for over thirty years has died on me. I am going to have to beg, borrow or steal some from somewhere this year. I use Mint in all sorts of things but strangely the one thing I dislike is Mint Sauce with Roast Lamb I simply think that you spoil the taste of the lamb and the whole meal. Instead I always have a Leek and Onion White Sauce which is much more in keeping in my view.
JB.

[Primrose]

Any experts on clematis on here? One plant has completely died back whereas my others are all shooting, and there's just a tangled mess of roots beneath the soil. I've planted a new one in its place but is it worth replanting the root mess somewhere else in case it resurrects itself. I've suffered clematis wilt in the past so am unsure whether it was the weather or the wilt that has probably done for it.

[glallotments]

WE had three rsoemary plants at the allotments - the twolargest are totally brown preseumed dead but the smaller one seems to have survived. Nor much difference in position either.

[alan refail]

Some things seem to positively thrive on the intense cold.

I took 4 blackcurrant and 4 redcurrant cuttings rather late last autumn - just stuck them in a pot in the polytunnel. They endured weeks of temperatures down to minus 10, frozen rock-hard. I potted them this morning; they all had an excellent root system, lots of leaf and even flower clusters in bud.

It made me very

[Primrose]

Yes, I also took a couple of blackcurrant shoots and stuck them in a spare patch of earth in a very shady position which got so sun at all during winter , so the earth was still frozen there after it had thawed out elsewhere. I've just moved them and found that they too had developed good root systems. It's amazing the capacity of some of these plants have to survive the most horrible cold conditions. It will probably be ages before they develop into fruit yielding plants but am not too bothered about that.

[DiG]

I have had to restock my herb garden with the exception of the oregano and thymes. I suspect that they were protected from the worst cold by a thick covering of snow. Unfortunately my 10 year old bay tree, which came with me when I moved 4 years ago, is just brown and crisp and the rosemary was the same. I managed to get a new bay tree yesterday, but this one will stay in a pot this time so I can move it under cover over winter.

As OH says we need to be patient to see what has survived - I am keeping my fingers crossed for my two remaining eucalyptus trees (40-ish ft tall). They are not looking at all happy. We had to fell one last year and the place would look very bare without them.

Diane

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Primrose, i'm certainly no expert on Clematis, or a lot of things come to that, but slugs can be a real nuisance to newly emerging shoots of Clematis, they eat them as quick as they develope, so it might well still shoot if this was the problem.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I'm quite upset to find that my bay tree which is about 30 years old seems to have died this winter. I thought it looked a bit sorry for itself and on checking this morning, the stem has a 9 inch split down it and bark is also lifting off in several places near the ground. I had shaped it as a standard and never had any problems until this winter. I've got a few cuttings rooted from it last year and they've been outside in pots and all seem to be alright, so I'll have to choose a replacement.

[Shallot Man]

Primrose. re clematis, many moons ago was told by a grower, plant them deep, if you get die back don't despair, cut back to ground level, cover with some compost, chances are they will shoot again, if they don't, you haven't lost anything. he also mentioned they like their heads in the sun, but roots in the shade, if in a sunny spot, cover with gravel or better still some paving. Hope this helps.

[FelixLeiter]

I wouldn't be too quick to condemn anything after a bad winter. Clematis, I find, are very good at pretending to be dead. It's best to wait until the growing season has sufficiently advanced before pronouncing on a plant which might appear dead-looking right now, but which may resurrect later. I have also known shrubs which have flushed into leaf in the spring only for them to wither as spring as advanced into the heat of early summer, because the cambium of the trunk and branches has been so damaged by the cold that the tissues can no longer transport water efficiently to the growing shoots.