Are my plants dead? [Pics]

livEwirE

Hi guys,

I know absolutely nothing about plants and am just wondering can you tell me are these plants dead? Have had them around 3 years and after every winter they have grown again. With the exceptional frost and snow this year are they now dead? Is there any point on waiting for them to bloom or should I just dig them out and start over. Can someone recommend some plants that are year round and require no maintenace and where is the best place to get them please? My wife and I are not green fingered at all!

All help appreciated. Thanks







I think the plant on the bottom left in the below pick somehow survived.

gsxr1

ye wont really know till the end of the month.

some of mine look like that. But come back each year.

The Sweeper

I can see green! If they're green, they're not dead. I can't, however, make out what they are. They look a bit like hebes, but hebes aren't meant to die off in winter. Is it the cold that's killed them?

What's the soil like under that gravel - is it damp / soggy, or is it hard / dry? Most plants like their soil to be damp without being waterlogged.

If you're wondering if the plants are dead, the leaves look dead, but you can't judge the stems unless you try to break them or scratch them. It's not unusual for a distressed plant to allow its leaves to die off, but keep the life in the stem or branch - then new leaves will sprout from that same stem or branch. To test if a stem or branch is dead, scratch at it with a fingernail - if you see green underneath, it's alive. You can also try bending them - a living stem will bend, a dead stem will be brittle with no juices left, and will snap off.

Depending how much of the plant is still alive, you can try cutting out the dead parts to make way for new growth.

Basically, I think they might rally, but whether or not you give them the chance depends on what you want to be looking at on that particular garden bed.

Dizzyblonde

They look like hebes to me to, and any time I've had them they've gone stalky and tired looking anyway after a few years.
I think dwarf conifers would be lovely in that spot, and any small evergreen shrubs. If you go to a garden centre and tell them what you're looking for they'll advise you.

bnick

gsxr1 wrote: »

ye wont really know till the end of the month.

some of mine look like that. But come back each year.

I to have had plants that look as though they may be dead, but then will come back. I'd wait it out.

John Mason

i have been looking at a lot of mine and wondering the same thing but some of them are starting to green up again.

i have definitely lost a lot though:(

i would leave it another few though, just in case. i heard somewhere that new growth is a month behind due to the cold weather - have no idea if this is true

livEwirE

Thanks for all the advice folks, might give it another few weeks and see if they start growing again

gsxr1

the last 2 days have caused a big burst of life in my little garden. Small break from the frost and there off. Its as if the plants and trees where itching to get going.