hey ...

every loss.. is an opportunity for something new... so eventually.. you quit babying things.. especially.. if you are space limited ...

also ... once FULLY ESTABLISHED ... many things dont need the foo foo protection ...

this year... at worse.. your JM will die back to snow cover ... which should give you a foot or two of live trunk ...

things fully under the snow.. really arent as impacted by the severe cold and wind above .... an insulating cover.. if you will ...

of course.. that is all moot.. depending how spring arrives.. and that potential nightmare... lol ...

sooner or later.. all gardeners become farmers... basically understanding.. that we cope with mother nature ... and take what she throws at us ... after the fact.. we might spend a lot of time whining and moaning... but beyond that.. why worry .... you have absolutely no control ...

and with this winter.. who could say.. that whatever you dreamed up to beat ma nature... would have succeeded... you may have had the same losses regardless .. so why bother ...

so.. all and all.. i have been where you are now.. since i moved out to 5 acres.. rather than the small suburban lot... i mean really.. there is only so much time, effort and burlap.. that can be put up to cover stuff ...

hope all is well

ken

Exactly the same. I am sure you can imagine the unnecessary anxiety and care I put into plants in my new-to-gardening days.

I would stress about a lupine dwindling. A LUPINE! I even went outside and covered roses in a hail storm, lol.

Like you I have come to take a "tough love" approach with the plants in my garden. There are a few gems I still take a few more minutes on, but other than that it is survival of the fittest. Mainly that is due to laziness nowadays, but still! Lol.

It's kind of funny seeing the angst-ridden newbie posts that are probably not unlike my own some years ago ;-) It helps to remember we all started off the same way and that there is still so much to learn...
CMK

Oh but Ken -- Japanese maples are *specimen* plants. If they look terrible, they look terrible, there's just no point - would have to be replaced. They are $$$.

I should dig out the binoculars and look out the window to see if I can see any buds on them LOL! (I don't feel like truding through over a foot of snow just to look for plant buds...).

The rugosas I have stored in my garage right now are starting to show slight signs of bud elongation --> spring is coming! Which reminds me -- gotta shovel some snow on the garage-stored plants so they'll get watered as the weather warms (easy trick that works like a charm). I was trying to avoid storing stuff in the garage, but with the patio re-build I had some stuff I didn't know what to do with and didn't want to just toss, I need more time to ponder what to do with them. :0)

Ah well, I am with Ken to a point, having also moved to 5 acres.....but, I have gone into a strangely experimental mode where I am inclined to forgive myself all failures since I have been cut entirely adrift from all prevailing trends, whims, visions and proven methods. I really haven't a clue where I am going with this but at the same time, I am insanely excited to be completely free from any demands, ideals, aspirations......all stuff which has dogged me in the past, often rendering gardening quite demoralising and upsetting when I have failed to live up to my exacting standards (always difficult when battling an innate idleness). Being on a public allotment brought out a previously hidden (family disagree) competitive streak in me and I had very clear ideas of what I wanted to achieve....and some years I did (but the work, the effort, the stress!). However, 5 acres of neglected plantation and no money......well, all bets are off, I can do as I like and no-one expects anything much. I do....but a lot of it will be out of my hands - I am just introducing some variety and standing back to watch the battle for world domination. Welsh poppies, hesperis matronalis, lunaria redivia....what can possibly go wrong?

I would have to say that death and attrition were never very far away in my gardens anyway .....I have killed many, many more plants than I care to recount, some mourned (briefly) while others departed on the end of a fork.....or trodden to death....or froze, shrivelled, starved, beheaded by hoe, died of a broken heart. I became callous and hard-hearted years ago when I had teenagers.

Like you I have come to take a "tough love" approach

===>>> those that have answered are not newbs in any sense ... and i was trying to talk at peeps who worry.. and fret..

and i am not equating it with tough love..

what i am trying to express ... is emotional reaction ...

its all about.. why worry about it ... or as doris day once said:

Que Sera Sera === whatever will be.. will ... the future is not ours to see ...

you plant things.. you nurture them.. and if they die.. so be it.. they can burn in hell for eternity ... lol ...

but i am not going to waste good energy.. 'worrying' about them... oh.. i will contemplate such ... thats what we do in winter.... otherwise we would all be suicidal in the great white north in winter ... lol ...

but i am not going to WORRY ... as per the title... it IS... truly is.. an attitude ....

am i making any sense ...????

ken

ps: mom used to walk around the house humming this song when i was a kid.. but not in the A line dresses .. lol .... and i apparently still know the words by heart .... i presume.. we probably had watched her sitcom of which it was the theme ... back when kids could actually watch TV without ... oh never mind ....

Here is a link that might be useful: link