I'm zone 8 so keep that in mind, but we generally have a cold/wet spring so maybe is helpful for you. My gaura (guara?) and agastache is growing (gaura is over a foot tall)...ice plant I have nothing. They were small starts so I hope they lived....I had read that some were evergreen for me so I'm not hopeful.

If by "Starburst ice plant" you mean a Delosperma, I lost all mine last winter here in zone 6 with very fast draining sandy soil. Your Agastache sounds like one of the western hybrids; the only one of mine that made it was A. 'Desert Solstice'.

My Gaura lindheimeri/wand flower came up sometime in May last year but didn't start blooming until quite a bit later in the growing season (July if I recall). Agastache foeniculum has been up for a couple of weeks already this season.

Sorry--I don't grow either the ice plant or vinca.

if you had snow cover.. low temps are near irrelevant as snow is one of the greatest insulators ...

and if that were the fact ... i would look more towards the stock you bought [as in late season bargains] ....

or how you planted them ...

or if you fertilized them.. too late in the year ...

though we all expect losses .... on some level.. you seem to have a lot of losses ... and though it was a horrible winter ... perhaps you should be looking beyond such ... i dont know ...

ken

Hi all,

Thanks for the input!

I don't think I fertilized too late in the year and there was a lot of snow cover, especially from late Feb. to late March. Though there was a lot of very cold weather in January with inconsistent snow cover.

However, I am wondering, if I have these perennials planted in a raised bed, could that be providing less frost protection?

I am in Z5a and my delphiniums have been up for about 2 weeks - they are currently from one to four feet tall so yours should at least be poking through.

I agree with Ken - that wonderful deep snow cover that lasted from Nov. through March was great protection for everything. I had some winter damage to my Junipers but nothing else. In fact, I have lots of mum plants that are coming back like gang-busters. First time for that!

My agastache is springing up in one area but very slow to start in another (shadier).
In that same shadier area I have gaura mariposa (midnight pink) and they haven't shown any sign of life. I did move them a little last fall and they didn't quite seem to perk back up to normal. I need to drive around the neighborhood - one of my neighbors has a HUGE mass of gaura in the front of their house that I'm just envious of.

Best of luck - my fingers are crossed for you!