Nandinas can defoliate and still be alive. However, this winter was a challenge for many, many evergreens throughout the East and Southeast.

If stems are brown, dry and brittle, they may have died. If still green (scratch the surface), then they may be alive. Or they may even come back from the roots.

I would wait until May before you make any decisions.

how long would you give them?

==>>> thru july ...

by the time you know.. you will be past the easy planting time.. and into the heat of summer...which is not a great time for any but the most experienced to be planting ...

which means.. to make the new planting the most bulletproof.. you would look to planting in fall ...

so i would be in slow motion in giving up on these ... but if they fail.. i would have the summer to remove them.. and prep for fall planting ...

you know.. and said we are weeks late .. but you just cant help yourself thinking they are all dead .. lol.. been there.. done that...

but patience is all you have at this point...

dont forget.. soil temps rule.. not air temps.. so they should trigger growth.. when the nights start warming.. as that is when the soil will start retaining heat ..

and that is left to ma nature.. and as you experienced this winter... she works on her own schedule. with a cruel sense of humor...

ken

As dave_in_nova says, if the stems are brown, dry and brittle they are at least "topped" back. If the top of the stem still shows a rich red/maroon color they most likely will regrow foliage. Mine did the same this winter, dropping almost all of the foliage but I'm confident that they will come back.

When I scratch the stems mine are not green but rather a bright golden yellow.

hortster

This post was edited by hortster on Tue, Apr 8, 14 at 12:06

Thank you all for your responses. Mine do not look like your photo. There is no red growth on the top. I will hang out and wait but I kind of think they are dead.

At least I will say that they were not one of my very favorite plants. Does anyone have any suggestions on replacements, if they are gone? It is only a part sun area and the last couple on each side are mostly in shade. It is fairly narrow, which is why the nandina fit.

these are what mine look like - what do you think?

here's another one

Mine have begun to put out some tiny new foliage. I live in zone 6 but more of a Southern 6. So yours might be a couple of weeks behind, depending on where you live. I would wait.