Hey again, it's Jason from Fraser Valley Rose Farm and right now on the farm
So many of my plants are jumping into their spring colors with new flowers, new shoots, & new leaves. It's very exciting
But also a little worrying for some of my plants which are just sitting there like twigs doing nothing now
You might have a point if you just said "Jason be patient a few weeks of spring will show you the answer" did your plant
Survive the winter or did it perish? and to that I say three things
First of all, I'm not a very patient guy. Really the second thing is that
some plants are
Inordinately stubborn about coming into life in the spring like this one behind me is hibiscus syriacus
Which is notorious for taking a long time and the spring coming in to color and the third thing
I'll say about that is sometimes you do have to make
Landscaping decisions early in the spring before you can really tell whether a plant is alive or dead
And in that case I have some clues I can show you some things you can check on that will tell help you to tell
Whether your plants survive the winter or whether it has perished come with me. I'll take you through those real quick the first clue
I'm going to point you towards is to look at the buds of your plant
If you're just trying to tell something by that bark color, that's a pretty hard go. It looks pretty dormant to me
But if you look at the buds of the plant in this case
I'm looking at the buds of a horse chestnut tree and it's a pretty
Exaggerated example, those are some big rounder buds. It's sort of a mahogany color across the base and green across the top
So I will try to show you some pictures of other buds that aren't quite so obvious as this
But you do want to look for things like color and growth
So if it's plump and growing it seems to be elongated from the branch if it's red brown green
Pink purple any of those colors orange of life, then you've got something going
however, if it's kind of sunken tight to the
Plant and a gray or black color that could be your first sign of trouble
Next let's have a quick look at the pliability of the stems if you have a dead plant
Oftentimes trying to bend the stem will result in it
Just snapping in your fingers where if something is alive
It usually remains rather flexible and bounces back after bending
If you're still not sure here's something that might help take your pruner blade and give it a little scrape
nothing made your mind you just
give it a little scrape along the skin there and then see what color that is underneath and
You can see there that that one is a bright green. Meaning this plant is alive
Here on the other hand. I have an elderberry tree from the landscape and it's been in decline for some time
So I'm curious to see
and
Sure, you can get that there no sign of green in that bark
I'm quite sure I had a perennial in this spot and these stubs here
Tell me I'm right if I can do a little digging around here just to see if the crown is
firm and with there any signs of shoots coming out
And
Yes, the crown is really firm
And if I look real close I can see the tell-tale purple buds of a hosta emerging
You're dealing with plants in containers. They can be equally stubborn about showing those early signs of life
But at least here I can tip them out of the pot and see that the roots are a relatively healthy color and still quite
Firm a later color is good if you found that to be black or brown
completely dark and soft and and frankly a little bit smelly that would be an indication of root rot and
Just to back it up and see if I'm right
Let's do the bark test on this one as well
All right
That's all I have for you today on how to tell whether your plant has survived the winter
Now if you have any stories you'd like to share with me about plants that you thought were goners in the landscape and then popped
Up much much later or plants that you held on to forever and ever and then ended up being dead
I'd love to hear them
Maybe some of the other viewers would as well drop those in the comments below and thank you so much for watching