Dead or Alive

Tis the season for everything to wake up all over creation, but the spring heat wave we've had has helped speed things along, I'm sure.  (25 degrees C, halfway between the North Pole and the Equator)  It's a gardener's intense time for inspecting every creature to see what will live, and what will not.  We always get surprised, don't we?  Last year, after leaving an Agapanthus in the ground over winter, it sprouted up and bloomed in the summer!  I like to think where it is planted is zone 6, not merely 5b, but I did not think it would keep on keeping on even in z 6. 

A little yellow rose of some variety, planted nearby, did not survive.  Who'd have guessed?  At this moment, the Agapanthus pictured above is being preserved in a corner of the basement.  I guess I did not expect a miracle two years in a row.  I wonder if it might be wise to go ahead and plant it right away?

So, even the botanical critters in the house are "springing" to life... or not.  The pot below, kept in a cool spare bedroom, is a fine example. 

The azalea - whatever the type is that stays leafy and can't survive anything like 5b - seems to have croaked during the winter.  Undoubtedly thanks to a dry spell I provided.  But, I'm thrilled about the twigs that are budding out here: Crape Myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica. 

Outdoors, one waits, hopefully, patiently, for the slower perennials and bushes to show signs of life.  How much of the Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) will bud out, or has it died back near to the ground? 

Will this Aralia (Aralia cordata "Sun King") below be resurrected as it was last year, just when it looked as if it had totally rotted? 

 

As "life-and-death" as all this is, it sure is fun to watch and wait.  The plants that are already growing encourage us to hope for all the slowpokes.  We know there will be casualties, but for the moment, everything not yet sprouting is simply dormant.  :)