Dead or alive?

At last we have a predictable mild spell ahead and it’s time for a first assessment of the winter’s damage. I’ve been round scratching at bark and tugging at dead-looking stems. I unwrapped the exotic garden yesterday, with some trepidation, to look for signs of life. I wrapped many up again later in fresh straw and fleece, but it was a good chance to assess the damage. Just to reiterate, we had one low of -16C and probably 60 sub-zero nights in total. So:

Dead: Geranium maderense (just had a bit of straw over it)
Alive: Geranium palmatum (as above)
Dead: Ensete murieliae (wrapped in straw and fleece, but in a pot so roots died)
Dead: Jacaranda (wrapped in straw and hessian sacking)
Alive: Tetrapanax papyrifer (straw and fleece)
Dead?: Musa basjoo. All four are dead at least to ground level. Not sure if they’ll shoot from below ground. All were wrapped in straw and fleece.
Alive: Canna indica. Covered with a pile of straw and fleeced over.
Alive?: Colocasia esculenta – feels firm under the soil (Covered in pile of straw and fleece)
Alive?: Cyperus papyrus. This is a big surprise. The plant outdoors does seem to be still alive under a pile of straw. I really thought this one would have gone.
Dead: All the Pittosporums in the garden. Dead as doornails
Dead: Bay laurels. I’m not surprised that the potted ones are dead, but the big one in the front garden looks dead too. I’ll give it till May to shoot
Deadish: All the phormiums are badly damaged. Still, it’s an excuse to get rid of some of the very old, large ones
Deadish: Libertia grandiflora. Just a few green shoots in the centre
AliveThe variegated Yucca, fully exposed in the scree bed. It looks almost unmarked, to my great surprise.
Dead?: Kniphofia uvaria var nobilis. I’m quite surprised at these – they all look dead on the nursery
Dead: Kniphofia caulescens. A big one in the stock beds has turned to dust.

Most of the tree ferns have solid cores and the Butia capitata seem OK, if a bit brown. The big Cycad’s leaves are brown, but the core is solid so it should produce fresh ones. All in all, no great crises. The loss of the bay in the front garden would be the biggest loss.

Amongst all this damage, the sunshine is easing the garden into life. One brave narcissus opened today, and the Hellebores, usually over by late March are opening with more confidence. The freshest green is from the mounds of frondy Aconitum leaves. It will all look lovely in a few weeks.