Still with the frost! Enough, already!

Corydalis 'G.P. Baker' in Mouse Boat bed

           It has been a frustrating spring. We had a cold, icy, and not-very-snowy winter, so lots of plants were killed, or held back. I was surprised about some - pulmonaria, of which I had quite a few - only one survived. And digitalis, or foxgloves, usually considered bullet-proof if anything is, in a garden - every one of them gone, in the bed in front of the lilacs. I managed to find some self-seeded ones in another bed, and moved them in. And my problem child, the lychnis coronaria, that I had in such abundance - had a whole section of the vegetable patch devoted to growing  them on - all died. And most of the ones I had planted out in the flower beds as well. I noticed a few seedlings in the bed by the driveway, and dug them up, but they are biennials and so won't bloom this year. Curses. They were a nice tall filler.
           I had made a real effort to protect my hydrangea macrophyllas this past winter, but it looks like *that* was for naught as well. Most of them are coming back from the roots, but the last year's wood (which provides the blooms!) is mostly dead. I have cut them down to green on the stems but I don't have much hope that there will be any blooms on *them*. I have decided to buy only types which bloom on new wood from now on, and, to that end, bought a paniculata 'Pink Diamond' last week in Summerside. I hope to put it into the "hydrangea" bed, probably up top where the path joins the upper driveway.
            Rhododendrons have suffered as well - the two new ones on the 'gap' are almost all dead; although the PJM one is blooming on the very bottom tier of the branches, all of the rest of it, I fear, is dead. The 'Catawbiense Grandiflorum' next to it is almost all dead. Insufficient protection there, I shall do a better job in future. I *really* covered up the ones at the top of the path to the west, and they repaid me by coming out almost universally healthy and green.

PJM Rhododendron

I lost a bit on the top of the PJM, but the rest of it is blooming magnificently. Sadly, there's not much sign of bloom on four of the remaining five - despite my watering them incessantly last summer. The Minnetonka one has some bloom to come, and of course it came back very well from being half burnt away by the wind the previous winter.
           We finally cut down the white oak tree to the south of the house, so there is much more light in that area - I expect by cornus kousa to develop much better now - it only has three buds on it for this year! And the common lilacs are not very floriferous either - I blame the lack of rainfall last summer for *that*. 
            Is there *any* good news? Well, my white tree peony has over a dozen blooms coming - and the burgundy one has quite a few as well. I think I must plant something white under the latter, as a foil for the burgundy. I do have a candytuft cutting - they are doing really well in the beds at the moment. And in not-quite-as-bad-as-I-thought news, three of the peonies I planted last fall were not showing any sign of life - and then one of the two Itohs showed up, a tiny sprig, two days ago. I think she is 'Cora Louise'. A few of the peonies I have been scattering around so lavishly over the past three or four years are at last showing signs of bloom. Hurrah! Now I should be able to figure out just what they are.  Not yet sure if any of the Itohs will bloom this year - I am so looking forward to seeing 'Hilary'. I dug up my unknown pale pink peony at the south end of the bed in front of the house - it was infested with grass - cleaned, fed and re-planted the larger part of it in the same spot, and now there are buds coming, so it's not sulking, hurrah! - and I also got four cuttings, one of which is going to bloom this year. I must find places for them all.
           I had a packet of three kinds of blight-free tomatoes, from a friend who was given them. So I planted them, back in March, nurtured them (there were only 4-6 seeds in each packet, very expensive if I'd had to buy them, but they all germinated!) potted them on, put them out in the hoop house, potted them again, and then put them in the ground, caged and mulched, May 28. Two nights ago we had a bad frost, and, even though I had covered them,  they were killed.  And we have another frost tonight! Sometimes I wonder what I am doing, trying to garden in this climate...

Clematis 'Blue Bell'

         Another bit of good news: all the clematis are doing well, or at least, surviving. This lovely, 'Blue Bell', has many thousand percent more bloom this year (last year it had one). Its fellow on the other end of the deck, 'Nelly Moser', has many buds. But the real excitement is that  the clematis at the lower lilac bed, buried under wood chips since last fall, and for whom there was no sign of survival at all, has popped up this week. And the 'Don Juan' climbing rose behind it is alive as well. There are four clematis in the upper lilac bed, all doing well, and I have two in pots (including a white montana) for which I have to find places as well. perhaps things aren't so bad, after all.... and the Veseys sale starts tomorrow. Oh my.