Gardeners, if you have lost plants over the past winter, would you buy the same plant over again, or would you learn? (grow, Hibiscus)

[Isleofpalms85]

Would you learn from your trial and error that the plant simply will not grow in your area?

[Caladium]

Still too early to tell if my rosemary died or not. If it did, I'll plant it again. Sure, there will occasionally be years when the winters are too severe for it, but replacing it isn't that expensive and for the most part it's done well and I've enjoyed having the plant n my garden.

It's also too early to tell if my azaleas survived after being nibbled to death by the deer who took up residence during this harsh winter. If they died, will I replace them? Probably not, they didn't bring that much joy and they just seem to attract the deer when winters are like this.

[need4speed2012]

Didn't loose any, I protect them each year.

Never know and always prepared.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Just because a plant died doesn't mean the weather did it in.

[ferraris]

Depends on the specifics. I planted some hardy hibiscus which probably died in my subzero winter (it's only hardy to 20F I found out recently). I won't replace that. But some stuff I'll try again, particularly mums...I always forget about them until Autumn. I'm determined to get some perennial mums started in the spring this year so they have time to get established. I'll probably have to special order them or do them from seed, unfortunately.

[shadowwalker]

Some we research and see if it was winter temps that did it, or maybe we need a different type of the same species. Others we refuse to admit that this was the problem and again, we are buying the plants to see if they will grow this time.
Accepting the truth is very hard sometimes.

[FW transplant]

I'm facing that question now. My carolina and confederate jessamines are doubtful for recovery in my zone 7. I'm going to give them 2-3 weeks and see what happens. I don't know if the winter was a fluke, or the beginning of some nasty winters ahead. I guess if I knew that, then I could decide whether to replant. Heck, if I knew that, I'd buy stock accordingly, but that's a different forum.

[Ethereal]

Why not?

My cottonwood poplar died in the hot summer simply because I placed it in an area that faces the full sun and near a radiating metal fence. I will definitely purchase another and this time plant it in a more shaded area in my garden. I had a Japanese climbing fern that also died in the hot dry summer. It didn't seem to grow back though? I have to look carefully. But I'm assuming that it died. And no, I won't purchase it. They prefer really moist climates. So I don't think Sydney's climate is suitable for them.

Coleus always died on me in our relatively mild winters (and yet they survived in other people's gardens in my area, oddly). So I planted them this time in a small, sheltered garden bed near other plants, and they happened to survive the winter. Must've been the microclimate and how the surrounding plants and fence sheltered them from the cold.

But either way, most of the plants that die back in the winter tend to come back to life by summer (such as my Snail vine and porcelain berry seedlings, which died back to the ground in winter and sprung again in spring - pun intended). So it isn't a biggie for me.

[LKJ1988]

Depends on how cheap the planets are grant. We used to get freezes in my area years ago and so many plants would die back but be fine after spring.

[stepka]

Originally Posted by ferraris

I'm determined to get some perennial mums started in the spring this year so they have time to get established. I'll probably have to special order them or do them from seed, unfortunately.

I heard something about that in my gardening class recently but I’m having trouble remembering specifics. Something about getting the older varieties...the ones that actually have to be trimmed and shaped to get that lovely rounded look because the newer ones that self shape tend to be less hardy.