Gardening failures

We know as gardeners we have to take success and failures…….those two imposters.
Kop this Echium.
And it was covered.

 

I've got a few that look like that @roders.

One was 9ft high and yet to flower, so would have been massive this summer.
Just have to try again next year.

 

Same here with Geranium maderense. I've still got seedlings germinating all over the place from one that flowered 5 years ago, but despite winter protection, the offspring haven't made it to flowering size yet. Either frost or excessive wet do for them.

 

I collected a few self sown seedlings of G. maderense a couple of months ago and got them into the greenhouse, I've only ever managed to grow them as pot plants.

 

I've tried G maderense a couple of times and even potted in the greenhouse didn't make it the next spring.

 

I have Echium seedlings and at least some of them were okay in the garden last Saturday, no big ones though all mine flowered last spring/summer.
A couple of other Echium species in the greenhouse appeared okay last weekend.

 

I find E. pininana is ok down to minus 5 ish as long as it thaws during the day.
We had a couple of minus 6 and probably frozen for a week.

 

I have many failures every year, usually due to my own stupidity My kitchen is full of Fuchsias and other borderline hardy shrubs which I hope will survive after experiencing icy conditions. If I'd been more organised I could made room for them in my greenhouse before the bad weather arrived.

 

Are you UK gardeners finding that the winters are more unpredictable now, though? It's always been the case here that no two winters are alike, so it's difficult to plan. The only sure way to keep everything would be to protect everything up to the hilt, which just isn't possible. There are also so many plants that will take summer drought and heat or winter wet and cold, but not both!

 

It may be age and the memory cells disintegrating (), but it was hardly ever 'extreme' in UK. (At least in Northants). 1962, yes, and the storm in 1987, but on the whole the winters didn't vary that much? They certainly do here, though..from 'pussycat' status to 'a real PITA' and 'why the hell did we choose to live here'
P.S. @michael Hewitt .....PITA = Pain in the anatomy

 

I think winters have changed slightly but only in that we seem to expect them to be milder and then get caught out when its not.
Peoples memories can play tricks, I think mine does, it was always up and down all year round really, never a lot of one thing, apart from those exceptional times that always stick in your mind and somehow get turned into "how it used to be".

 

I may have lost both Cordylines, Sunrise and Dazzler. The Acacia seems to have lost half of the buds and lots of leaves have turned brown, lost Osteospermums but a couple of Nemesia have survived. Several -6cs did for the. I still have more to check.

 

Hope it's not too bad, Strongylodon. The Nemesias are hardier than given credit for. I have one in a planter with regal pels, which have been totally blitzed but the Nemesia is fine...untouched! I also have the blue one in a border and although it gets cut down to ground level each winter, it does grow back.