There will be plenty of time for post mortems after the winter has done its worst. Previous cold winters have taught us not to be hasty: miraculous resurrections are not unknown. What I am seeing now, though, is the survival (albeit in a battered state) of plants that the books say should be dead.
I only planted my old aspidistra outside as a joke; a sort of mock hosta to frighten visitors. Confirmed house-plant it may be, but it is very much alive under (and over) its blanket of mulch. Unmulched, left where it seeded itself, Geranium palmatum, both adult with its huge leaves and baby seedling, look perfectly happy. A seedling of Euphorbia mellifera is only a little brown at the edges. In fact I see hardly any obvious mortality so far. I am worried about my fish, though: what do last year’s little fry do under the ice: suspend animation?
