Losing plants over winter

Still alive!  Apr 2018

After a long (ish), cold (ish) winter, spring is in full force and we've even had a few days of 20+ Celsius.  I fully expect it to cool off again until the end of June, but it's been nice to sit outdoors unwrapped and without supplemental heat (during sunny days these past several weeks I've been known to take my hot water bottle out into the garden).

But the prolonged cold and snow may have taken its toll on a few of my plants, notably my tarragon and mint.  Neither have sprouted yet, and while both are rated for temps lower than we actually got, I'm a bit doubtful.  I know where the wild mint grows so I'm not as concerned--I can get a rooted bit again easily and can take a small harvest for mint sauce (a necessary condiment in my opinion). 

Tarragon, just as valuable, isn't so easy to replace.  I'll have to search the garden centers and grow it on to a reasonable size before planting it out.  My maybe-dead plant lived in a pot for a full year before it was big and woody enough to withstand the slugs.  If it truly didn't survive, I might consider just growing one in a pot to overwinter indoors.  Not ideal but better than continually replacing.

Which leads me to rosemary.  I thought I'd cracked rosemary--my plant was so big and bushy!  It was the latest in a long line of failed rosemary bushes, and the longest-lived, but it looks like it's gone for good like all its predecessors.  Once replaced I might try my hand at growing cuttings so if one dies off (likely) I won't have to buy yet another (and another, and another...).

The last one on the list isn't actually due to come up quite yet, but I'm a bit skeptical:  asparagus.  I grew it from seed last year, and was it ever spindly!  I pre-sprouted the seeds before sowing them in situ;  I thought they might have a better chance this way than as transplants, even though germination rates are lower.  Well, five plants survived the summer and I marked their spots with stakes (also to protect them from being scratched up by chickens).  No sign of them yet though I've not quite written them off.

I've not written off the tarragon or mint yet either, but I'm pretty sure rosemary is a bust.