Asparagus

[Not]

We live in zone 5. We had a small parch of asparagus that produced well, but we wanted more, so we planted a row of roots last year. All came up, but the spears were thin, as one would expect from new plants.

Last winter was exceptionally cold. When I went out to the garden this year, only two plants had produced small spears by the end of May; one was the original patch, and one was from one of the new plants. This morning the original parch has thrown up a second spear.

I'm thinking I'll wait a couple more weeks, then conclude that the plants that have not produced are kaput.

How long should I wait before digging up the corpses and replanting.

[Brooklyn1]

Zone 5, especially in the north east, was exceptionally cold this winter. Your plants may be late.

[Frank]

Very bad year for winter kill. My hydrangeas and butterfly bushes looked dead but are recovering but I did lose my rhododendron.

Took much longer before the first two started showing life.

[David E. Ross]

I mix edibles with ornamentals; and my garden is all perennials, bulbs, shrubs and trees. So, of course, my edibles consist of artichokes and asparagus in addition to fruits.

For some 30 years, I had very productive asparagus planted behind some low-growing flowers. Every spring, we would have asparagus with dinner

1-2 times a week for about 6-8 weeks.

Then we had a very rainy winter. All the well-established asparagus plants rotted in the ground. Some, however, had dropped seeds. After a few years, the seedling plants were beginning to mature sufficiently that I hoped to have at least a small harvest. But once again, we had an exceptionally wet winter; and they all rotted.

This spring, some next-generation seedlings actually put up spears worth harvesting; but I decided to let them grow even more mature just in case our current drought ends as so many prior California droughts ended -- with record-breaking rain storms.

[Brooklyn1]

I don't know your location but I'm in the northern Catskills, many times the temps were -20ºF. About half of a pansy redbud is kaput, same with an American beech... too much snow and slow melt didn't help either... I dug out two young blue spruce today that didn't survive drowning, my bad for planting them in a low spot. Every year I lose something due to weather. Winters here can be brutal. Gardening everywhere is a challenge.

[Frank]

Northern DE. Reading about winter kill, it is not just the cold but evaporation or sublimation of moisture from the plant. Probably what did in the rhododendron.