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Deciding whether or not a woody plant is still alive, dormant, or dead

Winston_The_Gravity_ManWinston_The_Gravity_Man Posts: 263
in Problem solving
Is there a way, does anyone know, of deciding whether or not woody, shrubby, and twiggy plants are still alive after the winter, without waiting for said plants to sprout into new growth ?

I’ve tried snapping the brown twigs on hanging-basket fuschias and seen that the inner ‘wood’ looks green but the plants have never done anything.  I’ve done the same on shrubs and sometimes the ‘dead’ ones have lived and the ‘live’ ones have actually been dead.

Soooo, not a very satisfactory way of testing 😐.  

Anyone got any good advice ?  Or is this one of those questions still waiting for an answer after hundreds of years worth of gardeners chucking viable plants onto the compost heap ?
When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
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Posts

  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    I've always thought that be scrapping with your nail the outside bark and if it is green underneath then it is still alive. Brown no. Maybe it is too cold for your plants to get going yet. Our fuschias in the ground are showing no signs of growth.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I’ve been potting up my fuchsias into new compost,  lost 5 of them this winter,  they’ve been eaten by vine weevil,  unfortunately the little watsits weren’t in the pot,  bad sign.
    the wood is brown, I’ve dumped them.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    The scraping of bark is always quoted as being the way of determining whether a plant is alive or not. However it gives no indication of whether it will live, and more often or not, if all the other obvious indicators are missing, it won't.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    The scraping thing is a good indication, but some plants like hardy fuchsia and penstemon will sprout at ground level. I'm still hoping for some of mine to sprout. I won't dig them out until next month.
    I would say, never hoik out a clematis, they can play dead for years.  Cut back the crispy bits in a few weeks or so but leave the roots. You never know. 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Dobbin26Dobbin26 Posts: 60
    I'm resisting pulling out my bottle brush bush which is both very brown and very much dead but I'm living in hope for a few green shoots. However,  in reality it's probably going in the next brown bin collection in 3 weeks time  :'(
  • DaveGreigDaveGreig Posts: 189
    A combination of bark scraping, giving the plant a tug to test how firmly it’s hanging on, patience, finger crossing and sometimes prayer, have sometimes, probably, usually worked for me.🥴
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    If it is wobbling in the ground chances are it has given up. Bark scraping is one idea but doesn't mean the whole of the plant is alive.
    Woody Salvias are always difficult especially after a tough winter. You can see tiny signs of life but things can still go one way or another.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's one of those things that's often said - scraping the bark and if it's green it's alive, but it's only part of the story, as others have said. 
    Not quite that simple or decisive, as many plants put out new growth from below ground.

    Wobbling is certainly not ideal @GardenerSuze ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @Fairygirl Agree we don't want any wobbles.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Winston_The_Gravity_ManWinston_The_Gravity_Man Posts: 263
    So I guess that unless a plant looks definitely deceased (pushing up the daisies ?) by having no signs of life at all, then just leave it and see if it comes back.

    S'pose it's like the old saying .... "Hope never dies in a REAL gardener's heart"
    When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
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