Two Flowers And A Bunch Of Dead Looking Sticks

I ordered two rose plants, both Zone 3 hardy and of the category "Modern Canadian Roses." One was Morden Sunset and other was Morden Blush. Alas, our spring was so delayed that the poor plants arrived during a week long winter storm at the end of April. I put them in the empty room behind the house, where the temerature would stay cool, but not cold - and there were big windows for sunlight:

 To my surprise, the Morden Sunrise bloomed:

 The Morden Blush tried to bloom but never quite opened all the way:

 After our long and particularly rigorous winter, spring finally arrived. I took a walk around the yard to see how the buds were looking. This was the pear tree, and it looked OK to me:

 The Lilac bush looked like it was waking up also:

 I wasn't so encouraged by the Snowball Bushes, but they are extraordinarily hardy so I think they will be fine:

 Alas, the Magic Carpet Spirea, planted last year, looked dead as a doornail. Maybe the roots survived, but I won't count on it:

 Similarly, I saw nothing to encourage me on the Monet Weigela. The good news is that I ordered three more seedlings online. The bad news is that if this one couldn't live, will the new baby plants do any better?

 The Blue Moon Wisteria was still there but didn't quite look dead. I'll hope for the best. I also walked over to the Mandarin Honeysuckle and there was nothing there to photograph, not even a dead stick. But it was supposed to be extremely hardy, so I am still hopeful:

 The one plant I expected to die was the hardy Magnolia which I transplanted in the autumn. To my surprise, it was covered with healthy looking buds. The Hydrangea planted in front of it, though, looked dead, dead, dead:

 One of my Ninebark bushes looked OK but the other Ninebark, the one which suffered all last summer with fungus, looked dead. I have 14 Day Lilies to plant this spring so I expect to have a lot of flowers this year: