After spending much of the weekend getting up close and personal with my garden, I have a pretty clear idea of what survived the winter and what didn't.

By now I think it's safe to say that whatever hasn't come up yet is not going to come up.

The casualties were not heavy at my house, but there definitely were some. This is a little surprising, given that it was such a mild winter. But the lack of snow cover gave plants little protection, which can be worse than extreme cold, from a plant survival standpoint.

I lost about two-thirds of my dianthus and a couple of stargazer lilies, leaving some holes to fill in my garden beds.

And there will be no repeat performance of last year's spring surprises, when annuals including dusty miller and marigolds sprang back to life for a miraculous encore.

On the plus side, the lettuce I grew in a giant container on my deck apparently reseeded itself, so I already have a little volunteer lettuce crop.

STAR TRIBUNE, Star Tribune

I'm getting concerned about my Endless Summer hydrangeas, which are leafing out nicely but show no signs of flower buds. Did that April freeze zap them at a particularly vulnerable time?

What are you finding in your garden? Did you lose any plants? Or find any spring surprises? And if you have any Endless Summers, do you have any flower buds yet?