Tender plants
By geraniumdad
7 comments
In Novembers RHS magazine, there is a very good and interesting article about tender plants and how they fared with the last winter. It seems that many of the ones mentioned sprouted from roots or suckers but others died off quite randomly.
We have a very large walkthrough avairy at work and amongst the plants in there are 2 phoenix date palms.
One died completely, but the other has regrown from the top/side. If this winter is going to be as bad as is forecast, it will succumb I fear. The point is, they are both in the same soil, but at either end of the aviary and close to the wire, so why did one die and not the other?
Anyway, I went out and looked at the ‘tender’ plants in my garden to see what I lost and the answer was 1 osteospermum (this died because the weight of snow on it snapped off the top!) and my Bougainvillea.
My survivors are:
Myrtus ugni (just collected and scoffed 23 berries! Mmmm)
Geranium harveyi (S.African)
Geranium caffrum (S.African)
Geranium pulchrum (S.African)
Geranium sp bought as G. schekterii, though this appears to be a wrong name (S.African)
All 3 Hedychiums
Pelargoniums: australe, panduriforme, sidoides, abroatanifolium, dichondrifolium, ‘chocolate peppermint’, triffidum and ionidifolium.
Callistemon (had to be cut very hard back)
and last but not least:
Begonia pedatifida (snails seemed to like this after they were evicted from my Dahlia merckii!.
Happy gardening, one and all!
21 Oct, 2010
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Comments
yes it is a very good article isnt it.
22 Oct, 2010
I'm glad you have so many survivors. I hope we don't get another bad winter. I don't listen to the forecast very much. They said we'd have a hot summer for a few years but we didn't get it. I think we'll have to take what comes :o)
22 Oct, 2010
My RHS magazine only came today - I'll have a read tomorrow. I think you were lucky with your survivors - Louise has Ugni shrubs in her garden - I wouldn't even think about growing them, just a few miles as the crow flies from where she lives!
I've already taken my Coprosmas into the greenhouse, and mulched around my new Vitex-agnus. i hope it's not a cold winter, but I don't want to lose plants again.
22 Oct, 2010
just read the list of plants that were lost after last winter... my camelia bush which ive had for five years had grown to six foot and had flowered profusly each year that died and the cordyline went the same way... ive since replaced them both and am hoping that this time they will survive any ideas on what i could do to help them last this winter... ellise
27 Oct, 2010
Plants are funny things when it comes to weather and climate Ellise. You could try to improve the drainage around the plant, put a thick layer of mulch on the borders or wrap up the plants in horticultural fleece. Looking at where you live, it could be that the climate in winter is too damp and too cold. But don't give up with the plants!
27 Oct, 2010
thanks geraniumdad, will follow your advice and hope they live through our scottish winters ...... ellise
28 Oct, 2010
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Hi GD. Just a thought - could one of the date palms have been more sheltered from the wind than the other ?
21 Oct, 2010