Wednesday, January 29, 2014

How about some good news from the garden?

Last week, when I posted pictures of some of my cold-weather-caused plant death and damage, Gerhard asked if I had any positive surprises. Actually I do, although I guess I wouldn't label all of these surprises. More like good news...

I've got three Callistemon ‘Woodlander's Hardy Red’ - this is the best looking of the bunch, no damage!

Both of my Callistemon viridiflorus look good, this one especially (as do the arctostaphylos, one here in the background).

But both Callistemon viridiflorus 'Xera Compact' look a little iffy. The upper foliage is happy, the lower foliage is a bit crispy.

All the dasylirion (7 of them) look good, as to the cylindropuntia (also 7)...

I was worried about both Feijoa sellowiana, but this one especially. Being in a container it's bound to be a little less hardy than the one in the ground. They're both okay.

However there is a little leaf burn on the one in the ground, especially odd since both were wrapped when things were really bad.

This qualifies as a surprise. Based on previous winters, and the many Yucca aloifolia ‘Purpurea’ I've lost, I am very happy with how good this pair looks.

Silly little things but I do love them.

Okay I know this is supposed to be a good-news post but I've got to record it all! Eryngium proteiflorum, two of them, planted last fall, and they both look like this. So sad.

The new-growth tips on the Nolina nelsonii got nipped, but the rest looks okay.

A serious case of Yucca acne on the Yucca gloriosa 'variegata'...

Another surprise! Grevillea rivularis looks good, a little dead foliage towards the bottom.

And this! Whadda ya know? An Echium wildpretii...alive! Three are goners but this little guy hangs on.

The containerized tree fern (Dicksonia Antarctica) looks good, but then it should since it spent the cold days in the warm basement.

So did the Bocconia frutescens, but an unexpected night at 26F fried the leaves. I cut it back and hope it will respond kindly in the spring.

Look! I'm ready to declare this phormium as survivor. Especially since every other one in the garden has flopped. It was wrapped during the cold...

Because the foliage is just so gorgeous!

The Schefflera delavayi (also wrapped) looks good. Not really a surprise but I am thankful.

Ditto for the S. taiwaniana...

And this little one two.

Pyrrosia hastata (right) is looking a little wilted but P. sheareri (left) powers on.

This is a huge surprise, the Embothrium coccineum I planted last spring at about 12" tall and which is now over 8' tall is still alive. I did not expect this.

Rhododendron sinogrande looks a little goofy, but is still alive.

Yucca aloifolia ‘Blue Boy' also looks good. Although it's a little green...

The final surprise is this Aloe striatula. I've lost a couple in less cold conditions, and the one next door (which I blogged about here) died a quick death. But as crazy as it is this one is still alive. I'll take it! Of course I didn't talk about the agaves and their survival rate. I'm saving that for next week, an official agave post coming up! (oh and next week is now predicted to get cold...hopefully not too cold...)

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

26 comments:

  1. Congratulations! May the temperatures only get warmer.

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    1. That would be lovely, and I was certainly thinking that was the direction we were headed. Now sadly their are a couple of nights in the low 20's in the forecast for next week. Ugh.

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  2. Isn't it strange what survives and what doesn't, especially the same kind of plant in different areas. This post was much more enjoyable than that other Survivors thing! So, should this not be considered a PKW? there a lots around town here that look great. I lost a couple but still have some.

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    1. Strange indeed! As for the PKW I'd say it definitely was, at least here in Portland. I lost 5 and I've only seen 2 others in town that are still standing.

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  3. Love your tree fern! My good news is that it's snowing a lot today and hopefully it will stick around to insulate my plants when temps drop almost down to zero next week. Crossed fingers.

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    1. Yikes. Thanks for the reminder of what I left behind! And I hope the snow does it's job for you. Are your hellebores starting to bloom?

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  4. Glad your Rhododendron sinogrande made it. I'm always looking for success stories with the big leaf rhodies. And the Grevillea rivularis! I already wanted one, now it's definitely on the wishlist! Wow, 7 feet in one summer! I had heard embothrium grew fast but I had no idea!

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    1. I wish I knew what that embothrium was drinking! I swear that growth was just insane. I've got one in the front garden (it was a gift) and it's grown about, well, not at all in 3 years!

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  5. This is great news. I'm glad so many of your favorites made it.

    Aloe striatula looks better than mine, which makes me think that I have isn't really striatula.

    My Dicksonia antartica lost all leaves but one even though I'd covered it. Hopefully it'll recover. Trying to grow tree ferns in our dry climate is folly anyway but I can't help myself.

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    1. "Can't help myself"...ya, growing agaves in Portland isn't exactly a sane activity either is it? I also have a tree fern in the ground. I wrapped the heck out of it, but there was no heat source. I finally unwrapped it the other day to have a look, it was still solid but who knows, only time will tell and really as cold as we were I doubt there's a chance.

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  6. I've been considering getting a tree fern, now that I have the greenhouse to winter it in. It will be heated, do you think it will be ok there for the winter? I bought a Callistemon Woodlander's Hardy a couple of years ago and almost lost it through lack of care, but it bounced back. I worried that since it's still in its nursery pot that it wouldn't survive the deep freeze here, but it seems to have done fine. I didn't wrap my S. delvavayi, and it did fine. But I put S. brevipunculata inside the hoophouse, which is really only a couple of degrees warmer. It seems to be doing fine too. It's so good to see what has survived in your garden!

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    1. As long as you keep it plenty moist (the tree fern) I would think it'd be okay. Ours stays by the back door all winter, ready to be wished inside if the temps are predicted to drop.

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  7. Great list of plants!

    Hmm, I bet the dry soils played a part in bumping up the survival rate, particularly for your agaves and other succulents. My sinogrande did well too. A couple years ago I had one that didn't make it. Cold temperatures where similar but Portland had more typical rain in the prior months.

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    1. Yes the drier weather certainly has been nice for the agaves and their survival, I would have thought the opposite though for the R. sinogrande.

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  8. Lots of good news there Loree! And those that you wrapped and is still looking well now just shows how much dividends a little effort can sometimes pay :)

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    1. Indeed, unfortunately (like the gunnera I mentioned) I did forget about some plants...

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  9. I see your Trachy is also looking just fine. Not so down here. And all of the phormiums look worse than death. My Feijoa has some tip dieback but seems to be okay. Your plants look great. Hopefully that December plummet will not happen again for another 30 years.

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    1. Yes, one of three trachys bit the dust but the other two are just fine. Not for another 30 years! I like it.

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  10. I don't know how you do it with so many "marginal" plants -- I'd be a wreck! Are you growing Eryngium yuccafolium? If not, it seems like a good choice for you -- herbaceous so no worries about winter.

    Also, I'm looking forward to the Agave post, as I have no idea if my little collection contains survivors or victims.

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    1. I've had two Eryngium yuccafolium. One died and I finally gave away the second because it looked so bad. They just don't like my garden!

      I hadn't even thought about your agaves and opuntias...having been worrying along with you about the bamboo. Yikes. Have you looked at them?

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  11. Good batting average. I've been too afraid to look very closely around here.

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    1. I don't know how you do it! Morbid curiosity whens out for me every time.

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  12. Woohoo! Good to see your happy survivors. That tree fern is so lush! It looks like it thoroughly enjoyed its hotel stay.

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    1. As long as I remember to give it lots of shots from the spray bottle it doesn't mind being inside too much. We originally bought it to act as our Christmas Tree (Fern) one year, it was gorgeous but by the time it went outside it had lost quite a few leaves.

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  13. Wow! Amazing to see these survivors! Especially the Echium. That's a small miracle.
    Just this morning I was thinking maybe I should go more with the typical northwest safe choices and forget about agaves,echiums, tree ferns, and dasylirions. Keep hope alive!

    Also, I wrote a while back that my agave parryi truncatas survived the cold. Wrong. They're beginning to turn to mush. My good news is that Osamanthus "Silver Sussex" survived with no damage.

    Can't wait for the agave update to pick replacements for my dry slope! Thanks Loree!
    Jim, NE Portland

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    1. Thank you Jim, good to know you got something from this post. I am totally surprised about that echium, bizarre. BTW I saw some very happy ones at Cistus recently, if you're looking to try again. And I'm sorry about your A. parryi, that sucks! A. parryi 'JC Raulston' continues to be a rock-star in my garden.

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