Tropicals & Tender Perennials: "The Epis Are Survivors, The Epis Are Survivors!! 2007", 0 by Happenstance

Happenstance wrote:
Epis are not glamourous in any way, except for their flowers. Not a pretty plant in the off-season, but the flowers always make up for the lack of interest the rest of the year.

They may be ugly, but they are certainly keepers, if only for their ability to survive just about anything. During our 3 week deep freeze in January our temps dropped into the low to mid 20's for many nights. The damage to my collection of 1-2 year old cuttings, which had no overhead protection, was severe. At this point I'm am counting about 4 that will not make it. Having said that I am not going to toss them yet, as they may just come back from below the soil line.

So here are some images of a few of my ugly ducklings, that plan on being swans in the next couple of months. Note the severe loss of color and the typical orange-yellow-red of cold damaged epis. The color of the leaves is not the typical colors that Epis will exhibit from too much sun, as these were all green and plump prior to the cold weather in January. Despite the damage and the unsightly blemishes, they WILL bloom and I see a lot more buds coming on.