princess flower

Is my princess flower (tibouchina sp?) gonna come back in the spring? It was so beautiful, about 6 ft tall and bloomed profusely. We got several nights of 20 degree temps.

Has it had any cover at all during the low temps?

Tibouchina (and I'm no exotic flower/shrub expert) really only withstands lows of around 40F, but since it was a big plant in the first place you may be lucky and find it comes back. Last year my own small tree did survive 30F for a couple of nights int he greenhouse.

Unfortunately, no, it was not covered. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Gingerlily, don't worry about the tibouchina. mine spent the first winter in the ground but i was told they come back, have seen them that have. i am ambivalent about mulching in our zone, the reason being is they say definitely do not mulch citrus as the ground will absorb more heat during the day and it works better that way. i don't know if anyone can explain this to me, but i just don't winter mulch, do more mulching to help keep watering down in the summer.
i think the main thing is when a hard freeze is coming, run your sprinkler on those specials, even if died back, if it doesn't rain i run the sprinklers some over the winter too, this kills more plants than frost here, i think, they get stressed and die and people think it was the cold (learned this from my brother).

This message was edited Wednesday, Jan 16th 7:04 PM

Arlene, I've never really winter mulched either (occasionally a little hay to keep the frost off) but this year I got hold of some beautiful leaves and lucked up on a truckload of shredded/chipped hardwood. I'm afraid to put it too thick, wondering if things will come up through it. Course I guess we don't need it thick either do we? After the plants are up I thought I would add more to help keep weeds/grass down and to keep moisture in. I'm not sure I understand what you are saying (duh!), does using the sprinklers kill the plants more than the frost? Then why do it? Straighten me out on this. I've heard of this, but always scared to do it.

i water during the day, before a heavy frost, if it hasn't rained or i haven't sprinkled lately. actually, i run the sprinkler off and on during the winter anyway. plants that lack water get under stress and are more likely to die during a hard freeze (i think this includes the roots if the top got knocked down). also, if the soil is most i think it may take longer for the ground temp to drop, not sure. i have a local trading friend who loses plants every winter, the same ones that come back for me. i don't think she winter waters, also i think she pulls up some before they have a chance to come up. last winter i lost almost nothing, even peace lilies and arrow head vine came back from that nasty week we had. as far as running the sprinklers....if i do that i get ice on my plants, wet down some azales and gardenias last week, bent over with the ice on them, but they look fine. afraid to do this on purpose too. the theory is that he water will be above freezing but i don't really get that part either.

I guess I don't get it either. I'm always afraid to water before a frost, thinking that the moisture in the ground will freeze the roots.

gingerlily, this is the 3rd winter mine has been in the ground. it has come back every year, bigger and better.
i havent mulched it mainly because i havent gotten around to it. the tips turned brown when we got our first heavy frost and after that i did a major pruning on it.
the orginal "clump" was 2 pieces that i had rooted from cuttings of glorias (in water, then soil) its now probably a foot wide.
jen

You've given me more hope MSJen. Thanks

Arlene,I'm praying for yours to come back,and then come up north!!!!

never fear, CC...it was way crowed in the pot when i bought it, it has mega roots!!