Karen, I hope your large Starfruit comes back, it always dissapointing when large plants don't make it. Does the lantana and jasmine loose its leaves for the winter when you bring it in? I just started a brugmansia from seed this year so hopefully I'll have one to over winter :)
Steven
Dormant Tropicals
Steven,
The lantana and the night-blooming jasmine are planted in the ground. They died back even though I kept them covered with frost cloth on cold nights. They are both coming back with new sprouts. The regular green-leaved lantana also dies to the ground here and comes back from the roots. My next-door neighbor in CA was a Mexican lady who told me that in Mexico the jasmine is called "Smells In The Night."
I had 14 brugmansias that I started last year from cuttings. All but two are coming back from the roots, and they are planted in the ground as well. I understand they are easy to grow from seed, but I haven't tried it myself. I tend to be impatient with slow-germinating seeds.
My two "why did they die" mysteries are my tecoma stans, which should have been hardy to 10 degrees, appears to be very dead, and my English walnut, which the trunk died again, is coming back from the roots. As far as I can tell neither of these should have done this. With the tecoma there are some kind of volunteers coming up under it that I think may be baby tecomas. I'm going to leave them until they are big enough to be sure what they are.
Some of the potted plants I lost may have drowned rather than died from cold. They were in pots that I had outside, and I covered them on cold nights, but I think they got too much rain. I believe this is what happened to the starfruit. Lesson learned for next year, keep potted plants out of the rain. LOL.
Have you tried passionflowers? We have one of these, and it never even lost a leaf all winter. It is hardy to your zone. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1264/ Right now it has dozens and dozens of buds (I lost count after 60) and a number of blooms already. Here's a pic of about half of it. It's planted on the corner of the deck, so it goes both directions on the trellis.
Karen
Thats so awsome that you can keep those plants in the ground, I have to drag them in and out. My tecoma lost its leaves during the winter and it's being rather reluctant to leaf out but I hope it will once it gets outside.
I've had the same problem with overwintering plants in containers, the snow melts and the water logs in the pot.
I have a couple passion flowers that I started from seed last year, P. incarnata and P. edulis. I started the hardy one and planted it out in it's second year but it didn't make it, so I bring them in now....maybe the location just wasn't right...
Steven
Steven,
I would have thought the P. incarnata would be hardy for you, but, as you say,it could have been that the location was just not right for it. Or maybe your location is a little colder than zone 6a. Tuscaloosa is zone 8b, but we are out of town and up in the hills. I got a couple of thermometers that measure the high temp and low temp for the past 24 hours. I discovered that actually it is zone 7b or even 7a here, as our low temps are nearly 10-15 degrees colder than in town.
I thought my jacaranda had died also, again, because of the damp from the rain when it was in a pot this winter. That seems to have been my biggest problem. Lesson learned, though. However, when my grandson and I were planting out the potted up stuff we inspected the roots of all of them. The jacaranda did appear to have live roots, so we put it in the ground about a month ago. It has leaves coming up from the roots after all. Just saw it today. Yeaaa! I hope it will bloom even though it will probably never get big enough to be a tree. They use jacarandas for street trees in So. CA.
It's hard for me to winter over inside. I don't have any really good place for them to get enough light except in the dining room by the sliding glass door. Problem is I have cats and they play in the potting soil, throwing it all over the place. Winter before last I got white chunky rocks and put on top of the pots. Well, one of the cats decided it was even more fun to take the rocks out and bat them around the house. LOL. Keeping plants in pots and then having to bring them into the house is a big drag for you. No doubt about that. I sure sympathize.
But I do have two very small greenhouses now. I think I can keep them heated by putting one on the front deck and one on the back deck near windows and blow warm air out of the house into the little greenhouses. If this works, it should be a big help.
I did put my dwarf citrus trees in the ground this spring. They are doing fine, but next winter I'll need to cover them. I'm going to be building PVC "cages" like crazy to cover all this stuff. My daughter planted two red passionflowers this spring. In looking them up they should be okay with winter protection. They are kind of marginal here, too.
Karen
Here are my brugs coming back. They are about a foot to two feet high now. Excuse the weeds in the bed. I've pulled them twice and need to do it again.
Karen, your Brugs look great! Do those spiderplants comeback each year for you as well?
I actualy just moved into a new house that gets tons of direct south light and my plants are loving that :) But I've also lost half a zone so now I'm 5b, which is still pretty good though. I've read that theres a type of ornamental orange that will grow up here that actualy makes little oranges so I'm going to check that out once I get planting things in my yard.
Thats a cute story about what your cats did batting around those stones although I'm sure it wasn't any fun at the time. I used to have a bunny that would slink along the baseboards hiding behing various objects till she could get to the base of the umbrella tree, jump in the pot and chew on the trunk :)
Steven
ps: I hope that jacaranda blooms for you! Those things are so gorgeous!
Are you talking about Poncirus trifoliata? Plant Files lists it as hardy to 6a so you may need to help it out a pinch especially when it's young. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55494/
Yes! thats the one, thanks ecrane!
I put it on my wish list, I'd be willing to help it out as seeing actual oranges growing would be great!
Steven
Steven,
Because the brugs are coming back from the roots, I don't know if that will affect the flowering with that "Y" thing or not. I will see what happens this summer.
I had the spider plants in a pot last winter. Most died back but a couple of them were leafed-out all winter. Again, I think it was a "too much water" problem, rather than cold. Since they also lose a zone or two by being in the pot, it would be as if I were growing them in 6b or even a little colder. So, they might be marginal in your area, but with heavy mulching . . . ?
You're lucky with the south light. My south side is covered by the front deck. It's the north side that has an open deck and good light, but there are the cats. . . . so I don't think inside plants are in my future. Sweeping up the potting soil and putting it back every day was a nuisance, but stepping barefoot at night on one of those rocks was a real pain. Bunnies make really nice house pets. Aren't they funny when they think you're not looking? LOL.
You must try that orange. Even if the fruit isn't edible, it would still be fun.
Karen
Karen,
I've heard of Brugs coming back from the roots and blooming, Bwilliams had it in one of his threads, and if they're already growing on 2 feet they'll probably bloom :)
I had house plants in my other house too and it was bright but no direct light really and alot of them have really started growing since they've moved. I honestly don't think I could live without them! You could probably grow some phalonopsis and they'd probably do pretty good.
I'm going to have to try a spiderplant in the garden this year, I'd love to have one come back.
Steven
Steven,
That's terrific! I didn't know but what if they came back from the roots they had to do the "Y" thing again.
I have a couple of those, along with a couple of other orchids. I did have room to winter them in the house. I have two big giant hoppers, one with cat litter and the other one with cat food. I put the orchids on top of these, and since they stack the cats couldn't reach up there. It's warm enough and the humidity is pretty high, so very soon they'll go back outside.
Do you remember a few years back when spider plants were a big thing as a house plant? The bragging rights went to the person who had the most babies hanging down. LOL. Have you seen bwilliams' thread on mulching and overwintering outside? It's pretty interesting. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/828480/ I think he's in about zone 6b.
Karen
I hope my brug 'Y''s this year, I'd love to see some blooms!
For orchids I haven't journeyed away from the phals yet, since they're fairly easy, but considering I'm working at a garden centre now that might not last long.
Bwilliams always has the best threads, this post here shows a brug http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4727750 which I asked him about and apparently it comes back every year, he said the more 'weedy' they are the more hardy they seem to be.
Steven
Wow! That's a great photo of that brug. I've not seen one that big before. Sure would be nice if mine got that big.
Last year I killed a vanda because I didn't realize I was supposed to water it every single day if it was in a basket. So, I'm going to get another and try again. I love cymbidiums. When I lived in Long Beach, CA, I had about 8 or 9 of my own plus about 6 that belonged to my sister that were kept on my balcony. She lived in the apartment downstairs. I was told that they wouldn't bloom in Long Beach as it didn't get cold enough. They have to have a certain number of hours below 40 degrees in the fall. They bloomed just fine 8 of the 9 years I was there. You might try them. You could keep track of the "cold" hours in the fall, and then bring them inside after that. Because they are terrestrial, they are easy to take care of. Some people divide them every few years, but I just kept putting them into bigger pots. Depending on how big they were, they would have between 2 and 6 spikes of flowers. I used Osmocote time release fertilizer in the spring and summer, watered about once a week. I have two here now that are in one-gallon pots. Each of them is putting out four new shoots. I hope I can time their cold period so I'll get blooms next year. I've read that reed-stem epidendrums are easy. They are also terrestrial. I have one of those, but it hasn't bloomed yet.
Do you get a discount by working in the garden center?
Karen
I've never had a vanda, do you actualy water the basket or just mist it?
I'm going to look into the epidendrums, I've always liked those reedy types of orchids.
Do you have any pictures of your cybidiums? They sound like one of the 'easier' types of orchid.
hehehehe, I do get a discount at the garden centre but only after being there for 3 months....so it's something to look forward too.
Steven
Hi Steven,
Well, from what I read after I killed mine off, if it is in an open vanda basket then you have to dunk it in a bucket of water for 20 minutes every day. I thought I had to do it only once or twice a week, which is no doubt why it went to orchid heaven. Misting is good but apparently doesn't substitute for the watering.
I wish I had photos of my cymbidiums, but it didn't occur to me at the time to do so. They are really easy. They should be outside in morning sun/afternoon shade in the warm months, but don't seem to have a problem with people-type indoor temps for the winter as long as they have good light. You do need several weeks of night-time temps below 50 degrees and above freezing so that they will bloom in the spring. This doesn't have to be a solid block of time, though. Certainly in Long Beach we did not get several weeks where the night-time temps were below 50 degrees every night.
I am going to try several kinds of epidendrums to see which ones do best for me. Here's a good description of the different kinds and the culture for each. http://members.optushome.com.au/bdobson/Epidendrums.html The radicans will actually tolerate temps down to freezing.
I would like very much to grow the bamboo orchids, but I just can't seem to keep them going. When I lived on the Big island, they grew wild on the property behind us. They are terrestrial, too, but I think I'm not keeping the humidity high enough and/or the drainage good enough. In the wild they just grow on a piece of lava rock with an inch or so of dirt on top, but they get rain nearly every day.
Part of my problem with gardening is that I have to find a happy medium between how much fussing I am willing to do and what the plants need to thrive.
When you start to get your discount, maybe they can order some orchids for you to try.
Karen
Thanks Karen :) I saved that link to favorites. I know what you mean about fussing, I've always admired those big tall dendrobiums with the big sprays of yellow flowers but have never attempted one.
I'm hoping to get some sort of bakers rack to set up infront of one of our patio doors to display plants on. The doors get full south and plants looks so much healthier grown in real light then they do under fluorescents.
Just bought a Bougainvillea 'Raspberry Ice' at work yesterday, the tropical house is quite large and they have almost everything..........last week I got a Phal and a Philodendron, this week it was a Bougainvillea and a Mandevilla........and I already know what I want to get next week. I leave my wallet at home most of the time as I don't want my pay going straight back into the company.
Steven
I went out this morning to check on all my Starfruit seedlings (5 of them) and everyone of them were bitten in half right at the dirt. I couldn't believe it. Anyone have a clue what would do this?
Chipmunks and squirrels are known for doing that, are the sprouts lying there bitten off or are they missing? If theres no remains it might be rabbits...?
Or if they're small seedlings, it could even be slugs/snails.
Dang critters!!!
Robyn ya need me to make a market run?
: } Kim
Steven,
The baker's rack will be perfect in front of a sliding glass door. That's going to look really neat. I like the dedrobiums, but I'm going to concentrate on the easier ones first. Succulents and cacti I water when I can't remember the last time I did. Everything else gets watered when it's dry. Same for fertilizer, I do them all at once with the same stuff.
The bougainvillea Raspberry Ice is so pretty. I'm told it is less hardy than the other bougies, but it sure is the prettiest of them. So far the phals I'm trying to grow are ones my daughter brought home from work for $0.50 each. Figure I can practice on them. She works in a grocery store and these are ones the produce department forgot to water or else did not sell before they were through blooming. I bought six Confederate Jasmines this week the same way -- they forgot to water them so the plants began dropping their leaves. In five-gallon pots, they were marked down to $4.00/each. Then when they rang up too much at the cash register, I got all six for $21.00. Took them home, watered them right away, and they are looking quite well. They will be fine. We're going to put them along the picket fence in front. They will die down in the winter, but will come back.
What kind of mandevilla did you get? Those are such gorgeous plants. I just bet you do have to leave your wallet at home. I know I would if I were around a big selection of tropicals. In any of the nurseries here, you wouldn't be so easily tempted as they have little selection. It's sad when HD and Lowe's has the best nursery departments in town.
Karen
The top of the seedlings were right there next to where it was bitten off. So I guess it could have been something like a snail or slug, but have never had those problems before.
Kim, could you, would you pretty please. Still none in the stores around here.
Thanks.
grumble, grumble dang critters.
There are lantanas sold by plant delights that are reported to be hardy to zone a7b http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page60.html , "Ham and Eggs", "Miss Huff", and "Star Landing."
They also list two cestrums hardy to zone 7, http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page22.html . Wikipedia lists c. nocturnum as hardy to zone 8. I see zone 8 from other sources, including Floridata http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/cestrum.cfm .
-Joe
Karen,
I ended up getting a plastic storage rack but it looks just as good!!! :)
The plants are loving all the light they're getting, I took a picture a few days ago so I'll post it! The mandevilla is Alice DuPont, she decided to stop growing for some reason so I stuck her outside where she's making some new growth now.....however she refuses to bloom, she's making flower buds but they stay small, they don't fall off either they just sit there :~| I've been fertilizing too, so I don't know whats wrong with it.
I bet your jasmines are going to look amazing! Do you have a picture??? Jasmines against a pickett fence..........its going to look great!
Steven
Hi Steven,
I really like your rack -- looks terrific! I have one that is white I would like to put by my sliding glass door, too, but I can't have plants inside like that. A couple of my cats think it is great fun to throw the potting soil all over the floor.
I finally got the Confederate jasmines (jessamine) planted along the fence. I'll take a photo in a couple of days and post it. Right now they are sort of just sitting there. They need to get adjusted to being outside in the ground and get their root growth growing. Because they hadn't been watered properly they have to come back from that, too.
I've not had an Alice Dupont, but they sure are pretty. I don't know why she's not blooming. It might be enough light but not enough actual sun. Maybe you can get some advice on the climbers forum as lots of folks there have Alice Dupont. I got a yellow mandevilla this year. It's not blooming now as I've not gotten it planted and it needs more sun than it's getting. I'm going to put it out on the fence, too. It's not supposed to be hardy in my zone, but I did notice one just like it growing in the ground at a small nursery here. He said that it had been there for three years and did not die back in the winter. I'm sure he's telling the truth as the vine was way too big and thick to be only this year's growth. I did notice that he was selling what appeared to be two kinds of mandevilla. They were all climbers, but some had larger, thicker leaves than the others. The one with the larger, thicker leaves had pink flowers on it just like an Alice Dupont. The others were yellow like the one he had in the ground. I've tried to look this up in PF but I really can't tell from the photos.
My Carolina jessamine is not blooming either, and I think it should be. It bloomed well this spring, but not since.
My brugs are now about five feet tall and have been blooming for a couple of months. They have dwarfed the ferns and banana plants. Guess I'll have to move those after next winter's dormancy. At least move them to the front.
joegee,
I don't know why my lantanas died to the ground. They shouldn't have. I have a yellow one with varigated leaves but also Ham and Eggs. The post office in the valley has the Ham and Eggs lantana outside its front door. They are a zone higher than me (8b), still theirs died down to the ground as well. My varigated lantana and the cestrum nocturnum were both protected with freeze cloth this winter. They should have been fine, but both did die back to the ground. They are coming back fine, however. I guess it's the vagaries of "shoulda". LOL.
Karen
My brugs at the end of May. About three and a half feet here.
Oh, I love your brugs Karen!!! I've just started my first one this year! I posted this photo on a couple other threads but I'm so proud of it I'll post it here too :) I might be mistaken but maybe some of the mandevillas that look different might have been dipladenia, they recently merged the two genuses together although the two are clearly different. The yellow ones are really pretty though, I would have picked that one but Alice was the only one available in a small size.
If you can, please take a bunch of pictures of your garden! I'd love to see it!!!!
How are your starfurits doing??? Mine never did come back :( So I'll have to try again.
Steven
Ooos........forgot the photo!!!
Steven,
I wondered about them being dipledenias. I've read that those are supposed to be more shrub-like and not climbers. But in PF some dipledenias are listed as vines and some are not. So, I'm confused on that point, too.
Your brug looks so happy. You're doing really well with it. My baby starfruits are still babies. I put them in 4" pots and they have grown about 3" since then. I think they need to be in more sun, though. I'm so sorry to hear that yours did not come back.
I'll post some photos here of some of the rest of my garden. I'm trying again with the bougainvilleas. I have three in pots on the front deck. Also, I'm trying again with tropical hibiscus. I had two in the ground last year, but they didn't come back this year. I'm keeping this one in a pot and will put it in my little greenhouse for the winter. If it does well there, I will buy some Cajun hibiscuses next year. Have you seen them? Oh my, they are beautiful. http://www.dupontnursery.com/ProductCategory.aspx?pcid=%206
Karen
I love both the dipladenias and the mandevillas, but she got like 3 kinds of pests on her when she was inside so thats another reason I took her outside....she was a whitefly magnet.
I've been trying really hard with this brug asking every little question on the brug forum.......I killed one a few years ago from ignorance and failed with the seeds last year, so I had one seed left this spring and it actualy grew into the one in the photo.
Those hibiscus are beautiful!!! Hopefully they grow well for you, it must be awful to lose a plant like that! I hadn't seen them before. Also looking forward to the pictures of your yard, it must be beautiful!
Steven
Steven,
I think I lost the hibiscus last year from too much water in the beds when it rained so hard and they were dormant, not necessarily from the cold. So, I'm keeping this one in a pot and will keep it where I can regulate the water. I really want some of those Cajun ones, but I need to get the method of over-wintering them down first. If I were still in So. CA, I wouldn't have a problem. Just buy 'em and plant 'em.
I'll take some photos of my beds and post them. A lot of the flowers have backed off on blooming right now with the heat we've been having. Our temps have been in the 90s for the last month. Also, I'm not exactly Johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to dead heading. I bought a lot of cypress mulch very cheaply and finally got it in all the beds the other day, which should help quite a lot. I've been trying to start everything from seed this year -- some successes, some failures, some still in the starting trays. Next is learning to start cuttings. I'm going to make a forsythe pot and see if that will work for me.
Karen
Here are the oakleaf hydrangeas.
Ooo, a photo! Is it some sort of hydrangea??? I really have no idea what it is, but its really nice!
I'm almost wishing our temps had been in the 90's, it's only starting to get warm, the past few weeks have just been cold and rain. To overwinter anything here it has to be brought in. I did plant a china doll outside though, from what I've read it might come back as a dieback perennial here, it's going to go in the patio garden close to the south faceing foundation of the house.
Mulch does make a big difference when it comes to watering, especially in the heat it helps keep the roots cool.
Cuttings are fairly easy depending on what it is, I usually just remove the bottom few leaves so there nodes for the roots to grow from, then stick it in moist pottingmix and put an upsidedown baggie over top for humidity, securing with an elastic band. Also cut off the corners of the baggie to let in some air. That usually works for me and keep it out of direct sun till it has some roots :)
Steven
Hi Steven,
Yes, the oakleaf hydrangea is a native to the southeastern U.S. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/131/ At the same time these were blooming there were many of them also blooming along the roadside in among the trees. We dug these up in Feb. 2007 from the landfill in Birmingham. They have a plant rescue day every year, and people can go in and dig up anything there. Can't see them in the photo but there are a lot of ferns underneath that we also dug up and planted here. Check out the cultivars as some as listed hardy to zone 5a. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=OAKLEAF+HYDRANGEA&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search
The mulch will be a big help not only to keep the ground cooler but also (I hope) to cut down on the frequency I need to water. My granddaughter and I watered and laid mulch last Wednesday. We started at 9 AM and finished about 3:30 PM. On the beds where I had already put mulch, the ground was at least 20 degrees cooler under the mulch. So, that part at least does work.
I've not had good luck with getting cuttings started. Either they dry out or if I cover them then they get too moist and rot. Sigh!! I got some vermiculite the other day to set up a forsythe pot. Have you seen those? I had not heard of them until recently.
Good news! My Tecoma Stans, which was not supposed to die down here, is coming back. I also got a little seedling going as well. Going to dig him up tomorrow and put him somewhere else. The little guy on the upper right is the seedling.
Karen
My yard is a "work in progress". We moved here in June 2006, so the first year was pretty well shot for planting very much. I consider this the first real year.
Here's a shot of the Confederate Jasmine that I planted along the fence. I still have to go out and untangle some of them and get them started twining on the fence. It takes about two hours to patiently unravel the vines from the tied-up mess they came in. On a happier note, one of the Jasmines has already started blooming. They don't look like much yet, but will be really neat this time next year, I hope. As you can see I am still working at removing the grass from around them, so I can have flower beds all along there. I have to dig it up by hand as Round-Up, etc. just doesn't work.
Here's something that will work in your zone. It's a hardy blue passionflower supposed to be hardy to zone 5. It's sure happy here. It has taken over the flower bed it's in and both sides of the trellis. It didn't even lose a single leaf all winter. It's also crawling up onto the deck!
A close-up of the flower. They only last one day, but there are hundreds of buds on it.
Here is a hardy hibiscus. Unfortunately, the flowers don't open all the way on cloudy days. But they would grow in your zone, too. They do die down to the ground in the winter, but come back very nicely. They are very, very late to reappear. Some people leave the dead branches several inches high so they can remember where it is planted.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=hardy+hibiscus&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search
Another one that will also grow in your zone is the Rose of Sharon, which is also a type of hibiscus. This one was planted by the previous owners and is a single. It's about 15' tall. I planted a lavender double one last year, but it's not in bloom yet.
This is my herb bed. Some are annuals and some are perennials. Plus a couple of petunia escapees from the bed across the way.
Two of our newest acquisitions are on this overhead trellis. They are red passionflowers. The one facing had two blooms today -- the first for them. I missed the photo, but there are more buds on both of them, so I'll catch the next ones. But this is it: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/22763/ The tag said it is hardy to Zone 7. I'm hoping that is correct.
My Night-blooming Jessamine did come back and is getting ready to bloom. Wasn't supposed to die down in this zone. Great shot of the electric meter and one of the dogs' water pails, too. I always forget to look at the background before I take photos. Oh, well!
Now, that I've bored you completely, I'll show just one more shot of that blue passionflower. Volunteer four o'clocks and morning glories are competing with it -- but they seem to be losing. My daughter is just crazy about this plant, so I don't try to restrain it or cut it back. Not my deck, not my problem. I thought that seedlings had come up in the lawn and decided to dig them out and transplant them. Ho, ho, not so. They turned out to be coming from underground runners that started at the Mama plant. It probably wouldn't do that in a colder climate, though, I would think.
Karen
