Wow, nice palm! I'm off to check out briansbotanicals!
Northerners! Change the way you think and garden!!!!
Here are some excellent notes on hardiness by plant guru Tony Avent, Plant Delights Nursery, which touches on other factors such as winter wetness, summer heat..etc:
http://www.plantdelights.com/Tony/hardiness.html
Makes me ashamed that I complained about 60+ today.
LouC
That is a great link Tropicanna. I especially look forward to the new map they noted,
"On August 18, 2004, a group of stakeholders first met at USDA-ARS offices in Beltsville, Maryland to discuss the 1990 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map revision. The August 18 meeting included representatives from USDA-ARS, the American Horticulture Society, the American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta, university researchers, and representatives of the nursery industry. There have been several meetings since, as work on the new map progresses. In 2007, the contract to produce the new map was awarded to the Prism Climate Group from Oregon State University.
The hardiness map revision project will consist of two phases. In Phase I, the map will be reconstructed using the most recent 30 years (up from 15 years) of average annual extreme minimum temperatures. The map will also retain the "a and b" designations for zones 2-10, but not for zone 11 and zone 1. For the first time, the map will include a better breakdown of coastal/lake effects and elevation differences. The map will be made available on-line where you can search for and zoom in on a target area. The map is nearing completion at the beginning of 2008. Preliminary draft maps show many areas that have warmed up to 7 degrees from the 1976-1990 period to the 1991-2006 period. Other parts of the country have seen their average minimum temperature rise only a degree or two. Final details and concern of the committee are being addressed at this time. Phase II of a possible future project will hopefully involve overlay maps for other factors such as duration of cold, summer heat factors, and perhaps even air flow patterns. "
Hey we went from 67 to 28 in 12 hours last night
and I hear rumors its suppose to go to 16 tonite
Personally ..I think this is November..not april
I discovered crocus in the yard yesterday so I'm happy now that I can look out the backdoor and see a tiny speck of purple :)
Thank you for posting this. ^_^
Brian,
On todays article about Mulch. It says something with regards to people in general use 3 to 6 inches of mulch which is to much. Can cause the plants to stay to wet and cause problems. Is this not true with Tropical plants? And are there problems mixing Tropicals with other plants with this style of mulch?
Ya know, Ive never had a problem with the plants staying wet when planted in mulch.
Maybe it's the way I mix it.
You are an inspiration for sure, I have decided to do an area with more tropical style because of your terrific post. Now for the hunt for great plants that will make it through our wet fall/winter/spring...lol
Thanks for taking the time to post such great information!
Hey Brian,
Musa basjoo now has another northern location where it is grown. :) Mine made it through the winter with flying colors.
-Joe
I just showed my husband this thread. I am seriously thinking about incorporating this in my front garden and our memory gardens.
I did something similar in northern florida as was able to overwinter tender tropicals in the ground. I didn't realise you could do it this far north!!!
How close are you to Crossville, Tennessee Williams?
You've just opened a whole new world for me, lol.
The cold actually killed my Canna Lilies last year. :-(
I am glad this thread has helped out so many. I hope it opens up new areas of your gardens for these wonderful plants.
As for me being close to TN I know it's around 4 hours to opryland hotel. LOL I go their once a year during the winter. It's an amazing place full of tropical plants and great indoor landscapes.
I just looked you up, you're 4 hours from us, lol.
You should drop in and visit then! This should be a really good year.
Brian, I know many of us are likely well on our way to recreate your beautiful garden in Kentucky. My wife and I certainly been building our own tropical paradise in our backyard since we first saw this thread; and I've also been sharing this thread with a lot of folks locally who think it's fascinating. It's going to take a couple of years to fill in like your garden, but I think we've got a good start.
I've been trying to ID as many of the taller plants as I can, and I think I have most of them down. Can you fill in any holes on what I'm missing with the larger foliage plants?
Banana (Basjoo)
Various Canna's
Various Gingers
Fatsia
Alocasia
Colocasia
I'm especially interested in what you used to build that back "wall" of foliage. Are those all bananas? I've put an Australian tree fern near the back of one of our beds to see how it fill in, but I've used bananas elsewhere.
We're also going to try pushing our zone luck with a few zone 9-10 plants and see how we come out; like monstera and pothos. I actually believe one of my pothos survived the winter next to the house without any mulch, so I have hope we can get away with a few out-of-zoners with a good mulching. I'd especially love to grow some heliconia in the ground here, but I think that might be pushing my luck. The gingers might be the best I can do.
there is a lobster claw heliconia in the zoo, but it is just leaves
Really? Wow...I really do need to get over to the zoo here again then. I haven't been to the garden there in some time now. Might get some new ideas.
Oh, and I left Brugs off the list above. That's another I believe I saw included.
Keonikale their is one major group you would be leaving out and that is Ensetes they are banana cousins and get large very fast. I also like using castro beans in far back areas. Their are a lot of Cannas used that I breed. I have been trying to breed for taller darker foliage cannas and came up with a few that seem to work really well. This year I plan to expand on the canna breeding. I hope to have around 2000 canna hybrids planted out this season. Lots of new stuff to grow out this year.
Thanks Brian. Next time we're up your way we'll have to stop by. The Ensetes do look incredible, I'll look into getting a few of those as well. I honestly had never even heard of those.
I think the cannas are what we'll be using to fill in most of our "middle" ground as well. I got my wife interested in them and she's been on eBay getting all sorts of colors and patterns.
Thanks again. Will look into the castro beans as well.
yeah... its in the animal garden on the zoo side of the river.... they have some real nice plants there
Brien,
This thread is great, as all of yours are. DG is so fortunate to have you, not only as a member, but a member who SHARES!!!
BTW, are you sure that you did use Photo Shop in the first few Befores and Afters? LOL
You're incredible..
Thanks again,
Hap
I like the pictures!
Glad you have enjoyed the thread. I will take a photo soon of the plants popping up. Their are a ton that have started to sprout but a light frost last night really burnt the new leaves.
Cool, I look forward to seeing the pictures.
Me too. I would love to see it grow into what you posted above.