frost tolerant Crinum foliage

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Mon, 24 Jul 2006 05:04:56 PDT
Hi Joe and all,

I've not in the past checked for when the crinums outdoors lose their green 
foliage, but I'll try to do that this year.

We have C. bulbispermum, C. x-powellii, C. variabile, C. [bulbispermum x 
lugardiae], C. 'Catherine', C. 'Emma', and some "J.C. Harvey" type hybrids 
growing outdoors in the ground.  Some of these are growing right next to a 
greenhouse, so their bulbs are probably never subjected to actual freezing 
temperatures.  All of them however eventually lose all their foliage in 
winter, here in Indiana, USDA zone 5.

We are ready to test some more crinums outdoors in an open bed -- not close 
to a greenhouse -- this winter.  We've lined out some [bulbispermum x 
variabile] and some [bulbispermum x graminicola] seedlings.  We've also 
planted a few seedlings from two different batches of C. lugardiae in the 
ground.

We tried a row of ca 20 seedling bulbs of [bulbispermum x macowanii] out in 
the field some years ago.  Only three of the seedling survived the 
winters.  After 2 or 3 winters, I lifted those 3 survivors and now grow 
them in large pots.  I am hoping to use them for breeding when they finally 
start to bloom.

Regards,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)

At 08:19 PM 7/23/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>I have some C. bulbispermum plants in my yard.  The foliage stays green all
>winter, even when temperatures have dropped briefly to 23 F (rising to well
>above freezing the next morning.  Similarly, C. x powellii types are
>essentially evergreen.
>
>Essentially all other Crinum plants I grow are burned at 28 F and most die
>back completely with an hour or two of 25 F.
>
>Does anyone know at what point these plants lose their folaige to frost?
>
>Cordially,
>
>Joe

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA



More information about the pbs mailing list