Return of some borderline plants

Tony Avent tony@plantdelights.com
Sun, 27 May 2007 05:27:37 PDT
Jim:

Our Sinningia leucotrichas have returned for the second spring, but 
during that period we have only dropped to 15 degrees F.   We have grown 
Begonia sutherlandii for 15+ years and always loose it in the ground 
when we drop below 8 degrees F.

Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery @
Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, North Carolina  27603  USA
Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F
Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b
email tony@plantdelights.com
website  http://www.plantdelights.com/
phone 919 772-4794
fax  919 772-4752
"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent



Jim McKenney wrote:
> Whenever a purportedly tender plant survives the winter outside, it's a bit
> like finding money blowing down the street. 
>
> While weeding the garden this morning I had a nice surprise: three
> borderline hardy plants have reappeared and are growing well. One, Begonia
> sutherlandii, is known to be reliable in some parts of the greater
> Washington, D.C. area. In my garden there have been several failures, but I
> think I've finally found a good place for it. It's now in its third year
> there. 
>
> Another is the gesneriad Sinningia  leucotricha,  This I've had for decades;
> it survived here as a houseplant because it is winter dormant, and it was
> that characteristic which prompted me to try it outside.  The emerging
> sprout at this point looks like a huge, silvery, hairy four leaf clover. I
> have this planted in the rain shadow of the roof overhang, and the foliage
> remains in good condition well into the summer. 
>
> Also emerging in strength is a plant received as Scilla natalensis. This has
> not bloomed yet, and I'm hoping it really does turn out to be Merwilla
> plumbea - to use the new name. Looking at the pictures on the wiki, I
> decided that the flowering scapes must be about three feet high. Does that
> sound right?
>
> I ate breakfast and read the paper out on the deck this morning: the roses
> on the pergola are coming into bloom and now and then I was enveloped in a
> cloud of rose fragrance. I thought for a moment about the poor souls
> struggling to get to some holiday destination in a car engulfed in congested
> traffic. I'm staying put and have no regrets whatsoever. Please pass me
> another slice of the lemon cake and say, didn't I just hear a veery?
>
>
> Jim McKenney
> jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
> Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the first water lily
> buds are above water. 
> My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/
>  
> Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS 
> Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ 
>  
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