Haemanthus Hardiness

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Mon, 29 Nov 2010 07:19:32 PST
Paul,

That's very interesting.  As I recall from my grad school days there 50 
years ago, it can get rather nippy in Berkeley in winter.

I'm not ready to try Haemanthus outdoors in the ground here in Indiana just 
yet, but I think folks in zone 7 should look into this notion.  I'd suggest 
trying Haemanthus montanus first.  If it survives a couple of winters, then 
try things like albiflos (cheap and common), coccineus (relatively common), 
and humilis hirsutus (probably pretty cold-hardy).

Plant the bulbs completely in the ground, with the tip of the bulb just at 
or slightly below the ground surface.  I'd start off with them in a very 
well-drained soil.

Jim Shields
in central Indiana
USA



At 06:58 AM 11/29/2010 -0800, you wrote:
>We have a diverse collection in the ground here in Berkeley and I don't 
>think we've lost any to frost in my 7 years here. It gets down to mid-20s 
>in the Garden and the leaves get very stiff. I'm sure this doesn't 
>approach the midwest/east coast.
>
>Paul Licht, Director
>Univ. California Botanical Garden
>200 Centennial Drive
>Berkeley, CA 94720
>(510)-643-8999
>http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344


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