Fritillaria raddeana: too much too soon?

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Sun, 19 Feb 2017 12:08:43 PST


On 2/18/2017 7:47 PM, Bob Nold wrote:
> F. raddeana almost always freezes here. In my experience, its foliage 
> is much more tender than that of F. imperialis, stenanthera, 
> sewerzowii, and maybe eduardii.
  When I mentioned that "moderate freezing" would not damage the plants, 
I meant temperatures down to about 20 degrees F (about minus 6 C). Much 
colder temperatures are likely to occur in Denver, Colorado, where Bob 
lives.

All my plants in the covered but open-sided bulb house (Mediterranean 
house) recently experienced more than a week of constant sub-freezing 
temperatures, but I see little damage so far. The open garden had about 
30 cm of snow on it at the time, so the smaller plants were well 
protected. I think the survival of the bulb house plants is due in part 
to their foliage being dry, and in part to the fact that they're in the 
ground in raised beds or in plunged pots, not up on benches. During the 
several severe cold periods (severe for western Oregon, anyway) this 
winter, I moved container plants to the ground on the covered patio or 
in the center aisle of the bulb house and covered them with microfoam 
row cover or mover's quilts. I have very few really tender plants, which 
I keep during winter on a bench under lights in the garage. My former 
home had a big solarium, which allowed more indulgence, but having 
downsized, I also had to edit my plant collection strictly.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA





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