Hardy Tropicals UK

Here is an update on 2 exotic gardens in St Denys road Southampton.

In spite of the last 3 hard winters no permanent damage was done to any of these plants except the normal winter die back of the Musa Basjoo's.

The Phoenix canariensis_CIDP No 90 was only slightly damaged in 2011 and was undamaged this year as the lowest temperature recorded in St Denys was only -6c on 2 nights.

The lowest temperature recorded over the last 3 winters was -7.9c for one night in the winter of 2010 when some of the soft growth in the center of the Phoenix canariensis_CIDP caused a few of the leaves to collapse.

All other exotics were totally undamaged.

billdango

Great looking plants. Bet that first house doesn't get much light inside

Did you protect the cidps bill? I have one and the coldest temperature for my area has been -11 in Dec 2010. At what forecasted temperature will it need protection?

I have heating cable and fleece+ polythene so I am ready. Mine is about 5-6ft tall.

Excellent photo's. Love the mature palms ...The rest of the garden/s Brilliant

greendragon wrote:Did you protect the cidps bill? I have one and the coldest temperature for my area has been -11 in Dec 2010. At what forecasted temperature will it need protection?

I have heating cable and fleece+ polythene so I am ready. Mine is about 5-6ft tall.

Yes I did give the Phoenix canariensis_CIDP protection during that awful winter of 2010 but only with the leaves tied up and a fleece wrapped around it.

On the coldest few nights a hot water bottle was tied next to the growing tip to stop any hard plugs of ice or snow collecting at that most delicate point.

This is of paramount importance as any freezing of tissue there will cause collapse of center leaves in the Spring.

Last February only minimal protection was given on about 4 nights again by tying up the leaves and fixing a blanket around the bottom half.

As we had a heavy fall of snow I had to use the hot water bottle trick again and it works well as you can see by this months pictures.

The water bottle must be wrapped in a towel or something so as not to burn the soft growing point and may be have to be filled with fresh hot water at least 3 times on very cold nights.

It does work and is well worth the effort.

I will be posting a forum hot water bottle thread later in year?

rgds billdango.

dino wrote:Great looking plants. Bet that first house doesn't get much light inside

Who cares about light with such awesome banana plants.

Its to windy in my front garden to grow Basjoo's unfortunatly.

rgds billdango

What is the climber covering the car port?

Water bottle - Wish I thought of that ..Then i wouldn't of lost 3 Phoenix canariensis

Great advice!

ourarka wrote:What is the climber covering the car port?

There are 3 climbers on the car port at present and all came through the last 3 winters okay.

They are Clematis Montana [pink flowering form].

And 2 species of Passiflora one with purple flowers and one with deep reddish flowers.
And there is a picture of the Clematis in flower in an earlier post by me but i can't remember which it was?

I don't know the generic names of the 2 passion flower plants either but I will try to download some photos of them later on this thread.

rgds billdango

Aw, it's always such a pleasure looking at any pictures you post Bill. Beautiful plants and thanks for sharing once again!

Ness

Nice photos Bill. With that blue sky, that could be anywhere on the globe

greendragon wrote:Did you protect the cidps bill? I have one and the coldest temperature for my area has been -11 in Dec 2010. At what forecasted temperature will it need protection?

I have heating cable and fleece+ polythene so I am ready. Mine is about 5-6ft tall.

In answer to your question greendragon I generally tie up the Phoenix Canariensis leaves when the night temperature is expected to fall below -4c.

As this rarely happens in a normal winter in Southampton it only has to be done a few times a year.

However the last 3 winters I have had to leave the plant tied up for nearly 3 weeks at a time.

Sometimes you may have to keep an eye on the weather and tie it up quite a few times from November to sometimes mid March.

The most dangerous times to watch are from mid February to mid April as sudden devastating frosts can occur at this time of the year.

I generally use the hot water bottle placed as near to the soft growing point as possible during nights when it's going to get colder then -3c.

Even if the top leaves are scorched or damaged the growing point should still be okay when milder weather returns.

Don't forget to wrap the hot bottle in a towel or something as you don't want to start the palm growing and you don't want to boil the soft growing point either.

I will be posting a video on how all this is done in November or December.

rgds billdango

Here are the pictures of the 2 passion flowers covering the carport that I promised to download earlier.

I don't know the names of these varieties but someone on the forum may know the answer.

billdango

p.caerula 'mauve majestic'-top.
p.caerula 'purple haze'-bottom.

I have 2 growing myself.

Thank you for the Info on the names to those 2 passion flower varieties.

They have come through last winter okay and are just starting to leaf again.

We did have one casualty though and that was the Campsis Radicans which can be seen on I think on the 6th picture and I don,t think it was the cold that did it but the 12 months of below average temperatures and lack of sun.

Another huge Campsis in Belmont road has also been clobbered and that one was 25 years old.

If the one in the St Denys garden shows no sign of recovery soon I will dig it up and replace it later in the year.

Also the Basjoos are very slow and stunted this year so I hope they don't go the same way as the Campsis?

billdango