If I were going to plant a tea in the ground in your zone I would plant Georgetown Tea and Mons. Tillier. I am in zone 8 and they come through winter with no damage no matter where in the yard the yard they are planted. Clementina is in a nice warm spot and gets frost damage every spring.

They would still need protection but seem to be hardier than most teas temperature wise.

Lance

Thank you Lance, that's good to know. I wondered about GT because mine come through winter bigger and fuller than all the others and they start leafing out still in the garage! They really seem to be hardy, but I love them and wouldn't want to lose them. Maybe I'll try planting one of the two as a test. That makes room in the garage for Clementina.

When I grew teas up north I had them all in pots. However, that was up in zone 4/5. How do you like Clementina? I'm seriously considering getting one this fall. Do you spray with fungicides? Do its flowers fry in the heat?

Please ignore me while I butt in and theorize :)

The actual temperature is a lot more important than the wind, and the wind chill probably doesn't matter much. The plant will chill through to the actual temperature and no lower. Wind just makes this happen a little quicker, maybe at most an hour quicker. When the books speak of a "sheltered location," they mean ideally the south side of a heated building or a south-facing retaining wall or steep bank. These are heat sources that help to keep the air temperature a little higher, provided the air is still. I'm just saying, don't put much stock in a contrived windbreak, because if the air is -5, the center of canes will soon be -5, wind or no wind.

Michael PLEASE by all means butt in and theorize lol. That's what I want. I know what you're saying about getting warmth from the side of the house and stuff, that's why I was amazed at how well these guys came through the past two winters in that garage, cause I'm here to tell you it's danged cold in there. If I put water out there it would be frozen solid. This year I'll put a thermometer in there to see what the temp actually is. That's why I was thinking it really is as cold as the outside and the only difference is the wind and of course I have them in the back of the garage so it's dark back there and that keeps them from that awful cycle of the sun hitting them and warming them up only to freeze again.

Peggy I looooove Clementina. I'm just nuts about those colors and I had no idea it had such a nice strong scent. I never stuck my nose into Carol's 12 foot Clementina when I was there lol.

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Hi Jackie - I have a few thoughts:

1. Judging from the timing of your first blooms each spring I would speculate you're actually in a warmer microclimate than what you thought was z5 (now z6 thanks to the greenhouse effect).

2. However, I would suggest that you wait until next Spring to plant your teas in the ground - not only will they have the benefit of another year in the garage, but they will also have all of next year's growing season to spread roots before they face the winter outside.

3. My own experience: I have lost 2 CC's to winter kill, as well as a Mons Tillier and a Duchesse de Brabant - the last is supposed to be particularly hardy. On the other hand, my MFK has had almost no dieback for two winters and she is now 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Baronne Henriette suffered more dieback but she bounced back with big fat new basals each year and is now about 5 feet tall. All of these are planted in more or less the same conditions. The other tea that seems very hardy in my garden is Marie d'Orleans - almost as big as MFK.

4. Mounding the plants (I use pine bark mulch, I think it's what Stephen Scaniello recommends) is probably more important than the windbreak - a couple of my teas have died back to virtually nothing and have come back from the roots. In fact, thinking back on it, I should have given the first CC more of a chance after her first winter, rather than SP'ing her. But go ahead and do the windbreak too.

I hope my ramblings are helpful \;^)

George

Jackie:
I agree with George. I would hold off until spring to plant Clementina. I lost one after putting her in the ground the first year. I kept my 2nd Clemmie in the pot for an extra year and it came through last winter fine. Georgetown Tea does fine in my zone 6 also. I am tempted to try Marie Von Houte (sp?) in the near future. Good luck!

Thanks George and Carol for your input (never rambling!)

George I would suspect that we are in similar zone conditions. I have the added benefit of the humidity from the Lake and pretty extensive snow cover most years. That's why I was thinking that maybe I could have some teas in the ground like you do.

Since M. Tillier has been in the ground since spring I'm going to leave him and do as much protection as I can. The rest will go back in the garage for this season and I will experiment next season.

I should try to get them to root in the spring and plant the cuttings. That way I would still have the mother plants if I lose them. I've never tried to root any of the teas, but I remember when Brian kindly sent me some cuttings a few years ago and I lost them all. I felt so bad after all the trouble he'd gone to. Maybe I'll try now that the weather is cooling and if any of them take, I'll bring them in the house for the winter.

I was going to suggest you ask George and then he showed up right on time! When I went to see his garden, he showed me some teas that had died back to the ground and I couldn't believe that they had rebounded so well and were blooming! Lol, if anyone can get Tea's to grow in the ground in zone 5 it will be you.

Carol

Carol thanks bud! And if anyone could baby a run-over by a Highlander little band it would be you lol.

I'm wondering if any other zone pushers have tried Teas and what's the Northernmost limit.