wow! awesome pics of your yard jim!I especially like the strawberries.Makes me want to pick the red one and eat it lol.My washy and trachy are both pushing out new frawns cant wait till they develope a full head.

Wow very nice. The palms look very healthy.

This is my first year with strawberries and I have a ripe one already. Also planted some nice 3 foot tall windmill palms, and my 15 year old camellia (now about 5 feet tall) had over 60 blooms on it and is still blooming. I never protected it and they always do well but this year they did better than last where I had only 4 sad blooms, but almost a foot of growth.Last year was a zone 8b winter, and this year a zone 7b (lowest temperature was 9, some stations reported 5). Also have about 10 different types of cannas in pots and they are doing well. These are: red king humbert, pietora, president, richard wallace, tropicanna, stuttgard, firebird, wyoming, bengal tiger, and some others. I have lots of air plants too and I will put those on a tree for a tropical look, and take them off at the end of the growing season. I am lately interested in plumerias and my first one is doing really well so far(maybe a bloom soon!). This year will definately be a fun year for gardening and probably a successful one too.

Your plants look great Jim, especially considering the tough winter we had. I'm also starting a cold hardy cactus garden this year, already have a few cacti lined up and a spot picked out. Nice to see that all your washingtonia's survived. The one and only one I had in the ground also made it, very surprisingly as I was sure it was dead.

Nice! Couple of questions for you, Jim. I'm in zone 5b also, and have put out a washingtonia and windmill. They're close to the house, so I plan on building a styrofoam lean-to with maybe some x-mas lights in it. How did you overwinter yours? Also, that looks like Agave Parryi on the right and A. Havardiana on the left? How were those covered? I keep hearing this (what I belive to be) nonesense about Parryi being hardy to zone 5. Just wonderign how you kept yours alive!

Thanks for the replies guys,I will look forward to all your pics!
Huey-Yes to the first Agave Q,I was going to see what all the plants could take tempwise but later decided to keep them a little warmer for the first 2-3 winters,they will always need some protection! Heres what I covered them with(the washys were wrapped in burlap x-mas lights and insulation/plastic)

Winter cover-
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Inside-

SO you covered the agave bed with a coldframe/low tunnel? Was that unheated? I guess you had to vent that pretty carefully to avoid overheating? Looks great, by the way!

I did heat it,I don't believe it ever dropped below 14F-that was not my plan originally(keeping it that warm)but I planted the Agaves and some other cactus in Dec,so, I decided to keep it a little warmer to protect them.I had to remove the front half over the cactus in mid March as we had some early 70F weather and the temp went up to 100F in there! to much stress on them,it also may explain why the cactus are budding so early,although quite a few normally flower in June.

Everything looks awesome Jim! Those cacti are so cool. I love the pic of the greenhouse covered in snow. I can't wait to see your yard later in the year.

Jay

Thanks Jay,should be a fun year! It's amamzing how much the plants will grow between now and Nov,I am looking forward to seing how much the castor beans grow this year too.The bananas are already growing,all we need is some warmer weather and we should get 70s for the next week!

Great pictures, Jim!
I am really happy that you've overwintered them all without losses. Echinocerei in bloom are perfect. I have very few hardy cacti (much more of my cacti are not-hardy) and they're not yet even think to give buds.
As for palms I think that Washyes, Sabals and Nanorhops aren't for my climate.
Antti

Yea,Sabals would be tough there,they do require some warmth during summer(at least)and Mazari can be a tough little bugger to get established,mine is pulling through though,it looks like,anyway,glad to hear from you,I remember seeing your cactus pics on another forum,very nice collection,I think the cold dry winters really set the buds for these cactus-look forward to your pics to see how everything did!

I always enjoy seeing pics of your yard. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Washingtonias and Sabal Louisiana fill out this summer.
-Jay