Pushing the zone envelope, anyone?

17 years ago

I'd like to hear from folks who are growing plants that aren't *supposed* to survive here. I'm nuts about tropical and tropical-looking plants, and I baby along several. I'd like to grow more, but time and money IS limited, so---I'd like to talk with other tropical nuts' about what successes they're having in Tennessee. I actually live in the northwestern edge of 'Bama, within rock-throwing distance of both the TN and MS lines, but I figure anything that's being grown successfully anywhere in TN should work for me, too. And yes, I told GW I live in TN, just so they'll let me post on THIS forum, since I am a charter member of Jan's wonderful Middle Tennesse Plant Swap!

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Comments (9)

maternut
17 years ago
I have a bed of amaryllis that I have had real good luck with so far. I mulch them pretty good, with pine needles. The hardy banana reached fourteen and a half feet this year. Trying to save some of your Brug's outside this winter.
Norm
intimidator_3
17 years ago
My wife and I grow quite a few tropical plants in our garden. One of the main reasons that we decided to start doing this was that many of the folks on this forum were doing it with a lot of success. We continue to try to experiment with different things from year to year, and believe it or not we have had great luck growing some plants listed as zone 9.

Here is a list of what we grow now, all in ground.

2 Trachycarpus "fortuneii"
Trachycarpus "bulgaria"
Sable Palmetto "texana"
2 Sago "revoluta"
2 varieties of Oleander
Fatsia "japonica"(bloomed this year for the first time)
Philodendron "selloum"
Manihot (Tapioca tree)
several varieties of Brugmansia(we have left these in the ground and they will come back, but their growth is very slow through the year. Better to cut them off and put in the ground again the next season)
several varieties of Colocasia and Alocasia
several varieties of Ginger(Hedychiums do best, but do have about 4 Curcuma)
amararyllis "ackermanii"(grows great)
gloriosa vine(listed as zone 9, but has been in the ground here for 4 years)

Doug
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In my zone 6, even if something dies to the ground, it grows pretty quickly when things heat up. Of course, zone 6 Kentucky is not zone 6 Michigan. Ann, we did have a good amount of snow cover this year. Once it thawed, it did not get cold at all again this year. We got lucky there.
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Both photos below from today. First are the bands of Alberic and the bigger one is Bleu Magenta. I could plant two together in front where I took Graham out (no pic handy). The arbor is the second photo. Jeanne La Joie is on either side of it now and not doing well. The side with the drainpipe gets waterlogged when it rains, and I haven't been able to cope with the problem tried to fill it in with lots of topsoil and built a little higher by the arbor. The odd thing is that on the right in the photo, it is drier and has to compete with roots from an apple tree close by, but that side does the best. I can pot Jeanne up in 5 gal pots and set in front against the brick wall in the recess there, west side facing east and south, where the new ones are sitting and see if she will do more that way. My daughter loves Jeanne and might like to take her if I get her going in pots, not quite ready to offer her on Freecycle, got her in bands 3 years ago, came late that year worse than what I got today with Alberic. The arbor needs to be straightened and secured somehow, one more thing to cope with, but I don't like the way it is starting to lean. But I'm worried about the water problem. I no longer have the strength to dig a runoff and the gutters are expensive and too much to get into. What does anybody think? Otherwise I have a spot left out of the photo on the left up by the foundation of the house where the dryer vents, haven't known what to put there. I don't use the dryer that much just for me so don't see where that would necessarily be a huge problem, have the vent turned a little to the south and not going strait out but still . . . I really appreciate this advice because it spins around in my head, and roses are difficult here as it is, would like to avoid an obvious mistake again.
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How true it is depends on how cold you get. Most people around here do their own zone calculation, since altitude and nearness to water both can play big factors. There is also the question of how often do you get certain temperatures. My quasi-official zone is a very cold 6, but we get 5a temperatures often enough to kill or seriously wound zone 6 plants. The official line from Cooperative Extension is 'zone 6, plant for zone 5'. Unless you are in a very built up area, I'd take the latest USDA map with a very large grain of salt. When it first came out, several years ago now, that was very much the eastern consensus. The map we seem to agree the most with is the first one. People who had been moved down a zone in the second one agreed with being moved back up to where they had been, but people colder than that were of the opinion the third map was nothing more than wishful thinking. BTW, the first map was based on a considerably longer collection of data than the later two.
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Interesting comments, PT and leftwood...I'm still thinking them through... Sharons2, I haven't grown Kalimeris pinnatifida, but planted Kalimeris yomena 'Shogun', a variegated green-white variety, last year and it wintered over well - no sign of flower buds yet though. Another pleasant surprise was Kniphofia 'Royal Castle' (or, sometimes, 'Royal Castle Hybrids') - I bought 3 well-established plants in 4" pots last year (2 crowns each, if I recall correctly), and planted them in a relatively sheltered spot on the lee side of the house. They wintered extremely well, and have flourished since, with each plant now consisting of multiple crowns. The flowering was respectable (2-3 stalks per plant in early summer over a few weeks); the flowers were maybe not quite as bright as I might have wished - orange with yellow - but interesting. I had previously grown K. uvaria from seed, but rotted them out in spring (by leaving mulch on for too long). The 'Royal Castle' "strain" (as I've also seen it referred to) seems to involve K. uvaria but not sure of what other species.
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april_h_o April Moore
17 years ago
Wow! Really surprised about the gloriosa vina! I have looked at those with longing a bunch of times, but was afraid they would never make it here in Madison. You give me hope. :-)
dennisjmccoy
17 years ago
I have 3 sabal palmettos that have survived three winters in the ground, and one of them is doing well this year in a pot. (I dug it up in preparation for a move.) I've had brug's and 2 varieties of ginger in the ground for several years, an "empress banana" has done well and phildendron selloum came back up last year, but only put out 3 leaves all season. A surprise for me has been the Dracena plants that not only survive, but thrive in the ground, last year the 3 around my little water feature did not even freeze completely, although they lost their 'hearts'. Small shoots were protected by the remaining leaves of last season's growth and had a head start in the spring. Also surprising to me were the little amarillis seedlings that survived the winter last year outdoors in 3" pots. Most of these were brought in this winter, but there are a couple I left out to see what happened this year. I also left my large sago out this winter to see what it would do with no protection.
bigorangevol
17 years ago
I can't kill the Musa banannas. As long as I cut them off to the ground and pile 8"-10" of soil over them they do fine every year. I even get blooms and 'naners right before the first cold weather knocks them out.

There are always several types of tropicals that make it to the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap. The added bonus is that you can talk to the person that grows them so you know what to do in order not to lose them.
dennisjmccoy
17 years ago
I forgot to mention the 'airplane' or 'spider' plants, commonly grown as houseplants have overwintered in the ground with out protection for the last 2 winters in my yard.
katiedidcottage
17 years ago
My only real tropical that has come back is a Tropicana canna. I was told that it should come back, but it did and it is really beautiful. Striped leaves and the younger leaves look dark purplish. I believe the flowers are bright orange if I remember correctly.

Katie
april_h_o April Moore
17 years ago
I have heard that here in Madison (just NE side of Nashville), our zone has been upgraded from 6 to 7A. Can anyone else comment on this?

If so, it would certainly explain the lantanas (other than Miss Huff) coming back in my garden....

After chatting with Ann a bit more, I think I'd have to pot up the gloriosa vine and bring it indoors to go dormant.....but I still have high hopes for those ginger lilies I got at the fall swap. :-)
TnShadyLady
17 years ago
The new hardiness zone map shows the majority of Tennessee now as zone 7a. With the milder winters and long hot summers, I would agree with their rezoning!

Many of my hedychiums, curcumas and colocasias are hardy for me. I do mulch heavily though, just to be safe. But I am just a big chicken with a lot of my tropicals - - most of them are overwintered inside. But then MOST of them truly could not survive our winters.

Here is a link that might be useful: changes in hardiness zones

Pushing the zone envelope, anyone?

Comments (9)

maternut

intimidator_3

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