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Florida Gardening

Advice about my Duranta

bea (zone 9a -Jax area)

5 years ago

Hey guys I need some advice from north Floridians who have a Duranta. Mine is in a 25 gallon pot, 8', gorgeous, the butterflies and bees love it because it blooms spring-fall, the flowers smell good and it's one of my most favorite plants. Every winter we wheel it in the greenhouse when it gets below 40 degrees, so it spends 2-3 months there.

Here is my problem. With hubs having had that bypass I've been told heavy straining may be unadvisable for him going forward, and even with our "wheeley" the pot is so heavy that he would strain. So my choices are planting it outside or give it away. Floridata says it grows well in zones 9-12 and also this: "In Zone 8 the shrub dies to ground after hard freezes but resprouts in spring. It typically recovers quickly enough to bloom, but probably not set berries, by the following season's first frost."

But what about zone 9a? Would it die to the ground in a winter like we had last year or would it plain die? And if it didn't die all-together how long would it be before it started blooming?

Featured Answer

User

5 years ago

I'm in Brooksville ( 9a) and if the Winter is pretty bad mine get knocked back all the way but in the Spring the dead branches get trimmed back and they do eventually come back. But of course they don't get really lush and heavy with bloom, only when we have a mild Winter. I did lose one last Winter - it was in a pot and we'd had very low temps. But the ones in the ground didn't die.

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Comments (7)

bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
Original Author
5 years ago
Rita that's what I meant. Seeing as mine stays warm in the green house it it already has new leaves and bud starts in Match When I move it out. I hate to lose that.
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Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Bea, one of my best friends and fellow gardeners on my street just loves foliage durantas. (She did not have the blooming 'Sapphire Showers' type.) We live in the Southside area of Jacksonville, almost exactly five miles from the beach. She had a number of the foliage durantas planted in her yard (five or six?) and lost them all last winter when we were below 32 degrees F on two consecutive nights for more than ten hours each night. Sadly, they did not come back from the roots.
bea (zone 9a -Jax area) thanked Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
Pea
5 years ago
Ask a neighbor to help.
bea (zone 9a -Jax area) thanked Pea
bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks everyone.

Carol that's my fear too. We were down to 27 for several consecutive nights here. Too cold.

Pea, that's what it will have to be. Twice a year I'll have to ask a neighbor.
Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
5 years ago
Bea, as I'm sure you recall, we had very mild winters the two winters prior to 2018. Her shrubs were well established and had been planted in her yard for around two-three years when the January 2018 freeze arrived. Several of them were around 6' feet tall. Those were planted around the outside of her pool cage. Sadly, they were nothing after the freeze. I hate for you to lose a plant you love so much. I learned a big lesson last winter and VOW to take care of the ones that really matter this year. We get a couple days warning on the weather report and I know I need to just start earlier than the afternoon just before the freeze.
Pea
5 years ago
I find if you give a nice strapping neighbor doe eyes and ask for help you get it as long as it doesn't become an every week thing...

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