So? How did this plant variety do over the winter? Will it be going out again this summer? One year, after a light frost, my cordylines (2 - regular green) still looked good, so I thought I'll try to keep over the winter - maybe I'll have a HUGE spike to plant out next spring with my geraniums. Everyone here calls these plants 'spikes', they are sold in masses in the spring, in teeny 2" pots, the plants have only 4-7 leaves, and that's what mine had started out as. But it grew well, so after this frost, I semi-carefully dug it out of the pot, it had lots of long roots, which I trimmed off so I could fit it into a 1 gallon nursery pot to bring indoors. With all the root pruning, and I only had to trim back a few older leaves that were dying, I did not lose any growth after bringing it in. It continued to grow over the winter, so much so that it's diameter was 4 feet, and I could hardly wait to take it back outside 'cause it was taking up valuable living space. It was placed in a large 6 foot SW facing window, and got good sun. I watered it as little as possible, no fertilizer until late in February. In the spring, the special treatment I had to give it was that I fashioned a 'cast' out of paper, sort of like a narrow toilet paper tube, to put around the newer center leaves, since we get strong winds in the spring, and the new growth would not be strong enough to handle that. After I couple of weeks outside I could remove his paper cast (there would have been new outdoor leaves coming up) and he grew happily, though this big cordyline did not leave a whole lot of room for my flowers! But he looked majestic beginning of June, whereas most years they look that way come the end of August. The other thing is that I would have originally paid $1 for him when he was little, for the size I stuck out the following year, those ones ran at $10 in the local nurseries, and they still weren't near as big as mine! Since I would never fork out that kind of moola for a 'spike', it was satisfying to me that I could have a big one at the cost of reusing a recycled nursery pot, and some potting soil - cheap....kioni.

You need to remove the period (full stop!) at the end for that URL to work. It really isn't that high rez. anyhow. But also, even more than the USDA hardiness map this AHS heat map is of very limited utility. Number of days over 86F is essentially meaningless for a lot of plants. Right off the bat, it would have made more sense to plot the average summer nighttime dewpoint temperature. At Sonoma Horticultural Nursery in - surprise surprise - Sonoma County CA, they can grow the Himalayan cinnabarina series Rhododendrons. Or the hardy big leafs like R. rex. At Rarefind in NJ, you cannot. Even the ones that would be winter hardy there. The two locations probably have a similar # of days above 86F, but their summer climates are hugely different as are their winter climates. The cool nights and lower dewpoints in Sonoma County make all the difference.

Don't have 'Woodlanders Red', but do grow 'Woodlanders Hardy', also a red flowering one. Has survived in near 0°F temperatures and remained evergreen. I moved it this past spring, to a full sun area to promote better flower production. Will see if that works! Don't grow Cordyline 'Red Star', but a number of gardeners in my Zone do. It is promoted as hardy to 5°F and to remain evergreen, if located in a sheltered, SW location. The location that I would like to plant a few, is in my "Arctic" microclimate zone and I'm sure they wouldn't survive there! The only suitable location that I have, is presently occupied with a large colony of Georgia Asters and those are maintained for a local hive of European Honeybees, which descend upon them in hordes during the fall! I couldn't think of disturbing those.

The dahlias have good root drainage... I'll try the cover trick this winter... but it will have to be something attractive. I don't remember the exact species name, regina(e) comes to mind, but responding here at night and I have no desire to go out with a flashlight to check the name. I actually don't care if it blooms and doubt it will. The foliage and height make up for lack of bloom. I'm sure it needs good heat for bloom and we certainly didn't get anything like that this year. Aftermidnight, I got mine from Brentwood Bay Nursery. But to be honest, I was with a friend who's friends with the propigator there and we went in back and saw all the things that weren't for sale. I happened to mention it and she said she had some tubers from the one at Hatley Castle. But it was potted up in a 4'' with a teeeeny shoot and only $3.95 and less my friend's discount, so I had to try it. Not sure if any others were ever put up for sale. But you could ask. If not, I'm sure you could find something else you'd like there!! ... Don