Losses


My collection
I only give an alphabetical list of the species I own because it's impossible to speak about all of them.  I know it's not ideal, but the space with homestead is limited, and I have to make choices.
When you have a question about something, don't hesitate to mail me.

S = seedling                      J = Juvenile                    A = adult (flowering size)                    
My experiments


- 2000-2001
- 2001-2002
Overwintering your treasures
Losses


My collection
Alphabetical list
Pictures of plants in my collection
Musa basjoo in my garden; this picture was taken in May, 2 weeks after I unwrapped it.  The plant was 4 years old then.
Clianthus puniceus "Red Cardinal"; has proven hardy here to -10°C, unprotected.  The flowers are so beautiful!  It's a climber actually, but in my garden it's just growing as a small bush.
Agapanthus sp.  This is the flower of an evergreen (thus not hardy) Agapanthus.  There are hardy ones suited for the garden, they lose their leaves every winter then.  This one can be overwintered in cool places, as long as it doesn't really freeze there.
Passiflora caerulea.  This is a gorgeous half hardy climber.  Young plants appreciate some protection, but older plants can have at least -10°C without any damage.  When the temperatures drop below -10°C, the plant will be defoliated, but will grow back in spring.  An extremely fast grower, hundreds of flowers from June till the first frosts.
Overwintering your treasures


Palm trees

Trachycarpus species:

When you don't get frost below -15°C, then you shouldn't protect this one at all.  Many people try to wrap it in blankets or plastic filled with straw..., but this will only harm the plant.  The leaves suffocate then and sometimes you can lose the entire crown doing so.  Just leave the plants alone, they are hardy enough for such temperatures.  You can protect the soil with a layer of mulch though.  This can never harm a plant. 
I have seen it already on my Phoenix too, but Trachycarpus species get strange darker spots on their leaves when it's pretty cold.  This is not bad at all, these spots go aways as soon as the freezing stops.
When it keeps freezing for several weeks in a row, than you could consider protecting a plant with a blanket or something, but then you really have to remove it again immediately after this very cold period.  And with a very cold period, I mean several weeks of frost to -10°C or even more.  As long as the temperatures don't drop too often under -10°C, I think your plants are safe.

Be aware of cold and very dry winds.  They are more dangerous than severe frost.  The winds are drying out the leaves, and as it's freezing, it's impossible for the plant to get water from the soil.
This doesn't mean that some dry wind will kill your plant when it's freezing!  I'm talking of very dry winds then at temps of -10°C and more.  

And when your plant gets defoliated after winter, don't be afraid, normally, your plant will regrow pretty fast.

I do have to admit that not all of the Trachycarpus have been tested very well.  The takil and fortunei have proved their hardiness.  The others... you'll just have to experiment as they still are quite rare.


Other species:

- Species like Rapidophyllum, Sabal minor, ... should be treated like the Trachycarpus.  Heavy      protection will only harm them.  Plant them in a very dry spot and hope for the best.  And when    the temperatures drop a bit too low, try to protect it with DRY material and remove that as
  soon as the temperatures rise again.

- The more tender species like Phoenix won't survive a normal winter I guess.  It really depends   
  on where your plant comes from though.  I have no idea where mine came from, but it was very 
  young when I bought it.  It's still in a pot and has survived -7°C like that without even the
  slightest sign of leaf damage.  (Although it died outside in the ground the year after that.)
  How can you protect such plants than.  Well you have several options, but i don't really like any   of them. 

1) You can build some kind of shelter to protect your plants from precipitations.  In that way you
   can keep the soil very dry of course.  And when you're a handy man/woman, you can fix it in
   that way that you can remove the shelter in spring without much trouble.  It's a good  
   protection against winds too. 

2) This protection could be combined with the first one.  You can use heating cables used for the
   waterworks to keep the plant frost free.  But that's already an extreme solution in my opinion.      I feel more like using the good old blanket to cover up when it's extremely cold.






Bananas

First of all you must know that there's no banana that will survive -15°C without at least having lost its trunk.  The best suited species for cold climates still is Musa basjoo.  The stem dies when it gets colder than +/- -6°C.  The leaves are already gone at temps like -2°C.
So when you don't want to have to start all over every single year, you'd better protect your plant a bit. 
I use the following method.  This one is very efficient, i never lost a stem using this kind of protection (except when the plants are really young, then it still is possible).

- I wait with putting on the protection until it has frozen a bit so that the leaves are dead.

- I make a construction with eg. chicken wire in function of the heigth of the stems.
  Make sure the construction reaches a bit higher than the top of the plant.

- Fill the construction with straw.  You'll need a lot when it's a big plant.  But a local farmer will            
  be happy to oblige and give you all you need for no money at all.  You can use other material   
  too, but then you have to make sure it's no material that decompose fast.  Because this
  process produces a lot of heat.  This would suffocate the plant, perhaps even the roots of the
  plants, as there's oxygen needed for the process too.  So be carefull with what you choose.

- Cover everything with plastic.  You need to do this because the straw has to stay dry,
  otherwise it will not be effective at all, and then then chance for rotting is very high. 

Remark: * Use perforated plastic.  If you don't, the plant will suffocate and eventually the plant
                    will have to start all over making new trunks.
                * This method works for all bananas that are thought to be quite frost hardy, even the           
               more tender ones.




Tree ferns

The protection for tree ferns really depends a bit.  There are some tree ferns I would never consider planting in full ground.  Others are quite hardy and have proven to be able to survive at least -10°C with just a layer of mulch. 

- Dicksonia antarctica: I'm always afraid of losing my plant as it was a very expensive one with a trunk of 1/2m, but in fact, this one doesn't need protection at all when your winters never go below -10°C.  A layer of mulch is always appreciated though.  Young plants need protection though.  You can do the same as with the bananas here.  Of course you can do that with your big ones too, as they are pretty expensive and slow growing.  It would be worse than a nightmare, losing such beauties.

- Other species: Other species really need protection.  It depends on the species whether it needs protection very early or later on in winter.  When you have Dicksonia squarrosa, then you can wait until it has frozen about 5°C.  With Cyathea australis (when it has a trunk!), you can wait until -7°C before you have to start worrying.  So it really depends. 
But remember, young plants that have no trunk at all should always be protected, and are in fact not really suited for our climate outside.  You'd better keep them in a greenhouse and wait until they grow a trunk before you plant them out.

Of course, you will have to learn yourself what your plants need.  I can describe what I do with my plants, but as with humans, there are no two identical plants.  It is better to start a bit more carefully, and gradually, when your plants get accustomed to the cold as they grow older, you can experiment a bit with protection.  The only thing I can do is give you some advice to get you started.













Arum dracunculus (= Dracunculus vulgaris).  A most beautiful aroid that has proven hardy here in Belgium.  It has survived -12°C without any protection.  It gets to 1,8m tall and every year it gets more and more shoots.  In 2004, I had four flowers.  A must!!  But be careful.  It smells like dead rats or something, so don't plant it on a delicate spot;-)
My experiments


Winter 2000-2001

Planted outside for the first time:

- Cycas taitungensis: lost the leaves at -8°C.  I dug it up and put it in the greenhouse.  After one night in the greenhouse, new leaves were already emerging.  It has passed the entire winter in full ground, with some straw protection.  Perhaps when older better suited for our gardens, but not when young.  My plant has a caudex of about 10cm diametre.
- Cycas panzihuaensis: defoliated at -8°C.  I dug it up and put it in the greenhouse.  After about one week in the greenhouse, new leaves were emerging.  It has passed the entire winter in full ground, with no protection at all.  Perhaps when older, better suited for our gardens, but not really when young.  My plant has a caudex of only 3cm.  It's doing well now in the greenhouse.
- Dicksonia antarctica: with straw protection as described above.  It has survived very well.  Its leaves weren't looking fantastic, but weren't completely killed.  The plant made more than 40 new fronds during summer.  The plant has a trunk of 0.5m.
- Dicksonia squarrosa: this was a young plant, protected with straw like the D. antarctica.  It survived, but the leaves were more damaged than the ones of the antarctica.  The plant did grow extremely fast during summer, and made 10 cm of trunk.
- Eucalyptus pauciflora ssp. niphophila: is a bit slower as my Eucalyptus gunnii, but is doing great.  Didn't lose one leaf during winter.
- Eriobotrya japonica: all of its leaves were killed. Not from cold but from rain.  There was some kind of fungus attack.  The plant dropped all of its leaves, and recovered the next season.  It's now twice as big as it was last year.
- Lagerstroemia indica: hardy for our gardens is this beautiul shrub.  There's one problem: our summers are too short to see the beautiful flowers.  My shrub made hundreds of flower buds, but not one actually flowered, although we had a very warm autumn and didn't get any frost at all until mid-December!  Other varieties are better suited for our climate, and do flower.(Lagerstroemia X egolfii 'Natchez', Lagerstroemia X egolfii 'Muskegee', Lagerstroemia X egolfii 'Tuskegee', Lagerstroemia egolfii 'Choctaw')  Believe me, these do flower all summer in colder climates too.  The proof is standing in the Ancient Botanical Garden of Brussels (Belgium).
- Punica granata 'nana': no problem at all.  Dropped its leaves, and grew back next spring. 
- Clianthus puniceus Red Cardinal: I was afraid at first, but that wasn't necessary.  It nearly lost all of the leaves, but recovered well.  It started growing even when we still had occasional night frost.  The flower buds were slightly damaged, but some survived just fine and flowered beautifully.
- Arbutus unedo: did great.  Lost some old leaves, but nothing unusual. 
- Musa sikkimensis: I planted it as a small plant of 20cm.  In one summer it grew up to 1.5m.  I treated it as my Musa basjoo and my treeferns.  It lost its trunk though.  It took a lot of time to recover, but did manage to grow 1.5m again in one summer.  Needs warm nights to get growing.
- Erythrina crista-galli: this was the only catastrophy:-(  I covered it with straw and plastic also, but it was severely damaged.  It did manage to grow a bit during summer, but only two stalks, and no flowers at all.  Not suited for our climate when you have younger plants and you don't protect them like it was on the Northpole.
- Laurus nobilis: lost most of its leaves.  But it recovered great during summer. 
- Brugmansia hybrid: this is just a usual hybrid with pending flowers.  I was very surprised when I saw this one had survived.  It was dead to the ground, but made four thick branches in summer.  It flowered profusely in autumn.  When the summer is bad and/or short, it won't flower for sure though.
- Callistemon citrinus: lost all the leaves.  Didn't have any protection at all.  Recovered poorly in summer.


Winter 2001-2002

- Banksia marginata: dead at -8°C. 
- Washingtonia filifera (seedlings): dead, rottened.
- Washingtonia robusta (seedlings): two survived, five died.  The two remaining plants are severely damaged, but will recover. The seedlings were covered with some dead leaves.
- Phoenix canariensis (seedlings): lost the oldest leaves, but the new spear is intact.  De seedlings were covered with some dead leaves.
- Sabal mexicana (seedling): lost the oldest leaves, but the new spear is intact.
- Trachycarpus fortunei (seedlings): no damage at all.  In fact, some seeds germinated during winter!!!
- Hakea sericea: dead at -8°C
- Grevillea juniperina: survived easily.  Kept growing all through winter and even kept making flower buds.  Now it's March, and it's already flowering again!
- Echium pininana: dead at -8°C.  Will survive to -5°C without much damage.  When it gets colder, you need to protect it.
- Musa acuminata: dead
- Hedychium gaerdnerianum: survived well; is slow in recovering though
- Brugmansia survived.  I will remove it though.  It's very slow in recovering after winter and in a bad summer, I won't have any flowers at all.  I will replace it with a more rewarding tropical like a banana species or a palm tree:-)



Winter 2002-2003

This was not a good winter.  The most striking losses this winter :
Eucalyptus gunnii
Acacia dealbata Subalpina
Clianthus puniceus
Phoenix canariensis

Winter 2003-2004

This has proven to be quite a good winter for my plants.  The only plant that I really lost was a big Syagrus romanzoffianum planted in the ground.  Although temps never went lower than -8°C, it did not survive the cold and the thick layer of snow we had this year.

Arbutus unedo is slowly dying back, and I don't know why.  Last year, I had a giant bush, and now, it is gradually declining.  I have one thick branch left.  It's a pity, because it really is a beautiful bush even though I have never seen any strawberries on it.

Musa sikkimensis is growing faster than Musa basjoo right now.  Both were protected this winter.  Last year, however, neither one of them was protected and they survived unharmed.  The trunks of the bananas died back to the ground, but they both came back in May.   Lowest temperature was -9 last winter.

Grevillea juniperina keeps surprising me with its hardiness.  It has been flowering profusely for over two months now (end of June).  Pittosporum tobira Variegatum is flowering already too, so that means: no damage at all.

Marc Vissers donated some Trachycarpus fortunei pollen to pollinate my female one.  Hundreds of seeds are getting bigger and bigger.

For the first time, my Ensete Maurelii has survived the winter without losing the main trunk.  For some reason, this plant keeps making suckers non stop, even though it is an Ensete.














Losses

Winter 2001-2002

Coldest temperature this winter: -8°C
Extremely wet winter

- 27th of May

Greenhouse
Dead:
Echium wildprettii (seedlings)
Bougainvillea species with double pink flowers
Banksia robur (seedlings)
Delonix regia (seedlings)
Spattiphyllum species, variegated
Hylocereus undatus
Gossypium species
Thunbergia grandiflora
Ravenala madagascariensis
Xanthorrhoea australis

Severely damaged, but still some hope:
Selenicereus grandiflorus (Queen of the night)
Sabal palmetto (is slowly recovering)


Outside
Dead:
Echium pininana
Hakea sericea
Banksia marginata
Washingtonia filifera (seedlings)

Severley damaged, but still some hope:
Dicksonia squarrosa
Washingtonia fillifera (plant of 1.5m)

A

Abutilon x hybridum pink A
Abutilon vitifolium 'Album' A
Acca sellowiana 'Mammoth' A
Aechmea fasciata A
Agapanthus africanus 'Albidus' A
Agapanthus sp. A
Agave americana J
Agave americana Medio-Picta J
Agave attenuata J
Agave ferox J
Agave Leopoldii J
Agave victoria-reginae J
Albizzia julibrissin Ernst Wilson A
Alocasia calidora A
Aloe sp. J (3 diff. species)
Alstroemeria aurantiaca Orange King A
Alstroemeria aurantiaca yellow A
Amarcrinum howardii A
Amarine sp. J
Amaryllis belladonna A
Amaryllis belladonna white J
Amorphohallus bulbifer J
Amorphophallus dunnii J
Amorphophallus glossophyllus J
Amorphophallus hewittii S
Amorphophallus konjac J
Amorphophallus kiusianus S
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius A
Amorphophallus titanum S
Amorphophallus sp. J (from Malawi)
Arbutus unedo A
Arisaema candidissimum A
Arum creticum A
Arum dracunculus A
Aspidistra eliator A
Asplenium scolopendrium A
Asplenium trichomanes A
Astelia Silver Spear A
Astrophytum asterias A
Athyrium nipponicum Metallica A



B

Banksia integrifolia A
Bauhinia yunnanensis A
Begonia sp. A
Belamcanda chinensis A
Blechnum gibbum A
Bletilla sp. J
Bletilla striata A
Bletilla striata Alba A
Bougainvillea hybrid A
Brahea armata J
Brugmansia yellow A
Brunnera macrophylla Variegata A
Butia capitata J



C

Caesalpinia gilliesii J
Calliandra rosea A
Callistemon sp. A
Camellia japonica pink A
Camellia japonica white A
Camellia oleifera J
Canna sp. A
Canna x indica hybrids A
Cautleya spicata 'Robusta' A
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus var. repens A
Chamaedorea elegans A
Chamaerops humilis A
Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera J
Choisya ternata Sundance A
Citrus limon A
Clerodendro bungei A
Colocasia esculenta A
Commelina coelestis A
Cordyline australis J
Cordyline australis Peko J
Crassula (green form) A
Crassula (variegated form) A
Crinum moorei A
Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora A
Crocosmia 'Lucifer' A
Cyathea arborea A
Cyathea Brentwood J
Cyathea brownii A
Cyathea medullaris
Cyathea cooperi A
Cyathea tomentosissima J
Cycas panzihuaensis J
Cycas revoluta J
Cymbidium sp. A



D

Dahlia hybrids A (10 different)
Darmera peltata A
Dasylirion texanum J
Dicksonia antarctica A
Dicksonia fibrosa A
Dicksonia squarrosa A
Dietes vegeta A
Diospyros lotus A




E

Echinocactus grusonii A
Echinocereus reichenbacchii var. Fitchii 'melanocentrus' A
Echinopsis chamaecereus A
Echium webbii A
Echium pinninana A
Echium webbii x pinninana A
Emmenopterys henryi J
Ensete glaucum J
Ensete ventricosum Maurellii J
Epipactis helleborine A
Epiphyllum 'Red Astronaut' A
Erytrhina crista-galli A
Eucalyptus pauciflora ssp. niphophila A
Eucomis bicolor A
Eucomis comosa A
Euphorbia sp. J



F

Fargesia sp. Jiuzhaigou 1 A
Fascicularia pitcairnoides A
Fatsia japonica A
Fatsia Annelies J
Ficus carica Madeleine des deux Saisons A
Fuchsia hybrid A
Fucraea sp. J


G

Ginkgo biloba J
Gladiolus hybrid A (dwarf and regular)
Grevillea juniperina A
Gunnera manicata J


H

Hedychium flavescens A
Hedychium gaerdnerianum A
Hedychium greenei A
Hibiscus moscheutos 'Pink Clown' A
Hibiscus palustris A
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis hybrid A (2 different)
Hosta nigrescens Eliator A
Hosta plantaginea Aphrodite A
Hyppeastrum hybrid A


I

Ipomoea sp. A


J

Jacaranda mimosifolia A
Jasminum sambak A
Jubaea chilensis J



K



L

Lagerstroemia indica A
Laurus nobilis A
Lavatera Bredon Springs
Liriope muscari A



M

Magnolia grandiflora A
Mammilaria schumannii A
Medinilla magnifica A
Metrosideros excelsus A
Miltoniopsis hybrid A
Musa basjoo A
Musa balbisiana A
Musa Orinoco A
Musa sp. Saporro (basjoo variety) A
Musa sikkimensis A
Musa velutina A
Musa Yunnan A



N

Nandina domestica A
Nelumbo nucifera A
Nerium oleander White A
Nymphaea capensis A



O

Olea europea J
Opuntia humifusa A
Opuntia juniperina A
Opuntia phaecantha v. gigantea A
Opuntia sp. variegated J



P

Paeonia suffruticosa orange A
Paeonia suffruticosa white A
Pandorea jasminoides A
Paphinia cristata J
Paphiopedilum hybrid A
Parajubaea coccoides J
Passiflora caerulea A
Passiflora incarnata A
Passiflora Incense A
Passiflora Lavender Lady A
Passiflora maliformus A
Passiflora mollissima A
Passiflora Purple Haze A
Phalaenopsis hybrid A (3 different)
Phalaenopsis philippinensis J
Phoenix canariensis J
Phoenix roebelinii A
Phormium Apricot Queen A
Phormium sp. A (red form)
Phygelius aequalis Yellow Trumpet A
Pittosporum tobira 'Variegatum' A
Platycerium bifurcatum J
Plectocomia himalayana J
Protea cynaroides A
Protea eximia S
Protea mundii S
Protea punctata S
Prunus lusitanica 'Angustifolia' A
Punica granata 'Nana' A




Q




R

Roscoea cautleoides A
Roscoea purpurea A


S

Sabal minor J
Sabal minor var. louisiana J
Sabal palmetto J
Sauromatum guttatum A (syn. Typhonium venosum)
Schlumbergera sp. A
Sequoiadendron giganteum J
Solanum jasminoides A
Solanum pseudocapsicum A
Solanum rantonetii A
Soleirolia soleirolii A
Sprekelia formosissima A
Stapelia sp.
Stewartia pseudocamellia A
Stokesia laevis A
Strelitzia nicolai A
Strelitzia reginae A
Syagrus romanzoffianum J



T

Taxodium distichum J
Tigridia pavonia A
Tillandsia usneoides A
Trachycarpus fortunei A+J+S
Trachycarpus takil 'Nepal' J
Trachycarpus wagnerianus S+J
Trachycarpus x takaghii J
Trachycarpus ukhrulense (syn. T. Manipur)
Typhonium venosum A (syn. Sauromatum guttatum)



U



V

Vanda vascostylis Viboon Velvet


W

Washingtonia robusta J
Woodwardia radicans J


X



Y

Yucca elata J
Yucca elephantipes J
Yucca gloriosa Variegata J


Z

Zantedeschia aethiopica A
Zantedeschia aethiopica 'Grandiflora' A
Zantedeschia aehtiopica 'Green Goddess' A
Zantedeschia Pink Wave A
Zantedeschia rehmannii A
Zephyrantes sp. white A
Zygopetalum sp. A