Re: Dracena draco

--- Tim Longville <tim@eddy.u-net.com> wrote:
> Thanks to David and Dan for the informative and not
> *totally*
> discouraging replies. Sounds as though it would
> clearly be marginal in
> the ground here but might be worth a try... (Celia
> says the whole
> damned garden is now marginal and sooner or later,
> come some seriously
> cold snap, we shall wake up to a jardin des morts.
> She could have a
> point.)

Tim,

I can totally relate to that distinct possibility in
my own garden as well, and have witnessed this event
twice now in the 10 years I've been gardening here in
Berkeley.  I had been totally spoiled by the previous
ten years gardening in San Francisco, (only 12 miles
distant across the bay from Berkeley, but just that
much milder in winter)  A bad freeze in most parts of
San Francisco is at most 28F, here in Berkeley it can
be 24/25F, and just enough to make a difference...
> 
> Does anyone know, BTW, whether this is the sort of
> creature that
> becomes hardier as it gets older - ie, when it has
> made more mature
> wood? And if so, what sort of age and size does it
> need to have
> reached to have got that extra bit of toughness
> (perhaps the *vital*
> bit, in a situation such as mine - or perhaps, even,
> a situation such
> as Margaret's).

I don't know at what age the increased cold hardiness
kicks in... 
> 
> And (discountenance the gods at your peril...) we
> had our first
> (minimal) frost of the winter last night, and are
> forecast to have a
> (distinctly harder) second tonight.
> 
> Tim

Tim,

Dan's reply makes me realize I should stick to
responding to things I have personal experience with. 
I was rather surprised to hear that Dracena draco can
be found here in the Bay Area, and those trees would
have survived at least 3 major freezes over the last
50 years, with probable lows that close to the ocean
of approximately 25F for the maximum low.  We had 10
days of below freezing weather(ice did not melt during
the day), in Berkeley in December 1990, and this was
one of the milder spots.  Locations such as Napa
Valley got down to 14F.  Pacifica is right on the
ocean, and even though I am less than one half mile
from the bay myself, Pacifica is marginally warmer in
winter and less subject to frost.  I would stand by my
advice to give it the warmest, driest, most protected
spot that you can manage, and they are much faster
growing with summer heat, (one area where you probably
have a slight advantage over me in Berkeley).

I still believe that in your location the combination
of cold and wet could be a problem, possibly more due
to complications from root molds and fungi attacking,
than lack of cold resistance.  The book that I really
like for subtropical succulents is compiled by the
Huntington Botanical Garden, and is titled "Dry
Climate Gardening with Succulents", and is part of the
American Garden Guides series...  This book does say
that Dracena draco becomes more hardy with age, to
approx, 20F.  It is definitely not nearly as common
here in the Bay Area as it is down south, where they
reach enormous size in Santa Barbara, as in the Lotus
Land Garden, created by Ganna Walska of Montecito, and
now open to the public by reservation.  Lotus Land and
 the Ruth Bankcroft Garden of Cactus, Aloes and
Succulents in Walnut Creek are well worth a visit if
you are ever in California.  I think they both have
web sites as well.  They might be of interest to you.

Regards,
David Feix
> 
> 
> 
> Tim Longville
> 


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