RE: Dracena draco-hardiness.
Dear Planters,
Those of you who have k own my drought slope during the past 28 years
will remember
fruitless efforts to extablish several dracaena dracos on the slope. My
lowest temps put there were 19F and 20F the first 2 nights of the 90
arctic freeze. At that time there were
three in the garden, 21 yrs, 17 yrs and 2 yrs. Our soil was solidly
frozen down four feet
for seven days and in addition to the dracos I lost all my arborescent
and fruticescent
aloes: bainesii, ramossissimo, dichotoma, ferox, and marlothii-also all
the small cumpers
went away with the greatest survival among aloes being suprafoliata-36
survived.
I know of know consistent source of draco in No Calif or I would be
trying again, this
time with walls of water and the tops wrapped in floating row cover.
Joe and Tim
encourage me to try again.
I am planning a trip south early next year. Could some of you 'all
sotherners direct me to
the hybridizer and seller of Aloe 'Hercules'from 5 -15 gallons and a
source for 5 gallon
D. dracos. I would be most appreciative. By the way this will be my
first motor trip
since my spinal cord injury two years ago.
With affection and holiday good spirit to all of you
Michael
New stats: ATTENZIONE
Email: operatic@earthlink.net
Really Special Plants and Gardens
400 Yale Avenue
Kensington, CA 94708-1109
Tel 510 524-0888
Joe Seals wrote:
> I've missed the earlier posts regarding this subject
> so forgive me if I'm repeating others in some way.
>
> There are a handful of large (8 to 10-foot, plus)
> specimen Dracaena dracos in Santa Maria (California),
> where I live. They are "in the open" (unprotected
> from frost). Santa Maria Valley is composed primarily
> of sandy loam.
>
> Two winters ago, we had near record temperatures of
> 17-19°F. None of the dragon trees seemed even
> damaged.
>
> I'm not sure what this shows other than THESE
> specimens were hardy enough to withstand such cold.
>
> If there are any young plants of this species in this
> city, I don't think I've seen them. Could be no one
> has planted this species here in many years or that
> the young ones have been frost killed. And if the
> young ones don't survive such temperatures, were the
> now-large ones planted as mature specimens (I doubt
> it)?
>
> My suggested possibilities: 1) even young ones are
> hardier than thought and only a few were ever planted
> here or 2) there is variation in individual hardiness
> and the survivors in Santa Maria now were among maybe
> hundreds that have been planted but these few were the
> genetically hardier individuals.
>
> Then there's the well-drained soil.
>
> Joe Seals
> Santa Maria, CA
>
> --- Tim Longville <tim@eddy.u-net.com> wrote:
> > David - Yes, quite. No substitute for personal
> > experience. Even the
> > garden round the corner can be significantly
> > different in its results
> > - though that may have as much to do with the
> > *gardener* round the
> > corner as with the climate...!
> >
>
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