Re: Leonotis leonurus, the white form

Diane Whitehead wrote:
>
> How does the white form deal with cold .... real cold? We have
> managed to over-winter the orange form for several years with temps
> into the low twenties and high teens. It would be fun to try a
> different color.

I am real interested that you can overwinter L leonurus even with such
low temperatures, as I have tried this in my own garden and also seen it
tried by a neighbour, but in neither case did it survive the winter. In an average year our lowest temps rarely go below -3C (approx 38F). Two reasons spring to mind for the problem, one is that our summers are not ever very hot (almost never much above 25 C (that's around 78F) and our winters are characteristically very wet, as we get most of our year's rainfall over winter.

I checked with Botanica and they say zone 9 which is the same as for many borderline subjects I successfully grow. if I ever come across another plant I might try once more on my well-drained high terrace up in the sun and largely out of the frost. I did not have this available when I tried previously. I would like to grow the plant for old time's sake as it was a common grassland weed on our East African farm.

Incidentally, I see Botanica mentions a white cultivar -Harrismith White- which I deduce from its name to have originated in South Africa (do you know it Glenn?).

Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm

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