Re: Leonotis leonurus survival,

Nan Sterman wrote:
> Hi Moira
>
> I am surprised that you don't find L leonurus will overwinter at 38
> F. I've never lost a plant and we get down into the 20s several
> nights each winter. In fact, they proliferate so in my garden that I
> almost wish a few of them would disappear!

Sorry Nan I have misled you. I must have looked up +3 C instead of -3
and never even noticed ! -3C actually corresponds closely to 26.5F and
is the limit of drop in temp here in most winters. We very very
occasionally get temps as low as -5C (23 F), but only once in about ten
or fifteen years, and these always wreak havoc and punish complacency.

Wet though we expect though every winter and odd years through most of the summer too, though the soil in this garden is an open stony loam which drains almost instantaneously after even a heavy shower. Only on a handful of occasions in fifty years have I seen any real wet spot develop and then just in one particular corner after several days of continuous rain. Very occasionally we have experienced what might be called a cloudburst. Just as we were about to move from a caravan (house trailer) into our newly-completed house we had ten inches in twelve hours and again only few moths ago, nearly 50 years on, we had almost as much, about 8 inches I think. However, it came overnight and this time being snug in a proper house we were not at all aware how much had fallen until Tony went out before breakfast to look in our rain gauge!
>
> I would be interested in knowing how your experiment with a drier
> spot in the garden works out. We get so little rain here that there
> are virtually no wet spots in my garden.

First I have to find a new plant and this may be difficult as they are currently out of fashion here I think.

> And do they reseed themselves for you like they do here?
If I do get one established I wil tell you!

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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