Re: cold, hardiness, and lies :)
- Subject: Re: cold, hardiness, and lies :)
- From: B* G*
- Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 14:01:02 -0700
davidfeix@yahoo.com writes:
>Barry,
>In defense of Sunsest's generally conservative
>climatic ratings for plants, they play it safe for
>many things like Strelitzia species based on the
>average temperatures for each zone over 20 year
>periods. Do not forget that we can get those arctic
>killing freezes even here along the coast every 10 to
>20 years, and have had two bad years as recently as
>winter of 1990 and 1998 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Oh of course, i do remember both freezes (the only time when i had seen
water left over in buckets freeze solid)
>
> but
>large palms and trees such as Strelitzia nicholii,
>Archontophoenix or Roystonea here in the Bay Area,
>outside sunset zones 16/17 are a definte risk, and are
>you willing to lose something that gets over 15 feet
>tall? S. nicholii will come back from the roots, most
>palms will not. It is mostly a judgement call, and
>all the points mentioned by Tim and especially Ernie
>play a role as well.
I am willing, yes. I consider these accent plants, not the main backbone
of the garden (which consists of hardier plants). I'd never think of using
five Archontophoenix as the main trees on the property, because i am aware
that we do get cold spells ever decade or so that can kill them. Yes, it
would be dissapointing to see a bangalow palm with 15 feet of trunk killed
off, but because i'd have planted other trees to add height, it wouldnt be
a huge loss (for instance, i have a flowering plum in the front yard with
the bangalow, and the plum is the backbone, the bangalow is the accent).
>
>
>
>As to your local area being warmer than you think it
>is, I am always surprised at your references to local
>low temperatures there in Seaside, just as I am at
>Nan's in San Diego. Are you at the mouth of a local
>cold air draining canyon similar to Nan's situation?
>In a zone 17 location, you are in one of the mildest
>winter climatic zones that exist in northern
>California, yet you seem to get regular frost in your
>location.
I am located along the coast in older sand dunes (formerly chapparal
habitat). It's not uncommon to see frost on the rooftops and to have
"crunchy" grass (that's what we called it as kids when the grass got
frosted). However, it doesnt get much below 28 degrees or so. My house is
somewhat at the bottom of a couple of hills, but it's not that low (an
even lower spot is the neighborhood percolation lot). I dont know mow much
this helps, but i also have a low "dry stream" bed cutting through the
yard, which might help cold drainage.
>Not much you can do about the fog
>or your area's absolute lows, but hardening off plants
>in late summer by limiting fertilizing, and "goosing
>them" again in spring, is a good general prescription
>for handling subtropicals in mediterannean climates,
>and improving drainage characteristics so that you
>don't rot things out with our winter rains.
Well, one good thing about the front yard is it's mainly sandy soil, which
keeps water from sogging up the ground and rotting out my plants. I
generally dont fertilize much, which keeps some of the more "invasive"
plants in check (like bamboo, which i've had int he ground for the past 7
years and hasnt wandered past its original spot).
Much of my original post was a kind of gripe that plant books and
resources on the internet are somewhat misleading, and discouraging, even
though i understand the reasons for being so (seems nursery pages are far
more conservative than Sunset's garden book).
I am indeed going for a subtropical look in the yard, but i'm doing it
using plants I know are perfectly hardy here. It's all about design and
use of materials ;).
____________________________________________
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