Re: Succulents for zone 7-answers for Christi

The Center for Urban Horticulture at UW just did a
lecture on half-hardies.  Unfortunately, I didn't go.
They may have some information (handouts, etc) left
over if you're interested.  Let me know--I am a
gardener there.

I just visited Orcas for the 1st time, this is my 2nd
year in Seattle.  What a beautiful place to live!

Cheers!
bridget
Seattle, WA

--- david feix <davidfeix@yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> Unfortunately, I don't think any of the ones I have
> mentioned are going to be successful anywhere it
> freezes regularly.  I know that some of these have
> been used out at the Ruth Bancroft garden in Walnut
> Creek, but they do take protective measures to
> shelter
> from excess rains and direct radiation frosts.  I
> have
> also seen some of these plants used as half hardy
> annuals or container plants to be brought under
> cover
> in a coastal Washington state climate.  Your best
> bet
> would to get ideas from nurseries such as Heronswood
> or the outdoor gallery of Little and Lewis on
> Bainbridge, or Sean Hogan's nursery there in
> Portland,
> or what they are growing in the way of succulents at
> the Denver Botanic Garden.
> 
> There are certainly succulents that are hardy to
> zone
> 7 conditions, such as certain Delospermum species,
> some Aloes such as A. polyphylla, sempervivums and
> many sedums.  I don't know of any Plectranthus
> species
> that will take conditions below about 27~28F,
> although
> they have come back from the roots for me at 25F in
> some cases.  I would recommend using more summer
> rainfall types of succulents from China/Japan for
> their generally greater tolerance of cold and winter
> rains, but they will mostly tend to also be winter
> deciduous, probably not what you had in mind being
> influenced by California succulent gardens.
> 
> Lest you be envious, I also regret that we can't
> really grow the most tender, heat loving succulents
> here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Ocotillo,
> Adeniums, Saguaro cactus, true Palo Verde(Cercidium
> floridum), are not great candidates for cool foggy
> coastal gardens that never get much sustained heat. 
> As one example, I persist in trying to grow outdoors
> the Pencil Euphorbia/C. tirucallii 'Sticks on Fire',
> which always seems to rot away at least half of each
> summer's new growth over the winter, and this with
> being completely protected from winter rain and up
> against the sunniest south facing wall I can give
> it.
> 
> Good luck with your quest for succulents suitable to
> your conditions...
> 
> David Feix
> 
> 
> --- Ccopuntia@aol.com wrote:
> 
> > Greetings from the San Juan Islands!
> > 
> > David, your post got me to thinking about
> succulents
> > as groundcover out here 
> > on the islands off the coast of Washington state. 
> 
> > We are USDA Zone 8, but 
> > often I hear from the locals, we are actually more
> > like Zone 7.   Which (if any) 
> > of the succulents you mentioned would you think
> > might do well here?
> > 
> > Many thanks!    Christi
> > 
> > In a message dated 10/19/04 11:25:43 AM,
> > davidfeix@yahoo.com writes:
> > 
> > 
> > > If you are considering succulents as
> groundcovers,
> > the
> > > Lampranthus spectabilis is also very showy in
> > bloom.
> > > Drosanthemum works equally well, and a personal
> > > favorite is the Blue Chalk Sticks/Senecio
> > 
> > > mandraliscae, which I also often use as a mass
> > > groundcover, often along with the equally easy
> to
> > grow
> > > South African Plectranthus neochilus, a
> succulent
> > > everblooming low growing groundcover.  Similar
> to
> > the
> > > Plectranthus, another mint family groundcover
> > worth
> > > looking for, is the succulent Coleus lanuginosa
> > from
> > > the highlands of Eithiopa. 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> 		
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