Hardy plants

Hi George and all,

I like to push my zone limits.  I'm not in USDA zone 4, it is nominally
zone 5 here.  I have Crinum growing outside in the ground, and blooming in
summer.  Crocosmia, Gladiolus, Galtonia, Calochortus, Ipheion, Sternbergia,
and Triteleia are some genera that can survive here in full sun, at least
in some spots.

Tulips of all sorts are mostly a waste of money and effort.  Fritillaria
persica is a bad joke.

So far, we have been "zone 6" for the past several winters.  Winter
2001-2002 had a lowest temperature of +06 deg F, which is zone
7.  Nevertheless, it was a very wet winter and we lost things that had
survived colder winters outdoors.

This winter started off very wet too, and now we are getting zone 6 cold --
lowest temperatures between 0 and -10 F.  I don't know what to expect when
spring finally comes again.

We can grow Cyclamen coum and hederifolium.  The C. coum survive but do not
bloom; squirrels have dug and eaten a lot of the coum.  Some of the
hederifolium live and some die, depending on the locations.  Those that
live, also bloom in late autumn.

I'm going to try Arum italicum again here.  The first batch did not make
it, but were not in good shape when received.

Fritillaria meleagris survive here in the open grass, more poorly in shade
garden.  I do not see any evidence of increase by the F.
meleagris.  Corydalis solida survives here in the open in grass, but do
much better in the shady woods.

According to Jim Waddick, Lycoris are really plants of woodlands in their
native China.  Those that make their foliage in autumn are not good here,
but the species that leaf out in spring are terrific:  Lycoris chinensis
(yellow), longituba (near white), and sprengeri (pink with electric blue
marks) are excellent plants, fully hardy here once established.  They
prefer light shade to full sun.  Even better, since they flower in late
summer or early fall, they provide color when it otherwise might be absent.

Arisaema are turning out to be a joy in the shade garden.  AA. triphyllum
and dracontium (natives) of course, but also AA. sikokianum, thunbergii,
and ringens are also doing well:  surviving and blooming.  I'm trying more,
like AA. fargesii, candidissimum, consanguineum, kishidae, serratum, and
urashima.  Arisaema sazensoo has been more disappointing -- surviving (so
far) but not blooming.

When I want to try to push my zone limits, I like to start a lot of the
variety from seed.  When we buy commercial bulbs, we are usually buying
just one single clone.  Starting a variety from seed gives us the
opportunity to benefit from the natural biological variability of the wild
populations.  Trying seeds from several different localities is even
better.  When I planted 25 bulbs of Calochortus luteus 'Golden Orb" ( a
seed-grown strain), only 9 came up the next spring.  The same 9 are still
coming up, 4 years later.  It is the same with Gladiolus byzantinus:  half
die the first winter, but the survivors continue to grow year after
year.  Also, it seems to be very good advice (from Panayoti Kelaidis) to
plant any new, borderline, variety in lots of different places in your
garden --  they might find just one spot that they like, and it may not be
the one we think they should like.

Jim Shields
in cold, snowy central Indiana

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA                   Tel. +1-317-896-3925
Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP
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