Jim: Our Sinningia leucotrichas have returned for the second spring, but during that period we have only dropped to 15 degrees F. We have grown Begonia sutherlandii for 15+ years and always loose it in the ground when we drop below 8 degrees F. Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdelights.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent Jim McKenney wrote: > Whenever a purportedly tender plant survives the winter outside, it's a bit > like finding money blowing down the street. > > While weeding the garden this morning I had a nice surprise: three > borderline hardy plants have reappeared and are growing well. One, Begonia > sutherlandii, is known to be reliable in some parts of the greater > Washington, D.C. area. In my garden there have been several failures, but I > think I've finally found a good place for it. It's now in its third year > there. > > Another is the gesneriad Sinningia leucotricha, This I've had for decades; > it survived here as a houseplant because it is winter dormant, and it was > that characteristic which prompted me to try it outside. The emerging > sprout at this point looks like a huge, silvery, hairy four leaf clover. I > have this planted in the rain shadow of the roof overhang, and the foliage > remains in good condition well into the summer. > > Also emerging in strength is a plant received as Scilla natalensis. This has > not bloomed yet, and I'm hoping it really does turn out to be Merwilla > plumbea - to use the new name. Looking at the pictures on the wiki, I > decided that the flowering scapes must be about three feet high. Does that > sound right? > > I ate breakfast and read the paper out on the deck this morning: the roses > on the pergola are coming into bloom and now and then I was enveloped in a > cloud of rose fragrance. I thought for a moment about the poor souls > struggling to get to some holiday destination in a car engulfed in congested > traffic. I'm staying put and have no regrets whatsoever. Please pass me > another slice of the lemon cake and say, didn't I just hear a veery? > > > Jim McKenney > jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the first water lily > buds are above water. > My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ > > Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS > Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ > > Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > >