How hardy is Tecophilea?
Jane McGary (Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:15:30 PST)

I have found Tecophilaea cyanocrocus to survive for many years in
plunged pots in unheated cold frames, with an added microfoam blanket
when outside temperature was below 20 F (minus 6 C). I am now growing
it in a raised bed under a polycarb roof, but with no side enclosure.
My plants are almost ready to flower, having gone through about 10
days of temperatures several degrees below freezing in January, when
the leaves had begun to emerge. Plants that I grew in a solarium kept
above freezing became elongated and failed to bloom. I do not
recommend that Jim Waddick, in the Midwest, plant it in the open
garden, despite his friend's success over three years. Are those
plants perhaps sheltered by the eaves of the house? The corms are
very expensive, though the plant can be grown from seed to flowering
in 3 or 4 years.

My understanding of this plant in nature is that it emerges following
snowmelt, flowers, and then is dormant during a dry summer. Its cycle
reminds me of deciduous Lewisia species and in fact I grow them
together, as they are a pretty combination.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA

At 12:37 PM 2/26/2013, you wrote: