Surprising survivors

In southern Germany, we've had a rather mad winter as well - after first
frost in mid November, December was average, with the occasional -5°C at
night, but the January hit hard, reaching down to -16°C at night and
sometimes -5°C as maximum day temperature - all of that with only 5-10
cm snow cover. that conditions with only rarely a day above freezing and
double digit minus at night held for about 3 weeks. That was followed by
a mild February and an outright hot end of March and beginning of April
(several days scratching the "summer day" mark of 25°C) so everything
exploded out of the ground - just to be cut down by three frost nights
last week. -4 °C cut down a lot of formerly lush green foliage to black
slush. It was quite an active Winter, having to heat the normally
unheated stone mason atelier i use as a hibernation place, and moving
plants in and out several times. At least this saved my very first
Kniphofia sarmentosa flower.

Actually, I don't think i have lost much on the bulb front, even Allium
schubertii is in budding stage now, and they're said to be critical in
my area. Rhodophiala bifida is well, too. Freesia laxa didn't make it,
even though protected by a wall, but that was only an experiment anyway,
hoping for another mild winter like the three before. I'm still waiting
for my wall-protected Mirabilis jalappa, but I think i'll have to rely
on the seedlings this year. The Alstromeria lightu salter's hybrids
didn't only just survive, they appeared at places several meters away
from their place. it's only their third year, so i'll have to ask: are
they capable of sending runners 2m away or did I clear seed pots I
thought to be a loss? Speaking of surprise seeds: I have some aroid
seedlings at places at which I know I have emptied pots - Let's see what
those will be, as i have a few candidates in Arum or Arisaema - as these
seedlings survived the frost attack, i don't think they're Zantedescias...

Survival isn't everything, though: while both Moraea polystachia (in the
atelier) and M vegeta (both atelier and wall protected outdoor) have set
buds, the polystachya only opened the first few in late october, while
those later on showed color but died away without opening. the vegetas
now do the same, unfortunately trying to start to flower just in time
for the late frosts (of which I protected them, of course). Can anyone
tell me if it's light or temperature that they miss? I'm still hoping
for the outdoor vegetas, as they are several weeks later than those in
the pot.

The non-bulbs have been less lucky - I can only hope the actinidias and
the Sichuan pepper will regrow, and there will be no quinces, apples or
walnuts this year, all of them victims of the late frost. Interestingly,
the late frost seems to kill of mostly asians, as the Tropaeolum
speciosum wasn't impressed at all, even though in full leaf. The deep
freeze january has cut a Berkheya purpurea (south african thistle-like)
down, but they seem to return from the rootstock now - making them a
honorary geophyte i guess.

--
Martin
----------------------------------------------
Southern Germany
Likely zone 7a

Am 30.04.2017 um 19:57 schrieb Jane McGary:

Have you had any pleasant surprises like these? Let us know.

Jane McGary

Portland, Oregon, USA

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