I was at Home Depot in Springfield the other day and they had a whole bunch of what was called "frost hardy gardenias" Anybody familiar with this? I would love to have one, in South Louisiana my yard was filled with huge gardenias, probably one of the things from there I will miss most, that and my camellias.
Get one and see. I have a tropical gardenia from Wal*Mart. The tag said not to let get below 60*. I ignored that and have it hardy in a pot into the mid to low 50s. lol. I break rules when it comes to plants. If the one you saw proves to be hardy then I'll be the first one in line after you to get one. :~)
I has this plant before in Calif and it goes down to 40*. It need to be direct partial shade. And lot of water too!
Speak of about camellia, I would like have pink camellia for my other side of my house. I couldn't find any of this time.
Rusty
My gardenia has gotten lots of rain water. But now I will try to water at least every other day. And it is in shade too. Sits on the front deck under all the trees.
Mary - I will be watching to see if you decide to purchase this and see what yr results are. I love gardenia and had some success overwintering one year, but then moved to a new home and all my plants I was babying got neglected.
You know about air layer? It can be help easy to get more of this plants!
Rusty
Look for the "Chuck Hayes" gardenia...I am 7b and it does great...I read a 6b posting and they are also doing well. I bought mine at McDonald's Garden Center in VA Beach but I know they are sold elsewhere. Formerly from the mid-west, St. Louis to be exact, I check out "y'all s" forum on occasion. Please check out the MO
Botanical Garden site. It is outstanding and has a plethora of information.
P.S. Look for article entitled "Have you heard of Chuck Hayes Gardenia" on the ivillage Garden Web. Good feedback from a variety of zones.
Mary, you may be able to grow Camellias. Look for Ackerman hybrids. Piotters Nursery in Columbia has them, or used to. Here is one of mine, in the ground now for 3 or 4 years. It was set back rather badly this past winter and spring, but it has come back.
Blooms
Forgot to say that the key to growing them is shelter from winter winds and a little shade.
last fall i planted some florist poppy anemones. zone 8 i believe. i didn't know i was suppose to wait till spring to plant in our zone. but it was too late, i already soaked them.
so i went ahead and planted. came up twice this winter and turned brown and died. then when we had the warm up this spring before the week freeze they came up and bloomed
right through the freeze and a long time thereafter. better than the puny little anemone blandas.
i have some mexican fireplant (here before i moved) suppose to just live along the southern border states at the very southern end, and the stuff overwintered and is invasive!
so i say go ahead and experiment
Mary, I am in Cleveland, though I grew up in SC. Last year I bought a "hardy" camellia from Wayside gardens, it bloomed just before Christmas and made it through just fine. I did pile straw around it when it got below zero, but it's rated to zone 6. I am on the edge of 5 and 6, but I like to test the limits. This year I set out a hardy banana, which is supposedly zone five. I'll mulch it heavily just to be sure....I've heard the plant dies back and resprouts from the roots.
I have also seen some figs that are supposed to be hardy to 5 or 6. I think I am going to try some of these next year.
Mary keep us informed on how the frost hardy gardenias do, cause I would love to have some. Gardenias are so pretty and they smell so inviting.
