WINTER 2002/03
Butia capitata with a covering of snow
This winter seems to have dragged on longer than most. Although not the coldest my garden has experienced, heavy snow and a week when temperatures hardly rose above freezing in January have posed a good test for the plants.
For the
first time the leaves of Phormium cookianum have been burnt, and
the fronds of Dicsonia antartica are a lot more damaged than in
any previous winter. This was the winter that I decided to leave
Musa basjoo unprotected ! This Banana was introduced to the UK
around 1881 by Charles Maries and first planted outdoors at Come
Wood nursery in Surrey. Up until this winter I have always
insulated the stems from the worst of the cold. This year I
decided to find out just "how low they would go" with
no protection at all. I can now confirm that they have taken
everything that the winter could throw at them with a low of -6
c, athough I should stress this is on a mature plant. As I write
this in early April they are now pushing out their first leaves
so maybe I have been a little too cautious in the past. The stem
that I inadvertently removed the flower from the previous autumn
is still standing upright and firm, but not showing any sign of
growth. It will be interesting to see if it continues to grow or
dies as usually happens after flowering. 
Ensete ventricosum Maurelii (Abyssinian banana) with its dark purple foliage is a stunning plant. Unfortunately it has a tendency to develop the 'Strangles' a strange occurrence that sees the plant developing small stunted leaves from the growing point; this can signal the death of the plant, or severely set it back. My plant has developed this ailment in early spring for the last two years. It is thought that the Strangles is caused in some way by micro propagation that is used to produce the young plants. The best way of helping the plant is to keep it fairly dry and not feed until normal growth resumes.
Small distorted leaves on Ensete ventricosum Maurelii
All of my Cannas and gingers have remained in the garden this winter with nothing more than the autumn leaves from a nearby Oak tree left on the ground as an insulating mulch over them. It's still a little early to be sure, but some of the Cannas are already beginning to reappear and I am hoping that the gingers will not be too far behind them. Dalai imperials, the monster of its family, was left in the garden unprotected and is now putting on good growth. Impatiens omeiana (a hardy busy lizzie) died back in the winter and what was a rather puny looking plant is now returning with a vengeance as a multi stemmed clump filling the pot that last year seemed too large.
A small Tetrapanx rex has also faced its first winter outside. It is still in a pot and was moved close to the house wall to afford it some protection. It has come through totally unscathed and is now growing strongly. I have high hopes for this plant as a good reliable garden specimen, and intend to plant it out this year.
Losses
this Winter
(If I didn't lose
a few plants each winter there wouldn't be space to try anything
new !)
Agave medlopicta alba ... turned to a nasty brown mush !
Cordyline karo kiri ... shame about this one as it had great promise as another rather bizarre addition to the garden, with it's numerous short horizontal leaves resembling a spiked club.
Musa velutina ... I had hoped it would flower this year, but it took a dislike to its move indoors and never really recovered. As it was moved outside in the spring it finally gave up the fight turning to a soggy mess.
So, that's another winter my garden has survived, and to be honest half of the fun of this type of gardening is seeing what will survive and what won't. Add to this the thrill of tracking down that elusive plant you want to try, having convinced yourself it could be hardy, and then seeing it thrive are just some of the reasons why I garden with these type of plants. Summer is now fast approaching and I have a couple of new plants in mind for this year, all I have to now is find a source for them.
