The true meaning of "frost tender" ???

I bought a Camelia "Black Lace" last year which is supposed to be frost tender. So during the winter I gave it a nice thick layer of mulch around the base and it servived fine with a coating of at least 4" of snow and ice.

This has thrown me abit on the meaning of "frost tender"

I am looking to buy a Crinum Macowanii which is also supposed to be frost tender, so can i just over come this problem in the same way or is there a broad spectrum surrounding the phrase "frost tender"?

Thanks

Tom

 

Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not! Depends also on the aspect of your house and how exposed the spot is. And, yes, there's a continuum of plants' innate ability to tolerate specific temperatures anyway.

 

This is a very tricky subject, trying to work out the definition of a what is basically a vague statement.

To me frost tender will probably mean something totally different to someone else, as most camellias are NOT frost tender, but the flowers are.

Its a very overused statement, and I've seen it applied to some fairly hardy plants, but having said that its also used for some quite tender plants.

You really need to investigate the plant concerned and get advice from others that have grown it. Authors of books are the usual culprits for trying to put plants into hardiness categories.

Failing that, experiment yourself, that's what gardening with exotic plants is really about.

 

Trying to keep "these types" of exotic plants is what i am mostly interested in. I have a Musa Lasiocarpa which i have not yet wintered but did plant in very early spring with an insulated box i made covering it overnight, this seemed to do the trick.

Main problem with experamenting is that it can get expensive if it goes wrong!

There is a local gardens that is only feet from the cliff edge so takes the full force of the winter storms and they manage to keep Strelitzia. I suppose done properly, most exotics can be kept in the beds over the winter?

 

There's a forum called Hardy Tropicals and another called Growing on the Edge, which are similarly obsessed with pulling tender plants through British winters, that will have a wealth of advice and chat on this very topic.

 

When I stared growing unusual plants there were not that many for sale, so in a lot of cases the only way was to grow from seed.
A bit long winded with some plants I guess, especially in this age of having everything right now.

But it is cheaper and in most cases you end up with more plants than you can accommodate, so you get plants to try outside without losing everything.
Also in most cases a plant grown here in the UK is likely to be hardier than one grown a few thousand miles further south.

Must admit as I've got older I've seen more advantage in buying plants a few years old if I can afford them.
But I've still got a few plants that I've grown probably 30yrs ago from seed, although over the years quite a lot have dropped by the wayside.