Nick Maclaren7/2/04 8:44

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

Thinking of which, Nick; do you remember I mentioned Clematis rehederiana
some long while ago and said it was evergreen? I remember you expressed
surprise but said it might be with us? Well, it was up until the frost a
few days ago, so I suppose the answer is that in a mild winter down here, it
will be.

Yes, that makes sense. So far, Cambridge has had an incredibly mild
winter (-3/4 Celcius), and I have just pruned my Passiflora caerulea
back while it was still nominally evergreen. I was ill and forgot to
bring my Punica granatum and Feijoa sellowiana inside during the 'hard'
frosts, but they have taken little notice - the former has no leaves,
of course.

Again, I've seen both go through Jersey winters but without fruiting. The
pomegranate flowers are extremely pretty though, so it's worth growing it
for that alone. The Feijoa is a curiosity and certainly interesting if it
survives a British winter outside but that's about it for me. My ex ma in
law had it in her Jersey garden when they were very unusual and showed it to
a friend of hers, expecting cries of "what is that?" Instead, the friend
said "Oh, a Feijoa; tell me, does it fruit with you?" ;-)

I shall have to see if I get any flowers off the Holboellia - it is very
happy, but the flowers seem very sensitive to spring frosts, of which
we get many.

Ray tells me that they don't like east winds, if that's any help.

Interestingly, a Cymbidium which is doing well but we
don't like (flesh pink flowers) seems happy with mild frost but its
(slightly past it) flowers dropped dead. I didn't realise that they
were as tough as that.

No, nor did I. I'd think getting it so far is a bit of a triumph even if
you don't really like it. It's always interesting to push the boundaries.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)