You may or may not know that Southernmost Texas experienced its first white
Christmas in recorded history. We also broke an 1886 record for snowfall.
Although we had no heat on Christmas Eve (fuse burned out) and I was
splitting three or four contractor-size wheelbarrow loads of firewood in
the 28F, frozen rain weather, until after midnight, it was pretty. It was
also quite an experience for thousands of people who had never seen snow.

Anyway, the point of this post is to inform you that I discovered Texas
ebony (Chloroleucon ebano) can withstand at least some freezing
temperatures, even in a bonsai pot. I have one 'bonsai' that I haven't
been particularly pleased with for some time (probably because I have so
little time to work with my trees but that's changing) so I just left it
outside.

We were below freezing for well over 24 hours, with a low of around 28F. I
had set the pot on the ground but the soil was covered with sleet, snow,
and snow "pills" (I'd never heard that term) for about 8-10 hours. The
ebony was not harmed in the least; no die-back, no foliage loss, nada.
And, the Chinese-made pot didn't crack either. (We won't talk about all
the tropicals, though).

While I'm certainly not suggesting anyone with Tx ebonys routinely leave
their trees out in freezing weather, this is just one more piece of
information to dispel the inaccuracies so prevalent about this species.

I'm afraid I still just don't have the time to read the list, even in
digest form, so if anyone cares to include me in any subsequent discussion,
you'll have to contact me directly .

Rick Choate
Mission, TX

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Mike Page++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++