"Sacha" wrote in message
On 2010-08-26 14:31:50 +0100, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given said:

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
Avocado can grow in frosty areas but they need good frost protection
when
young. They grow in to quite large trees eventually so need space so
sacrifical trees as protection is worth thinking about. The following
cite may help. It is about one of Australia's gardening experts (but of
the alternative variety so what she tries, and can manage to grow, often
goes against conventional wisdom). She lives in an area where it can
get
down to -9C at worst but would regularly get to -4C:
http://www.jackiefrench.com/groves.html

Here is a series of pics of the garden of the author I mentioned above
with
a pic of an avocado with fruit. I do know that the area she lives in
gets
as cold as she claims it does.
http://www.jackiefrench.com/garden.html

In Australia? This is UK.rec.gardening!

Plants don't know the difference between the UK and a cold climate area of
Oz. There are many plants that grow in the UK that I can't grow because
it's too cold here.

In Cornwall last year it went
to -11C in some areas and that's the balmy south west. ;-( We can grow
stuff here that will take down to -5C but not for prolonged periods of icy
days *and* nights.

Yes and you were complaining about the weather because it was worse than
normal. The max and min winter temps in Exeter are about the same as where
that Author lives if Wikipedia can be relied upon.

But "some areas" of Cornwall, which can be inland and a frost pocket, are not at all the same as locations at sea-level on south-facing inlets of the sea. I know someone living in Cornwall inland and he expects -6C frosts in a normal year. It is hilly around Exeter, and it makes quite a difference to your microclimate whether you are up a hill in the north of the city or facing the estuary to the south. It also makes an important difference whether you are in a location affected by cold air draining out of inland valley systems.

"Sacha" wrote in message
On 2010-08-27 09:14:55 +0100, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given said:
"Sacha" wrote in message
On 2010-08-26 14:31:50 +0100, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given said:
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
Avocado can grow in frosty areas but they need good frost protection
when
young. They grow in to quite large trees eventually so need space so
sacrifical trees as protection is worth thinking about. The following
cite may help. It is about one of Australia's gardening experts (but
of
the alternative variety so what she tries, and can manage to grow,
often
goes against conventional wisdom). She lives in an area where it can
get
down to -9C at worst but would regularly get to -4C:
http://www.jackiefrench.com/groves.html

Here is a series of pics of the garden of the author I mentioned above
with
a pic of an avocado with fruit. I do know that the area she lives in
gets
as cold as she claims it does.
http://www.jackiefrench.com/garden.html

In Australia? This is UK.rec.gardening!

Plants don't know the difference between the UK and a cold climate area
of
Oz. There are many plants that grow in the UK that I can't grow because
it's too cold here.

And there are many plants that we can grow here from Oz and NZ which won't
grow 3 miles away. That doesn't mean an Avocado tree *will* survive
outdoors in UK but it *might* for ever or for 2 years and then get knocked
down by a bad winter. Our problem this winter was not just cold but
*prolonged* cold. Many things will take a brief period of frost but not
several days. Cornwall, one of the very mildest areas of UK normally,
has had two bad winters in succession both in terms of temps and the
length of time those low temps hung around. IIRC some areas went to -11C.
Only yesterday someone asked my husband if a plant would come through the
winter and he said "only if you can tell me what this winter will be
like"!

So how different to your climate is Exeter's?

In Cornwall last year it went
to -11C in some areas and that's the balmy south west. ;-( We can grow
stuff here that will take down to -5C but not for prolonged periods of
icy
days *and* nights.

Yes and you were complaining about the weather because it was worse than
normal. The max and min winter temps in Exeter are about the same as
where
that Author lives if Wikipedia can be relied upon.

Exeter is probably warmer than here, being a city. We're a few miles only
from Dartmoor but rarely get the snow or ice they can get there.
England's climate is just too unpredictable and too varied over small
distances to be absolutely sure of anything with regard to winter or
summer weather. I just talked to someone in Chepstow, two hours drive
from here, who is chasing wasps away while we have a pale grey and boring
cloud cover. About two weeks ago temperatures varied by about 10 degrees
C within two days.

Well recalling the time we drove from Kings Cross station to Betwys-y-Coed
and it took 4 hours, 2 hours from you would halfway across the country.
It'd take me 2 days to get halfway across the country. You can just imagine
what it's like here in Oz. We look at the chart of what's happening in the
Tropics and wonder what the heack we're doing living where it's 6 months of
winter, hard frost for most of that time and where there has been snow on
Christmas day when it should be stinking hot.

Anyway I still think it's worth a try to grow it outside. It certainly
isn't going to do anything in a conservatory except take up space.

In article , Sacha wrote:

It's always worth a try unless someone is especially sentimental about
a plant. When I first found this nursery, I tried several things that
died in my then frost-pocket garden but which surviv here and
positively flourish in Salcombe, which is on the sea and about 45
minutes away by road. And ISTR that kiwi fruits (a type of Actinidia)
had gone wild in the Lost Gardens of Heligan and were found growing
right up into the mature trees behind the Italian Garden.

Actinidia chinensis is actually pretty tough, and is merely set back
by late frosts, though the consequence is likely to be no crop.
I was extremely surprised by the hardiness of Acca (Feijoa)
sellowiana, which I wasn't expecting to survive its roots freezing.
I was less surprised by pomegranate, but my pip-grown one hasn't
flowered.

Quite a lot of things are much tougher than the books say, but often
don't flower or fruit, which is why they are described as needing
proptection. Figs, for example - ours lost all of its new growth
late on and produced no fruit buds at all, but every significant
branch resprouted vigorously.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2010-08-28 10:21:50 +0100, said:

I was extremely surprised by the hardiness of Acca (Feijoa)
sellowiana, which I wasn't expecting to survive its roots freezing.
I was less surprised by pomegranate, but my pip-grown one hasn't
flowered.

Ray is still letting his Acca grow before risking it outdoors. I don't
know how it will do with us because we often find that things will go
through two or three winters quite happily and then suddenly be killed off
in another winter.

Acca is a lot hardier than it is given credit for. Only in this very cold
winter has mine lost some of its upper leaves, and looks like it will
replace those before too long. After such a hard winter, it still surprised
me by having around a dozen flowers (one may be turning into a fruit).
True, it is only 3 metres from the house (SE-facing side) and has the
protection of some other evergreen shrubs, but it is not bad for a Brazilian
shrub.

Quite a lot of things are much tougher than the books say, but often
don't flower or fruit, which is why they are described as needing
proptection. Figs, for example - ours lost all of its new growth
late on and produced no fruit buds at all, but every significant
branch resprouted vigorously.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I'm not at all sure what *does* kill off a fig tree!

--

Jeff

In article , Sacha wrote:

Again, it's one I saw first in a garden in Jersey but it was lost in a
harder than usual winter. But it was in an open border away from the
house so had only the protection of other planting, although it was
south facing. The same garden had the miniature pomegranate in a
walled garden but again, that fell victim to one especially hard
winter. Normally, Jersey gets them every five years or so but the last
two have been hard in CI terms. ...

Both of mine are in pots and survived the last winter largely without
problems. My guess is that, like so many things, it is the British
combination of cold and wet that writes them off. With good drainage,
they seem to be able to take cold. Certainly, pomegranate grows in
places that get very cold, and the Merkins classify it as zone 7
(-15 Celsius). Acca is only zone 8.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.