UK gardening - Tbouchina

Author

Tbouchina

Pam Moore

2005-11-26, 12:21 pm

Please can anyone give me any guidance as to how hardy or otherwise
Tibouchina is?
I have one about 2 feet tall. I have brought it into a bedroom.
A friend who has a sheltered walled garden in Bristol left hers out
all last winter, and has not done more than cover it with fleece in
this recent cold spell.
I do have the offer of an unheated greenhouse. Which would be better?

Pam in Bristol

Sacha

2005-11-26, 12:21 pm

On 26/11/05 15:23, in article anvgo15q9p9a7m4ffn3qgu66lff0m65a73@4ax.com,
"Pam Moore" <NOSpam.moore@NOSPAMvirgin.net> wrote:

> Please can anyone give me any guidance as to how hardy or otherwise
> Tibouchina is?
> I have one about 2 feet tall. I have brought it into a bedroom.
> A friend who has a sheltered walled garden in Bristol left hers out
> all last winter, and has not done more than cover it with fleece in
> this recent cold spell.
> I do have the offer of an unheated greenhouse. Which would be better?
>
We don't leave them outside here and I've lost one in a garden in Jersey
when it went to somewhere around -4. I think that even in an unheated
greenhouse it could be at risk but others may have different experiences.
Ours are kept in a large greenhouse where the heating comes on automatically
if the temp drops below freezing. Perhaps the greenhouse *and* a cosy
fleece blanket? ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

JennyC

2005-11-26, 1:21 pm

"Pam Moore" <NOSpam.moore@NOSPAMvirgin.net> wrote in message
news:anvgo15q9p9a7m4ffn3qgu66lff0m65a73@4ax.com...
> Please can anyone give me any guidance as to how hardy or otherwise
> Tibouchina is?
> I have one about 2 feet tall. I have brought it into a bedroom.
> A friend who has a sheltered walled garden in Bristol left hers out
> all last winter, and has not done more than cover it with fleece in
> this recent cold spell.
> I do have the offer of an unheated greenhouse. Which would be better?
>
> Pam in Bristol

I lost one to freezing temps.

The one I have now has been pruned hard and put in the (just about) frost free
GH. I have to prune it right back or I can't get it in. It grows back every year
and flowers rather late. In fact it was still in bloom today when I rescued it
:~)
Jenny

Charlie Pridham

2005-11-27, 5:21 am

"Sacha" <sacha@gardenweedws506.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:BFAE313F.24977%sacha@gardenweedws506.fsnet.co.uk...
> On 26/11/05 15:23, in article anvgo15q9p9a7m4ffn3qgu66lff0m65a73@4ax.com,
> "Pam Moore" <NOSpam.moore@NOSPAMvirgin.net> wrote:
>
> We don't leave them outside here and I've lost one in a garden in Jersey
> when it went to somewhere around -4. I think that even in an unheated
> greenhouse it could be at risk but others may have different experiences.
> Ours are kept in a large greenhouse where the heating comes on
automatically
> if the temp drops below freezing. Perhaps the greenhouse *and* a cosy
> fleece blanket? ;-)
> --
> Sacha
> www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
> South Devon
> (remove the weeds to email me)

I am trying one outside this year, yesterday it was covered in snow, today
its looking lovely still in full flower in the sunshine. Past experiance
tells me I am likely to lose it before the winter is over but I am hoping it
may come from below as I have given it a heavy loose mulch.
In the Greenhouse (not heated but frost free) they remain in growth and
flower all winter, in the open tunnel they go down to around -4c but with
control over the wet, these are normally killed to the base and regrow.
I would say at the base of a sunny wall with help from fleece it should go
through, but its not a plant where I would use my only one!
--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)
>

Sacha

2005-11-27, 7:21 am

On 26/11/05 16:02, in article
4389742d$1_2@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com, "Charlie Pridham"
<charlie.pridham@lineone.net> wrote:

>
> "Sacha" <sacha@gardenweedws506.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:BFAE313F.24977%sacha@gardenweedws506.fsnet.co.uk...
> automatically
>
> I am trying one outside this year, yesterday it was covered in snow, today
> its looking lovely still in full flower in the sunshine. Past experiance
> tells me I am likely to lose it before the winter is over but I am hoping it
> may come from below as I have given it a heavy loose mulch.
> In the Greenhouse (not heated but frost free) they remain in growth and
> flower all winter, in the open tunnel they go down to around -4c but with
> control over the wet, these are normally killed to the base and regrow.
> I would say at the base of a sunny wall with help from fleece it should go
> through, but its not a plant where I would use my only one!

Speaking of wet, Ray would endorse that. He told me to tell Pam to be
careful not to keep her Tibouchina wet. He confirmed, too, that we cannot
keep them outdoors here and judging by the amount of time the ice stayed on
the ponds yesterday, he's right!
(On Clematis seedling has popped up, Charlie - one!)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Dave Poole

2005-11-27, 7:21 am

I've grown Tibouchina urvilleana both as a greenhouse plant and out in
the garden against a sunny wall. I find that if it is kept fairly dry
at the root, it can cope with light frosts and occasional, short-lived
drops to minus 3C without incurring damage. In this way it is
probably about as hardy the half-hardy (greenhouse) Fuchsias and can
be more or less treated similarly. Under glass, I used to cut it part
way back in winter and then again much harder when new growth resumed
in spring. Outside, I left the stems on and pruned back in
March/early April.

I keep meaning to plant it out here and let it fight up through the
growth in the banana border, where it gets very dry in winter. When
grown out of doors, it not only provides a fabulous show of large
velvet-purple flowers from August onwards, but the foliage also takes
on vivid autumnal tints later on. Unlike maples and the like, the
brightly coloured leaves seem to remain on the plant for a very long
time.

Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November

Pam Moore

2005-11-27, 12:21 pm

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 10:26:33 +0000, Sacha
<sacha@gardenweedws506.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

>On 26/11/05 16:02, in article
>4389742d$1_2@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com, "Charlie Pridham"
><charlie.pridham@lineone.net> wrote:
>
>
>Speaking of wet, Ray would endorse that. He told me to tell Pam to be
>careful not to keep her Tibouchina wet. He confirmed, too, that we cannot
>keep them outdoors here and judging by the amount of time the ice stayed on
>the ponds yesterday, he's right!
>(On Clematis seedling has popped up, Charlie - one!)

Thanks all. It is now in a spare bedroom. I won't take a chance
leaving it out. Thanks for the tip about the wet.

Pam in Bristol

LinkBot