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RHS Masterclass On Overwintering Your Plants
RHS Masterclass On Overwintering Your Plants
rhs masterclass
RHS hardiness ratings
Plants vulnerable
to damage in
winter may well rating temperature
ranges c(f) plant types What is cold damage?
require protection. Guy Barter, RHS Chief Horticultural Advisor
Tropical grow
warmer than in a heated Rather than cold temperatures alone, it is ice forming within
H1a
Indoor plants
free greenhouse
in winter
Overwintering
crystallinum, Medinilla magnifica and Dieffenbachia are
seldom seen outdoors in the UK. They fall under rating
H1a, which is an indication of their tropical origins where
Hardy outdoors temperatures typically do not fall below 15c (59f).
10to5 It is important these heat lovers are not left between
H4 in an average
(1423) closed curtains and a cold window at night. Equally, if
winter
you have a holiday during the winter months when the
possibility of the house becoming cold is likely, leave
As temperatures fall, plants of different levels of hardiness need the them in the care of a green-fingered friend.
appropriate level of protection to improve their chance of survival Plants such as Clerodendrum thomsoniae are rated
Hardy outdoors H1b and are still considered tender place outdoors
15to10
H5 during a cold
You might imagine that, after the winter finding a space to allow permanent establishment, (514)
winter
with great caution only in high summer a damaging
cool night can never be ruled out in late summer.
of 2010/11, the desire to experiment with plants of where their winter existence may only require a
Plants include: Calathea zebrina and Ficus lyrata.
borderline hardiness would be as dead as all those little bit of a helping hand.
RHS / Bob Martin
composted cordyline heads and rotten heaps of A visit to some of the great gardens of Cornwall, or
succulents. Yet this is far from the case for many equally those benefiting from the North Atlantic Drift
20to15
Hardy outdoors Conservatory and bedding
gardeners who still enjoy the thrill of experimentation, in Scotland, is surely enough to whet any gardeners H6 during very cold Plants such as Bougainvillea and most pelargoniums fall
(4 to 5)
the satisfaction of coaxing a plant (which the books appetite to start seeking out those special microclimates winters into the H1c category and make great container plants
Author: Matthew tell you is tender) through a winter, and seeing the in his or her plot such as warm walls, slopes, areas for summer months. These plants require their winter
Pottage, Garden period in porches, conservatories or glasshouses
surprise of gardening friends when they discover what protected by large evergreen trees or suitable places
Manager RHS maintained at a temperate of 5c (41f) minimum. Keep
you have growing at the base of a warm wall. in sheltered urban gardens. Very hardy
Garden Wisley. watering to a minimum with unrestricted natural light.
Most gardeners come into contact with so called So, during this critical season for plants, look around colder than outdoors; will Plants include: Beaucarnea recurvata, Brugmansia
Photography: H7
exotics, and in some cases they may be treated as your garden and identify the plants you want to keep: 20 (< 4) survive the worst and Grevillea robusta.
Tim Sandall UK winters
bedding or transported to the greenhouse for winter understand their hardiness rating and tend to them as
protection, but the ultimate challenge is of course best you can by providing protection where necessary.
68 The Garden | November 2014 November 2014 | The Garden 69
Overwintering
rhs masterclass
Dasylirion and Yucca whipplei. serpens, Correa and Echium pininana. M.sikkimensis (see RHS Advice, October, p24). Cordyline australis and Pittosporum tobira. Eryngium pandanifolium.