The snow has melted as fast as it arrived, and here we are again, in the dark days of winter. We had a blast in the snow, though. I loved how bright everything was dressed in white and sugar coated with ice. The city can't be bothered with plowing snow, so we were left to our own devices. I loved driving around in the F150 through unplowed streets and parking lots and I am going to invest in a plow for the front of the truck. Next winter, look for 24-hour Superwonderful Plowing Services.
The worst of the snow and frost damage was to my Phormiums. Looks like this was a case of heavy snow weighing down the foliage. The 'Maori Sunrise' Phormium in the backyard was also pretty bad looking. I am going to wait until Spring and if they do not shape up, they will get tossed (no mercy here!).
This is standard frost damage here, so it looks like I may be eating my words from my previous post about plants surviving the cold temps. I thought Hebe's were hardier than this, but these 3 plants actually have the most damage of anything else in the yard. (I actually could not care less about this because 1. I'm not a huge fan of Hebes and 2. I have no mercy for poor performing plants!)
I have an affinity for broad leaf tropicals and also succulents - high maintenance or not. These plants get most of my attention, and they do require a bit more attention here in the PNW. This Agave definitely looks soggy and not so happy. I can't remember what temperature this guy is hardy to, but I did mulch it before the weather turned cold, so hopefully that kept it protected enough. I believe it is an Agave americana variety. I am also going to plant an Agave striata this year. I do have to mention that although I tend not worry about winter temperatures killing hardy plants here, I think it did get down into the low teens for a few days, and that is lower than average for Portland.
This is how I protect my hardy Banana tree over Winter. I remove the leaves and wrap it with Burlap, cover it with mulch, then cover it with this landscaping plastic so that it is waterproof. Hardy Bananas that are not protected like this will overwinter and come back in the Spring, but they will die back to the ground, and thus never really get tall.
This plant here is a little secret I will let Portlanders in on. It is a Cast Iron Plant, Aspidistra elatior. Known as a houseplant, these broad-leaf beauties grow all over Florida where I grew up as well as Hawaii and other tropical climates. It is called cast iron because it is tough as nails and can thrive in complete shade. It is considered a groundcover as it spreads, but not aggressively. When I saw them for sale at a wholesale nursery in Hillsboro, I couldn't believe it. I have it planted in the "tropical" garden area in the back yard. Check out the completely soggified Canna Lily behind it! (It will come back in the Spring!) I did more research and found out it is hardy to 10 degrees F and even grows in the Himalayas. And, look, it even survived Arctic Blast '08.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Love,
Superwonderful
