Camellia season is here!

​Winter is my least favorite season, but Camellias make it so bearable. When I lived in the south, these gorgeous subtropical shrubs would bloom through the whole winter, but up here the Japonicas usually wait until March. I have 7 cultivars of camellia in my garden, but the first to bloom might be my favorite. 

This is RL Wheeler. It has huge, 3-4” wide variegated blooms. It’s a relatively fast grower but can grow well in pots. 

I got mine deeply discounted in South Carolina 3 years ago and it’s been in a pot ever since. By the way, camellias are usually pretty expensive but you can find great deals at the end of Autumn when nurseries are clearing their inventory or in the spring after they are finished blooming. 

Eventually, I’ll put these camellias in the ground, but I love that planters give me the opportunity to move these around. Camellias are unbelievable when they’re in bloom but fade into the background the rest of the year. It’s nice to be able to move these plants into view during the spring and then push them aside during the summer so other plants can shine. 

These are a few others growing in my garden. 

Ashtion's High Rise is new this year for me & I'm really enjoying it! 

My least favorite so far has been Spring's Promise. The flowers are really small and it's not as strong of a performer as my other camellias. 

Unfortunately, the landscapers destroyed the blooms on my Arctic Rose and Kramers Supreme. They are usually great performers for me and hopefully, they will be more careful this season. Never prune a camellia in autumn. I wasn't home when the disaster struck! 

Let's grow a Hardy Tree Fern in New York!

I tried growing a Dicksonia Antarctica many years ago and failed miserably! (Check this post for how it looked in 2013 and this one for a peek at that same fern when it was much larger in 2010). 

It took a decade, but I'm willing to try again! The last time I grew these tree ferns I kept it in a very small pot. It died in the house from lack of water. The roots are very fine and fibrous so I honestly didn't realize it needed potting up. This time I'm starting it off in a big pot and I'm going to drag it into the garage during its first winter when temperatures drop into the low 20sF. Eventually, I'd like to plant it in the ground and cover it during the winter - but I'm in no rush. 

I also purchased a Magnolia figo. It's also known as a banana bush because the flowers smell like bananas. I'll plant it in the ground and protect it during the winter. Magnolia figo is cold tolerant to about 15F. 

What's the point in a garden without some comfy furniture!?

I feel like all my hard work in the garden pays off, but one regret I had last year was the lack of time I spent sitting outside and enjoying it! I think the biggest reason was the lack of places to sit - so before we really get into the warmer days - I decided to make an investment. 

Nighttime temperatures are still dropping below freezing, so the orchid on the table was only there for the afternoon, but the palms will stay outside at this point. The potted Trachycarpus fortunei and Camellias only go in the garage when temperatures approach the teens F at night - and those days are long gone!

My Camellia "R.L Wheeler" is getting so close to opening its first blooms of the season. It's a spectacular cultivar! 

I decided to add my Chamadorea microspadix and Lady palm to the area to give a really nice "Florida vibe". These palms are cold tolerant down to 20F (and the Chamadorea can actually handle even colder!). I do keep them in the house during the coldest weeks of winter because I love to spoil my plants. 

70F in FEBRUARY on Long Island?

 It's never happened before... at least not in Islip since records began in 1963... 70F in February! I feel like I'm still living in South Carolina, or perhaps even Florida. This afternoon was legitimately warm. I sent my tropical plants outside for air and some rain. 

Trachycarpus and potted camellias hanging out with potted tropicals.

Greenhouse azaleas from trader joes. These are frost sensitive.

The Owari Mandarin is looking great but my lemon tree is rough! Both in the garage over the winter.

Love this Nicholas Diamond fern!

Chamadorea Microspadix is somehow able to handle down to 20F and still looks SO tropical!

Indoors, the longer days are forcing the banana plant to send a new leaf (see the top right!)

At my parents house, the sedum (Stonecrop) plants are returning! 

Bottle palm is getting air. SHE IS HEAVY!

Sedum sprouting. Amazing!

At my parents house!

Loving Cordyline "Pink Diamond". It's much better indoors than other ti plants. 

Spring bulbs are eager to sprout! On my walk around town this afternoon I saw crocus, snowdrops, daffodils, and even forsynthia all in bloom. 

Daffodils are on their way up!

Although the tropical plants will go back inside tomorrow night, extreme cold just isnt in the forecast yet. It's quite amazing!

Devastating blast of cold air hits. My palms just experienced a TRUE zone 7a winter.

Long Island had it's warmest January on record. The average high in Central Park was just shy of 50F ... in January. That's warmer than the average January in Charlotte, North Carolina. It looks like February will be just as warm too. So far, we've had virtually no snow on the island, aside from 2 events that produced a light coating. The season total is less than an inch as of Early February. 

However, this past weekend a quick blast of arctic cold might have ruined nearly everything I was "zone pushing" in my new Long Island Garden. 

My plants were left unprotected 

When temperatures drop below 15F, I cover my tender plants with a frost cloth, a garbage bin, and string C7 or C9 Christmas lights underneath to generate extra heat. Unfortunately, because of a faulty timer, these lights never turned on during one of the coldest nights I've ever experienced as a gardener in New York. 

(Show covers)

The low temperature was 3F in my yard. The wind chill dropped to -20F (that's 20 degrees BELOW zero!) It's the 3rd coldest wind chill in 30 years. Although plants don't experience "wind chill", the covers are unable to retain heat when temperatures drop that low ... especially when the lights don't turn on. 

I'm growing a Trachycarpus, Sabal Minor, and needle palm. The ground was totally frozen solid and they were likely exposed to temperatures below 10 degrees for a solid 6 hours or more. Upon uncovering them, they look fine, but the true scope of the damage won't show up until the weather is warm enough for them to actively start growing in April. 

Other plants like my Cordyline australis are less subtle when they experience cold and immediately I can see the splotching on the leaves. I am expecting that this plant will die. 

The gardenias and cast iron plants also did not receive additional heat. The cast iron plants look surprisingly green. The gardenias will probably die back, but I am hoping they survive. 

There is no signs of damage yet on my Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), but I am expecting the worst because they typically do not survive temperatures below 10F, let alone several hours of it. 

I left my Illicium floridanum "Gray Ghost" outside in a planter all winter. It's bad enough for the foliage to be exposed to brutal, freezing wind. It's even worse to keep these plants potted and expose their roots to cold too. HOWEVER, despite looking wilty during the worst of the cold - it's gorgeous again. No signs of damage with this one. I highly recommend this shrub if you're looking for a variegated evergreen that also produces some pretty cool flowers! 

Cyclamen hederifolium looks fantastic too, all things considered. You can look back at previous posts to see it in bloom this past November!

And the pansies have had better days but it's alive even though it's spent the winter outside in a tiny nursery pot. Whoops!

February 2023 Staten Island, NY - zone 7 (low temperature, 6F).

It's been an incredibly mild winter overall, but temperatures dropped HARD during a cold snap in December and early February. 

They dropped to 6F (compared to 3F at my place), but the damage there was a little worse than in my yard on Long Island for the evergeeens because they are exposed to so much sun and wind. Everything looks pretty good. This was the coldest we’ve gotten since 2016.

UNPROTECTED:

Aucuba: Some minor leaf burn.

Sabal minor: So far so good!

Daphniphyllum: Minor leaf damage.Usually there isn’t any damage.

Florida anise: No damage

Evergreen dogwood: Total burn (usually no damage)

Frostproof gardenia: total burn

Fatsia japonica: Leaf burn, but no dieback.

rohdea japonica: No damage

mahonia: No damage (still blooming!)

PROTECTED:

Trachycarpus: No damage

Summer snow Gardenia: Minor leaf damage.

Crown Jewel Gardenia: No damage.

Trachycarpus were protected, the illicium floridanum was not & looks great!

Daffodils about 3" up! 

Hyacinth are poking out

Fatsia japonica are a little burned but looks like no dieback here

Daphniphyllum macropodum showing some leaf burn which is surprising. Overall it looks good!

Also surprised to see some minor leaf damage on Aucuba japonica. The full sun and wind definitely contributed to that.

Sabal minor was completely unprotected. So far it looks okay, but we'll find out more in the spring! 

Mahonia japonica and Rhodea japonica looking nice together!

English laurel untouched by the cold. Haven't figured out where to put this one yet!

Gardenia summer snow to the right and crown jewel to the left.

Crape myrtle bark looking so pretty!