Agaveville

Lets keep a good thing going. Anyone growing caudiciforms outside year around in zone 9a? Let's continue with the idea of a warm 9a climate that hits low 9a temps every 5 years or so, and high 8b once every 10-20 years. I've read some Cyphostemma have cold hardiness.

Cyphostemma juttae seems to be OK in zone 9a, but mine is pretty large... it is possible smaller ones may not do so well. But I do have multiple sizes and ages of Tylecodon wallichii about garden and seem, so far, impervious to cold down to about 20F. Boweia volubilis also has turned out to be surprisingly hardy here.

I've seen large C. juttae in ground here in Tucson, but they are pretty careful about protecting it in winter. Not sure how tough it really is.

Everybody is stuffed like a fat plant on this day. Pachypodium saundersii is worth a chance. Dont spend too much. I can't say if the dwarf form is hardier then the normal sized. My dwarf has taken 2007 and its 9b winter lows for a few days. Then you might try Jatropha- if kept dry. If wet and cold,they melt. Aloe plicitalis does a great fat plant imitation in a pot. Jade plant and its varietys. Sure you have to protect them some- but they are not near tropical needs in winter. Just keep it above freezing. Cool days are fine with them. I'm sure if you were to look at exotic Bonsai- you will see fat caudiciform looking plants galore that can take cool winters. Portulacaria in particular is "fat" and popular in Bonsai.

How about Brachychiton rupestris? Mine won't be going unprotected for a while but it will eventually.

Azuleja wrote:How about Brachychiton rupestris? Mine won't be going unprotected for a while but it will eventually.

I believe the B rupestris can take much colder weather than you think. My largest plant is over 8 feet tall, and has spent the last three winters outdoors without any problems. Here is another smaller plant, over 3 feet tall, enjoying our wet and damp autumn. Jkw

Awesome! I'll feel better when mine gets more established in the pot. I got it bare root and although it didn't seem to skip a beat I'll probably baby it for the first winter.

A 3-4 foot B. rupestris here froze back to the woody base after two nights back to back between 19-21 degrees. It was in a pot that was beside the east side of a house. Not sure how long it was below freezing. It came back strong and grows vigorously here. I think it's a nice small caudiciform for this area and could probably make it to tree size with some protection.

Another nice one is Ceiba speciosa. The low 20s will set it back, but it's also very vigorous here and I think could be easily protected and shaped into an attractive fat plant in the ground. There are some large tree sized plants here in certain areas.

I cut my rupestris back most years (and populneus).’

Anybody grow Erythrina?

I've tried a couple different Erythrina and cold has killed them all so far.

I have one plant, and it is still alive, and at the moment it is resting comfortably in my basement. You cannot allow it to go under because of the freeze. As soon as my top soft leaves begin to yellow, I simply dig it out and put it a large pot, and yes by the end of November it claims a space in my basement. Long term, I will have to find a way to shield it from the cold if I ever leave it all winter in the ground. Jkw

I think some of them are marginally hardy but I wouldn’t leave mine out. The only ones that stay out are an unknown Agave, Aloe striatula and Aloe polyphylla. Tonight should be a good test as -4c forecast .

I had an Erythrina crista-galli I grew from seed and kept as a potted plant for about 6 years... then planted on the edge of our street in Tarzana in 2004. It has survived all the cold there (got down to 24F for over 7 hours 2007) and is still in the ground there now for 4 years since we left and not been watered once, either (other than rains). Pretty hardy plant. Fantasize often about digging it up in the middle of the night but not sure if it's THAT hardy.

Very pretty! I've seen this type of tree growing full size in a nearby town, zone 9b. I never knew what it was, but even stopped to collect pods from it once. It always caught my eye.

Just came across some close-up photos of my Erythrina G, not perfect but it shows the plant in the garden Jkw

Has anybody EVER seen a photo of a garden Adenium in the tropics that even approached the size of wild plants? I never have. Best are large shrubby tangles...but never the huge fat trunk. I've seen some in photos of gardens in dry Mexico..full flowering..but again,not one had a huge swollen base.

I saw some large Adenium specimens in the Philippines a few years ago. They weren't shrubby tangles but were not stout pillars like wild plants...they needed more sun for sure.

You would think in Cabo and that huge area of western Mexico. Or,in Saudi Arabia and Yemen..the wealthy would have them taken from habitat and used as great show plants. Even the Japanese have done that with Baobabs in greenhouses , but my wonder is OUTDOORS. That tells me that they are incredibly hard to reproduce in the wild form and even kept alive if transplanted.

Stan wrote:You would think in Cabo and that huge area of western Mexico. Or,in Saudi Arabia and Yemen..the wealthy would have them taken from habitat and used as great show plants. Even the Japanese have done that with Baobabs in greenhouses , but my wonder is OUTDOORS. That tells me that they are incredibly hard to reproduce in the wild form and even kept alive if transplanted.

Hi Stan

I have actually seen Adenium plants growing in the ground in the Caribbean some years ago, but I am sorry that I did not take any photos. But it does work like the average plants, although most adeniums I have seen in the tropics are grown in pots . Jkw

There were two large E. Crista Galli in Rosenberg TX outside of a local nursery. One was a recent casualty of the flooding here as it sat in a few feet of water for a couple days. I posted it on Palmtalk in all its blooming glory. They were trees rather than caudiciforms. The other remains but took a hit. They have to have seen 20 degrees and at least a day nearly below freezing. I bought a large, overgrown and fairly unhealthy one last year that may have died in our last freeze.