Phygelius cold hardiness

[johnw]

I was in St John's, Newfoundland last week.  Several years ago we shipped quite a few cultivars of Phygelius, the Cape Fuschia, to a local nursery for tub planting.  One of their employees planted out one of each at home.  Only African Queen has persisted as a die-back shrub and it has done very well indeed.  The others, including Moonraker died out.  Can anyone comment on which cultivars, hybrids or species are the cold hardiest?

johnw

[Maggi Young]

It so happens I have to hand a copy of the (quite) new  book by Kenneth N. E.  Cox and Raoul Curtis-Machin : Garden Plants for Scotland    (   ISBN 978-0-7112-2675-3 Published by Frances Lincoln Ltd.)

This handy book has been written with the intent of showing which plants are likely to thrive in a Scottish Garden and gives much useful info, such as the discovered hardiness of plants/cultivars,  to allow gardeners in Scotland to choose hardy plants and good varieties to suit our climate...
So, I noly grow a couple Phygelius, capensis types, no idea of cultivar names, so I consulted this book to see what the authors ( who took advice from a great many experienced gardeners and nurserymen from all over Scotland) have to say about these plants.... I will give thier description of the hardiness rating given to the plants and you will likely be able to extrapolate that info to have some relevance to Nova Scotia, as regards temperatures etc.......

so:  the book rates Phygelius as being of H3...."equivalent to a USDA rating of 7b.
 Min. temp degrees F +5 to +10 F    and Min. Temp  degrees C -12.3 C to -14.9C Hardy in a shetered site in most of coastal eastern and northern Scotland, N. Edinburgh, mildest parts of Forth and Tay valleys and whole of south and west coasts. Damaage may occur from early or late frosts. Plants may suffer from winter wet, or unripened wood, especially in the far north."

 It is suggested that the plants need full sun, in a warm sheltered site in a well-drained soil.

I would agree with that. Some winters can leave them looking a bit scruffy here, within two miles of the cold, grey North Sea but they can usually be cut back to tidy them up and new growth tends to be good.
I have a red, a pink and a yellow..... very scientific! Sorry!

But...... the book suggests the following species and  cultivars.........
P. aequalis and some hybrids and named forms of it: Somerford Funfair Series, 'Coral', 'Cream', 'Wine', etc.
'New Sensation' 'Trewidden Pink' 'Yellow Trumpet'.
 P. capensis; P. x rectus. 'African Queen' 'Candy Swirl' 'Cherry Swirl' 'Devil's Tears' 'Ivory Twist' 'Moonraker' 'Salmon's Leap' and 'Winchester Fanfare'


So that is the combined opinion of a whole bunch of Scottish gardeners! Hope it may help a little!

[Carlo]

and here...in the equivalent of zone 6 I have had P. x rectus...I believe it's 'Devil's Tears' come back reliably for the past two years...

[johnw]

Many thanks Maggi and Carlo.

These are the ones I recall sending  - 'Yellow Trumpet'. 'African Queen', 'Devil's Tears', 'Moonraker', 'Salmon's Leap', and 'Winchester Fanfare'; maybe Baby Tears too. They might be worth another try there but we'd need the toughest as snow is not reliable here despite the situation here at the moment.

Carlo  - Does yours die back at all?

On another note I wonder if straight Fuschia magellanica is the toughest of the Fuschias?  A friend here had it for years growing next to the back door. Some winters it would die to the roots and coming storming back in the spring. In books 'Ricartonii' is touted as the toughest but I hae me doubts. Probably wise to grow a batch of seed from a cold area in southern SA but from where is the question?

We have a few Pernettyas here -

Pernettya mucronata PW#6233 west Stag River, Argentina
Pernettya mucronata (red berry form exposed from Barbara Wilkins, cw near Stag River where the low was -29c the previous winter and no snow cover and many dead sheep)

These two can have minor tip damage in bad snowless winters in our south.  The best and toughest ones I grew from seed off plants at UBC neat the old shop and I suspect they are from Coomber seed or 'Ruth Tweedy', no one seemed to know.  P. 'Pearls' and these konked out:

Pernettya mucronata cw S.America                                     - red fruit & exposed beech - mixed
Pernettya mucronata cw Stag River
Pernettya mucronata ex Junker-IUFRO#593
Pernettya mucronata ex Junker-IUFRO#? big fruit
Pernettya mucronata 'Ruth Tweedy'

Stag River should be the place to get tough SA plants and the Junker Iufro plants have a long (but checkered) history of survival in Denmark. Anyone care to make some recommendations on cold hardy Pernettyas?

johnw