Wondering how our plants handle the colder winter months?
Here’s a quick note from Lan Su Chinese Garden’s Curator of Horticulture, Justin Blackwell:
Pacific Northwest Winter can be so inconsistent with a mild, almost spring like December and January to sudden icy cold winter snow and ice. Many of our members and visitors might be asking how we care for some of our borderline hardy plants in the garden such as our banana plant, Muso basjoo, and Sego Palms. Banana plants will die back in freezing weather. In anticipation of this we dug several “pups” and are being stored at our greenhouse facility, awaiting spring to be planted in the garden. The Sego palms will tolerate temperatures as low as 20F, however the fact they are in containers increases their susceptibility to freezing temps. You might notice that our Sego Palms have been moved to the Reflections in Clear Ripples Hall to make it through the next week.
As we watched the tree peonies leaf out and even produce flower buds, we knew that we would need to wrap them in white frost cloth which resembles dollops of snow to blend in with the possible snowy weather ahead.
However there are plants blooming right on schedule, such as our Flowering Plum (Prunus mume), Camellia, Edgeworthia, Dawn Viburnum and our famous Lushan Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera modesta var. Lushan) in the Fragrance Courtyard. Just in time for Chinese New Year! So come by and enjoy!
Learn more about the Plant Collection at Lan Su Chinese Garden »
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