By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer
Jerry Cearley makes a living selling tropical plants. That would be easy in San Diego, but in fact it’s much harder in Tacoma, Washington, where November weather cuts down tropicals like the grim reaper’s scythe. When I asked Jerry how he gets his unsold tropicals through the winter, some of his answers surprised me.
For starters, he explained that it’s not temperature alone that causes winter kill, but usually a combination of cold air and wet soil. If you keep tender plants on the dry side, many will make it through the cold months with little or no damage. He does it by moving containerized tropicals under a corrugated plastic roof. In your own garden, you could accomplish the same thing by bringing potted tropicals under an extended eave. For plants that are in the ground, he recommends fast-draining soil and a mulch of coarse bark chunks, never cut grass or compost (which keeps the soil too wet).
Here are some of the plants that Cearley overwinters this way, and the temperatures they can endure.
Agave parryi: -20° f
Agave parryi truncata: -10° f
Agave americana variegata: 10° f
Abutilon: 10° F
Angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia): 27° f
Bearss lime: 22° f
Bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae): 25° f
Bougainvillea: 30° f
Canna: 10° f
Chinese windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei): 0° f
Dahlia: 10° f
Elephant ear (Alocasia macrorhiza): 10° f
Hardy banana (Musa basjoo): 0° to 10° f
Meyer lemon: 18° f
Pindo palm (Butia capitata): 12° f
Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia): 0° f
Princess flower (Tibouchina urvilleana): 20° f
Taro (Colocasia esculenta): 10° f
Tetrapanax papyrifera: 15° f
Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Steroidal Giant': 10° f
Caerley never cuts back tender plants until new growth starts in spring.
Jungle Fever Exotics is about a block from Pt. Defiance Park in Tacoma, at 5050 N. Pearl Street; 253 759-1669. They’re open Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 4, and Sunday 11 to 4.
