WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

[Mmathis]

When a "tropical" lily says in it's info that it's "more cold tolerant," but lists it as zones 9-11. Just wondering if that means it might possibly survive the winter in the pond in zone 8.....

Anyone know the lily ISLAMORADA? It's purple, named after a location in FL (last summer Hubby & Son went on a SCUBA trip to the BSA camp, Sea Base. I think Islamorada is the name of the community the where the camp is located. I did a little digging to discover the origin of the name.) I saw one the other day and fell in love with the color.

 

[fishin4cars]

Most all tropicals will do fine over winter as long as the pot is dropped down in to at least 24" of water after the first frost. There are a couple of species that are in the family of the victorian lilies that don't do as well in our zone but most don't keep them as they get extremely large. I'm not familar with that species but if you can get adavius (Andy Davis) I'm sure he will gladly give you more detail on it. Also Minnowman (Gary) may know as well.

 

[don't ask]

yep i would have thought you were far enough south to overwinter in pond like you would with other plants by submerging

 

[addy1]

Most all tropicals will do fine over winter as long as the pot is dropped down in to at least 24" of water after the first frost. There are a couple of species that are in the family of the victorian lilies that don't do as well in our zone but most don't keep them as they get extremely large. I'm not familar with that species but if you can get adavius (Andy Davis) I'm sure he will gladly give you more detail on it. Also Minnowman (Gary) may know as well.

I thought it was the temperature of the water that killed the tropical lilies, my two are still doing ok, but I have put them in the basement over winter. Our water does drop to 32.

 

[fishin4cars]

Addy, I used to think the same thing. I have four or five tropicals that come back year after year, no problem. I've seen temps down to 32 as well but I doubt the water down 2' here is that cold. It may get that cold for just a few days at a time here and I can't tell you the last time I heard of temps below 20 and that would be just for a few hours. We don't get ice over just ice along the edges.

 

[minnowman]

Check out watergardenersinternational.org There is a tremendous amount of information there.

 

[addy1]

Addy, I used to think the same thing. I have four or five tropicals that come back year after year, no problem. I've seen temps down to 32 as well but I doubt the water down 2' here is that cold. It may get that cold for just a few days at a time here and I can't tell you the last time I heard of temps below 20 and that would be just for a few hours. We don't get ice over just ice along the edges.

We can drop to the minus type temps. Some weeks temps in the teens during the day, sometimes in the 30's Without a lot of water movement the pond will freeze over.

Check out watergardenersinternational.org There is a tremendous amount of information there.

will do

 

[Mmathis]

Have been reading about over-wintering tropicals, and there's not really any practical way I can accomplish most of the suggested methods (no basement, and have 5 in-door cats..... ).

Can I treat them like the hardies, and just sink them? Have TONS of little offspring from this one lily, too, and wondering if they get treated the same way? Would hate to lose them, and they're growing quite well.

 

[addy1]

everything i read about tropicals is the temp of the water kills the bulb. You can try, but might have mush in the spring

 

[Mmathis]

Any suggestions? Really am not set up to have a plant inside. Can the tuber [or whatever it is -- still learning] survive if allowed to go "dormant" and placed in a bag or pot of dried [slightly moistened?] potting mixture, then placed in somewhere like the garage -- it will get cold in there, but not as cold as outside.

This is a VERY prolific tropical lily, I must say! Have almost a dozen off-spring so far, and 2 of them are blooming already -- cute little mini-versions of Momma plant. Guess that means I have enough that I can experiment this winter.

I am totally captivated by the color of this flower, but am starting to resign myself to not having the purples/blues in the pond