Скачать или смотреть Cold weather care of tender plants and palms in the UK

#frost #protection #success
During a prolonged cold spell of weather Roger walks and talks around his Palm trees (Cordylines and Trachycarpus) Tree Ferns (Dicksonia Antarctica) plus some pot grown Geraniums / pelargoniums and Canna Lilies - all of which are outside and exposed to some frosty weather .. how are they coping? and how can we reduce the risk of frost damage?
Overall / general tips
Plant in south / west facing positions so that any midday / evening sun can warm the plants / soil.
Improve drainage, most tender plants / trees can better cope with cold weather if they NOT too wet around their roots
Do not use high nitrogen fertilizers after early summer as this may encourage soft new growth in late summer which could be more likely to suffer in cold weather. I use high potash fertilizers which encourage 'tougher' more resilient growth.
Understand your local weather conditions. It is really important to understand that a few degrees ofd frost (maybe -1 or -2 Celsius) overnight and then warmer temperatures of +5 C or more durimng daylight hours can be tolerated by many plants ... the real danger for tender plants is when the daytime temperature does not go above freezing .. then the roots dont get a chance to thaw out and operate normally ... it creates drought like conditions when the plant can absorb and water from the roots as they are frozen.
By looking at the long term forcasts you can get some advance warning of serioulsy cold weather and make any preparations to to protect any tender plants.
PLEASE be aware that our information is based around our experience in our sunny south facing South Wales hillside garden ... if you live in a colder area of the UK, or another country, ten you may need to take more care and precautions.
Trachycarpus
Ours has been standing proud for over 20 years in our garden, with some hard frosts (at least as cold as - 8 celcuis) and has as reputation of being able to tolerate temperatures as low as - 15C!
We have never protected our Trachycarpus.
Cordyline Australis
OK, its not really a Palm tree, but it is usually known as a palm in this area of the UK and they are great for quickly adding some hints of tropical structure to gardens. They can be affected by prolonged hard frosts BUT light frosts such as ground frosts and minus 1 or minus 2 C have never really damaged any of our Cordylines ( We have 6 large multibranched ones in our garden), in fact a some light night frosts in early winter can help toughen up any soft new growth ready for any harder frosts in later winter.
If you have younger plants (maybe less than 2 yards high). If more sevre cold weather is forcast (EG colder than minus 5 overnight and staying below 0 celsius during that day then you could consider wrapping some horticultural fleece around the green leaves and maybe spreading some bark mulch or similar around the roots.
Tree ferns - these are more tender, particularly the central crown of the plant (as shown on the video) where the soft new growth comes from. As with the Cordylines soime very light overnight frosts (minus 1 or minus 2) will not usually cuase any damge if the temperature goes back above freezing during the day, but as a precaution it may be best to protect the crwon of the plant by placing some straw and / or horticultural fleece or similar into the crown of the plant to provide some insulation. If more colder weather is forcast then increase the layers of fleece to wrap around the crown - see our previos video here    • Dicksonia Tree fern protection winter - UK...