The night before last was a very cold night for this time of year and I think there was a slight frost last night as well. The frost has killed the leaves of many of the Colocasias:
Above: frost damaged Colocasias
Below: the frost also caught the Bananas – both the Musas and the Ensetes
Below: Musa sikkimensis leaves look quite sad
But all is not lost! The Colocasia will survive and I will eventually get round to saving some of them in the temporary plastic greenhouse. Some of the Ensetes I will also put in the greenhouse but I need to dig these up and that is an easier job once their leaves have died back. The Musas will stay in the ground and I will eventually wrap fleece around their stems – this doesn't always work!! The Tree Ferns are OK and will be fine for the next few weeks and then I will cover their crowns with dry fern leaves and / or fleece.
I’m planning on posting some more specific ideas for overwintering Bananas, Tree Ferns etc. I will include the comments already made to this blog by Kevin and Jon but it would be really good to have more ideas / advice please.
As I said, all is not lost – this morning the tall grass Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’ looked really good in the early sunshine with a Tree Fern behind it:
. . . . and even some of the Colocasias and Ricinus still looked good:
Above: Amongst other stuff are the shiny leaves (with some frost damage) of Colocasia Fontanesii
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