Hi all.. I am wondering if anyone here knows the true hardiness of Camellia sinensis (tea). I've read conflicting reports on the web about it. Some sites say it's hardy to zone 6 while others say it's only hardy to zone 9. Any info about this would be great Thanks
Most reports I've seen say zone 7. We have 6 tea plants in our garden. In this brutal winter, 4 overwintered with very minor damage, and 2 very young plants that did get the NE outflow winds were quite damaged, but look like they are going to push and grow out of the damage.
That's good... it definitely sounds like Tea is a solid zone 7 plant if it survived this past harsh winter with not much damage. Does the plant produce good quality tea leaves for consumption in the climate of the PNW?
I've heard about old tea plants being at an agricultural station up there. Down here plantings in the Seattle arboretum show some singing of foliage after hard winters. Garden centers here stock named selections rather often. At one time some of these were coming from the now-closed Piroche Plants wholesale nursery in Pitt Meadows, BC. Hardiness will be likely to vary with the particular form as this plant is cultivated over a range of climates in the Old World. The mildest tea comes from types being grown in the softest climates. Forms able to persist here may tend to yield more strongly flavored leaves. Picking the leaves repeatedly for consumption will of course affect the growth habit and flowering of the shrubs. Photos of tea plantations show rows of specimens with aberrant compact shapes. Since late growths of other kinds of shrubs produced in response to shearing may be frosted in this climate it seems possible nipping at the tips of tea bushes here could sometimes result in frost damage also.
The tea is fabulous- but we only pick from the first flush of growth, so don't count on supplying yourself in daily tea with a few plants. Like Ron says, you can't repeatedly harvest all summer and still get the growth to harden off for winter. They are best grown in a somewhat wind protected site for the the best growth.
