There has been talk in a couple of threads lately re: the ability of various cultivars to survive colder temps. I thought I would post a list of plants that have done well in Zone 5b/6a (St. Louis). By "well", I mean little to no winter die back. For reference these are all in ground with no protection outside of a few inches of mulch. I realize there is some inherent silliness of posting the experience of just a few winters. However these are all young grafts presumably at their most tender stage and temps did dip this winter to about -3F, so I think they fact they are thriving has some value. I am happy to update this list over time and add the various experiences of other growers. For consistency and simplicity I am going to limit this to those plants that remain outside during winter (ie, to avoid comparing apples to oranges). I am also not adding info re: plants that did poorly over winter as I have no idea whether that is secondary or specific to the cultivar, or because of beginner "user error". Many if not most of my plants are on the "watchlist". Meaning that they had small to medium amounts amount of winter dieback that I measured. If the new growth consistently outpaces the amount of dieback then they will be added to the list. enough blabber: Acer palmatum Baldsmith Acer palmatum Bloodgod Acer palmatum Beni Maiko Acer palmatum Buttlerfly Acer palmatum Crimson Queen Acer palmatum Emporer I Acer palmatum Fairyhair Acer palmatum Filigree Acer palmatum Hogyoku Acer palmatum Inaba Shidare Acer palmatum Jiro Shidare Acer palmatum Kamagata Acer palmatum Kasagiyama Acer palmatum Koto No Ito Acer palmatum Mikawa Yatsubusa Acer palmatum Orange Dream Acer palmatum Orangeola Acer palmatum Red Dragon Acer palmatum Sekimori Acer palmatum Sensu Acer palmatum Seiryu Acer palmatum Shin deshojo Acer palmatum Tamukeyama Acer palmatum Ukigumo Acer palmatum Waterfall Acer palmatum Wilson's Pink Acer shirasawanum Aureum
Re: Zone 5 survivors Fort Collins, CO -- We had an unusual week of -10 F. That was pretty cold for us here. We usually stay much milder... I have the following trees: --Bloodgood (ground) --Seriyu (ground) --Emperor 1 (potted) --Sekimori (potted) --Kamagata (potted) --Jiro Shidare (potted) --Inaba Shidare (potted) --Hogyoku (potted) --Orangeola (ground) --Butterfly (ground) Everything survived, although we had a week of 70's during which several started to leaf out, then back into the 20's for a couple of weeks. So, some are just barely starting to leaf out again, but all show signs of leaves... Tom
Re: Zone 5 survivors Not to be pedantic, but minus-3F isn't as cold as Zone 5 can get -- it falls in the warmer range of Zone 6.
Re: Zone 5 survivors your point is well taken. didn't mean to imply we were setting any records, but that things got reasonably cold for a relatively long amount of time for baby maples. St. louis often listed as on the border between zone 5 or 6 (I have even seen it listed as a 7!) so the thread title is admittedly misleading. tjcher - will update list - thanks and let me know if things change Edit - found way to change title - thanks
I was very happy with the number of my trees that came through unscathed. Here in Omaha it's borderline zone 4b/5a, and this winter we got down to -16 F (-26 C). All of my trees were also unprotected other than a layer of mulch around the base and some chicken wire to keep the rabbits away. Though, as I think Gomero has mentioned (or maybe I read it on that Sunset webpage), small microclimates could have played a role. Here are the ones with little (a twig here or there) to no dieback: A.j. Aconitifolium A.j. Aka omote A.j. Attaryi A.j. Emmet's Pumpkin A.j. Green Cascade A.j. O isami A.j. Vitifolium A.p. Berrima Bridge A.p. Bloodgood A.p. Crimson Queen A.p. Emperor 1 A.p. Flavescens A.p. Garnet A.p. Herbstfeuer A.p. Hogyoku A.p. Ichigyoji A.p. Kihachijo A.p. Kurabu yama A.p. Lozita A.p. Nuresagi A.p. Osakazuki A.p. Red Dragon A.p. Shigarami A.p. Tamuke yama A.p. Trompenburg A.p. Tsukushi gata (looks fantastic) A.p. Villa Taranto A.p. Yezo nishiki A.s. Aureum A.s. Ogura yama A.s. Red Dawn There are some others that I'm still waiting on, to see how much they leaf out. Here most things are just leafing out this week (finally!) though my tulips are looking fantasic (if the turkeys would just leave them alone!)
I saw some twig dieback this year, and it was not really predictable, exposed position, potted in the ground, or in cold frame. I've cheated and not sorted out which are exposed and just in the ground, because I dont seem to see a difference. My take is the secondary growth typically came late on cultivars with the most dieback, or just that it got cold too early in southern maine. I would be interested in culitvars that did die back for others. Here is a partial list of ones with no dieback. Red Dragon Bloodgood Vics Broom Shisio hime Ghost Dancer, First, Grandma, Purple Ghost Baldsmith Hubbs Red Willow A.S Aureum Van Der Akker Octopus Chantilly Lace Aka Shagitsu Sawa Okushimo Sekka Yatsubusa Ruby Stars Ojishi Tsuma Gaki Ariadne Koto No Ito Aekane Ies Kung Pil Giesha Tamukeyama Viridis Tobishio (and had lots of second spurt growth) AS Golden Full Moon Maple Dieback on Aratama Shisishigara (second growth spurt died back) Orangeola Fairy Hair *substantial* in coldframe Green Trompenburg (this one never looked healthy) Kamagata (1" maybe on several twiggy end nodes) Sharp's Pygmy Butterfly (lost plenty of second spurt growth) Goshiki Kotohime Beni Komachi wabito Johnnies Pink Pixie Oto Hime Green Cascade Acontifolium Emerald Lace There are others that I am not sure are going to dieback or not, budswell and leafing out still on-going here.
I'll be happy to sign in on mine, but the leaf-out is really slow this year. I only have a bloodgood that has pretty much leafed out. All the others are working on it. I am concerned about some, they seem to be really slow. A couple are old, established maples, too. We had 2 days of -20 degrees F. or more (I think it got to -22 one night and set a record) so it will be a good test. Kay
Officially Dead- 2 Baby Lace (several more are fine) 1 Coonara pygmy Dieback report. Most maples have put on some substaintial growth, despite some small twig dieback. My area where I have some dwarfs in the ground got hammered. it is exposed to winter winds. 3 inches and several branches off a 3-4 year Kamagata more on larger Sharp's Pygmy,8 inches off a small butterfly, 18" off some small Itame Nishiki. Main trunk lost about 1 ft on my Orido, and that was protected. Totally bummed about that. A few of the ones diedback on the leader, and it looks like a black and white blast to the outer layer. I will post a pic later. The outer branches look okay, but they didn't bud out. Lost quite a bit of my Green Cascade. Totally rugged trees it seems - and I might leave one out of the cold frame this year- The Ghost series and Aka Shigitsu Sawa, and all linearlobums except fairyhair. Koto No ito will be a good substitute. This time of the year they look great.
That's true for us too, a couple of hours up the coast. I'm not actually sure the term "dieback" applies here. A couple of trees -- 'Yezo Nishiki' and 'Ariadne' -- have upper or outer twigs that seem to be alive, but that don't seem to have produced viable buds. What I mean is, small buds formed and for a while they seemed to be swelling and reddening, as though preparing to open. Then at some point in the long, cold weeks of early spring, they just seem to have run out of energy or life-force or something. The actual leafing-out only extended to the node below these outer tips -- though the buds there still look alive, i.e. not blackened or hardened. I can't decide whether to snip those terminal tips off, so as to let the tree devote its energy to clearly viable tissue, or keep waiting to see what the trees will do.
Kaspian, This is exactly what I have noticed on mine in the Midwest. They look like they still have life, the twigs bend, there is still green if you scratch the twig, but the branches look yellow and dead. I don't know what to do either about pruning. Right now I am trying to just not look at them and wait until about mid-July to make decisions on any damage. EQ72521, I really agree with you on the Ghost series, they seem very tough and hardy. I am surprised (and pleased). Koto no ito is another surprise for me, too. I have it and these ghosts in the ground: Purple, Sister, and Grandmother. They have come through great for the last 3-4 years they have been in the ground. They were small, too. Now are just this year starting to look like trees:) The only problem I has is keeping the deer away from them. Sister and Grandma have both been nibbled. Do you have yours in the ground or containers? It sounded like containers. Kay
I have one ghost series in ground - sister ghost. I absolutely love it. great yellow fall color for me in non ideal lighting conditions.
It is interesting to me how some maple cultivars look like they would be extra delicate but in a brief time but have withstood various forms of abuse quite well. For me this includes sister ghost (no deer nibbles for me), fairyhair, jiro shidare and sharps pygmy. On the flip side baby lace and toyama nishiki looked delicate and did not do well me ... ** I am so sorry for all the extra posts. For some reason when I opened the editor browser and hit save, it came up as a reply - feel free to delete the extra posts - I just can't figure out how.
Hi Kay, I only have Peaches and Cream in the ground, and it had no dieback last year. Grandma Ghost and Purple Ghost pulled through real well. Grandma I guess is 5-6 year's old now. Now looks nice. Pic in orange pot. Most of them seem to slow down their growth this year on the 'top' terminal buds, producing smaller, sometimes defective looking leafs. None really had dieback. The first Ghost shows this in Pic. I am not sure some of the limbs are diseased here or not, or just having trouble getting sap up there:)
I have a lot, in ground, in pots, other genera, that look like that. Let me know if you find out how to "get the sap up there." :) Kay
