Cold-Hardy Plants

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Cold-Hardy Plants

Magnolia asheii

A well-planned Florida garden can and should look good all year long. There are many evergreen and deciduous plants to choose from that are reliably cold-hardy, as well as many that may surprise some gardeners.

Aloe vera, the plant used to treat sunburn, will turn to mush when temperatures dip below freezing in my garden, yet there are at least three other hardy aloes that not only thrive, but will even bloom during our coldest months of the year. One of these species, Aloe saponaria, is becoming more common in many gardens. It is easy to propagate, and requires no supplemental irrigation. It blooms periodically throughout the year, producing small, tubular coral bells that hang down from a two to three foot tall flowering stalk that resembles a delicate candelabra.

Another species, Aloe greatheadii, looks very similar to A. saponaria, except its flowers are a deeper, ruby color, and the flowering stalk is narrower and not as full. The plant is a bit larger, and doesn't seem to produce offshoots as easily as A. saponaria does.

Aloe greatheadii

Both species do very well in light shade, and in my opinion look better than those grown in full sun. The plants develop an open, spreading rosette, and are a beautiful apple-green, the broad leaves flecked and banded with silver and white markings. The plants produce numerous offshoots, often referred to as "pups," which can be detached with little or no roots, and potted up in a sterile potting medium.

Hippeastrum hybrids (more commonly referred to as Amaryllis) are very hardy, but most are deciduous during the coldest months of the year. One exception is Hippeastrum 'San Antonio Rose.' This variety is evergreen, producing three to four narrow, dark green leaves at a time, each leaf edged in red, and with a red stripe running the length of the underside of each leaf. It produces tomato-red flowers in the spring, the throats tinged a lovely light green. During a recent cold snap the water in my birdbath froze solid - 'San Antonio Rose' planted just a few inches away was unfazed by the freezing temperatures, and retained all its leaves without any damage. This variety also offsets readily, producing smaller bulbs around the main plant. These can be lifted from time to time, and moved to other parts of the garden.