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Philodendron selloum freeze recovery


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Philodendron selloum is a main staple, in terms of plants, I grow all about my property.

This past January I recorded a low temperature reading of 23.5 F (-4.7 C) in my front yard, 5 feet above the ground and 15 feet out from the east side of my house. However, I'm sure the temperature was lower in other parts of my property, especially the north side that backs up to state scrub land property.

My Philodendron selloums growing along the north side of my property were totally defoliated. However, on the south side of my property, where it is lightly wooded, the P. selloums weren't hurt at all.

The below photo is of some of my P. selloums growing along the north border of my property, looking basically east. This photo was taken approximately one month after the freeze. You can see some new growth starting to appear:

2333903070042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

The below photo was taken a couple of days ago, basically from the same view point. A virtual full recovery!:

2180037750042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

This view is looking north last February:

2937258510042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

This view is looking north two days ago:

2021402610042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Of all the tropical plants and palms, etc., I grow, nothing compares to freeze recovery (fastest) to my P. selloums.

Mad about palms

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Wow Walt, thats some cold down there.

thanks for sharing this. These are great plants are common throughout florida. They are becomming more popular here in Tally and recover fast from hard freezes.

this year mine defoliated as well but looks good as new now . under canopy and in warmer spots around town they did not show damage.

awesome plant and I keep planting more

Luke

Tallahassee, FL - USDA zone 8b/9a

63" rain annually

January avg 65/40 - July avg 92/73

North Florida Palm Society - http://palmsociety.blogspot.com/

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Wow Walt, thats some cold down there.

thanks for sharing this. These are great plants are common throughout florida. They are becomming more popular here in Tally and recover fast from hard freezes.

this year mine defoliated as well but looks good as new now . under canopy and in warmer spots around town they did not show damage.

awesome plant and I keep planting more

Luke: When I planted my first P. selloums (one gallon sizes I bought at Walmart) I had no idea of their cold hardiness nor their growth rate. I think I planted my first selloums in 1999. They grew very fast. On January 5, 2001, they were subjected to 22 degrees (my coldest freeze ever here). I thought they were goners. However, they came back with a vengeance and by June one would never have known they were ever frozen back. Five years after planting from one gallon sizes they were eight feet high overall. They got so big the stems just fell over and the plants started growing laterally, but wanting to bend up (geotropism).

Another fast grower for me is Ficus alttisima 'variegata'. Most winters (but not all) it gets some defoliation from low temperatures in the high 20s with frost. This year, however, it was almost completely defoliated, plus the outer branches up to 2.5 " in diameter were frozen back. My ficus is coming back strong now and has totally releafed.

Ficus altissima 'variegata' after last January's three back to back nights of freezes in the low to mid 20s F. Only the top inner leaves weren't defoliated:

2881540790042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

F. altissima now releafed. Note some dead outer branches still visible. Much of the dead branch tips have rotted and fallen off, but there' still more to go:

2080096960042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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Philodendron selloum Grow outside down here @ 42 deg south never had mine burnt by frost . Amazing recovery

Old Beach ,Hobart
Tasmania ,Australia. 42 " south
Cool Maritime climate

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Philodendron selloum is growable in Jacksonville, Florida, where temperatures will get below 20F. Surprisingly hardy.

I got rid of the ones in my yard after the 2005 hurricanes. They tend to crawl across the landscape, take up a great deal of space, and harbor colonies of carpenter ants in cavities at the bases of the petioles. In their place are a whole lot of palms, heliconias, hippeastrums, and a few Simpson stopper bushes. A Carpentaria planted before their demise now has about 4 feet of clear trunk, and a stopper bush planted in 2006 is already about 15' with nice bark and elegant small deep-green leaves.

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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Walt, I have always followed your picture travels around the lake you live near (you may want to provide your photo links) and I am astonished that you have damage to P. Selloum but have coconuts growing not too far away. Amazing microclimates in your area!! It is also equally astonishing that your have the extreme damage to the Philodendrons but relatively small damage to your Ravenalas. BTW, your Ficusl ooks great!

Coastal San Diego, California

Z10b

Dry summer subtropical/Mediterranean

warm summer/mild winter

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Philodendron selloum Grow outside down here @ 42 deg south never had mine burnt by frost . Amazing recovery

No way will P. selloum grew outdoors (and survive) much above 30 degrees here on the US east coast. I know there are some exceptions, as I've seen photos of them. My selloums have been seriously defoliated twice, this past January and January 5, 2001, due to severe radiational freezes.

Mad about palms

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Philodendron selloum is growable in Jacksonville, Florida, where temperatures will get below 20F. Surprisingly hardy.

I got rid of the ones in my yard after the 2005 hurricanes. They tend to crawl across the landscape, take up a great deal of space, and harbor colonies of carpenter ants in cavities at the bases of the petioles. In their place are a whole lot of palms, heliconias, hippeastrums, and a few Simpson stopper bushes. A Carpentaria planted before their demise now has about 4 feet of clear trunk, and a stopper bush planted in 2006 is already about 15' with nice bark and elegant small deep-green leaves.

As I stated, my selloums can't maintain a vertical trunk, but fall over and grow laterally. They are creeping farther and farther away from their original planting area.

I planted these as one gallons sizes close to the Sabal palmetto:

2612320610042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

2719929540042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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Walt, I have always followed your picture travels around the lake you live near (you may want to provide your photo links) and I am astonished that you have damage to P. Selloum but have coconuts growing not too far away. Amazing microclimates in your area!! It is also equally astonishing that your have the extreme damage to the Philodendrons but relatively small damage to your Ravenalas. BTW, your Ficusl ooks great!

Epicure3: The county I live in (Highlands County) contains the southern most end of the Lake Wales Ridge. I live almost off the eastern side of the ridge, in a pocket area where cold air sinks into. During radiational freezes (which comprise about 95% of freezes we get here) high ground runs much warmer (due to air stratification and inversion) than low ground. While I was wiped out at my place, just up the hill in town there was no damage at all! I estimate it was 10 degrees warmer up in town and all points on the highest ground, even those in more rural areas.

I drove around the county after the radiational freezes. High ground locations fared the best; lake front areas were second best. This past January the official coldest temperature in my county was 15 degrees (Archbold Biological Station, 9 miles south of me and 8 miles south of Lake Placid proper). Again, I recorded 23.5 degrees for a low (but probably had some areas of my property colder than that, but some other areas warmer).

The "lake effect" for this past January's coldest night didn't carry out far -- for most lakes. The larger the lake the farther it carried. I live near a small lake (367 acres). I saw, at some lake front homes, adonidia palms in the back yard (lake side) in pristine condition, while the same palm in the front yard had medium frost burn. But again, up in town, there was no burn or damage of any kind that I could see.

Small damage to my ravenala? No way! It got fried!

My traveler's palm two weeks before the freezes:

2277305180042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

My traveler's palm a couple days after the freezes (it eventually looked much worse than this, after several weeks time):

2546770120042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

My traveler's palm now, recovering. It's put out six new fronds (with another now emerging), but the petioles seems shorter. It will take two years to regrow a full crown as it was before the freezes:

2040138690042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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Walt,

Around me, all or most survived the 80's freezes. The plant is nearly indestructable.

Ray

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Walt,

Around me, all or most survived the 80's freezes. The plant is nearly indestructable.

Ray

Ray. I believe it, as I can't foresee it getting much colder at my place as it did this past January. Good thing, too, as I planted two more traveler's palms just about a month ago.

Mad about palms

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P. bipinnatifidum (aka P. selloum) is amazingly hardy, grows beautifully in landscapes here, we see at least one long freeze (10+ hours) each year, absolute min of 22-24F most years. They are evergreen under canopy in a typical winter, burn or defoliate under open sky depending on the temp (23F seeming to be the threshold for major leaf-damage or defoliation in the open). In my courtyard, even in large containers, they usually defoliate but they regrow new leaves each spring from the top of the stem...neither trunks nor roots in containers seem to have a problem, though any aerial trunk-roots will go to mush after a hard freeze. Though I wouldn't expect a containerized specimen to survive bad winters in the southeast, though. Trunks probably go to the ground once temps dip somewhere into the teens.

Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC (zone 8a) has supposedly overwintered these as returning root-hardy perennials to about 0 degrees F with typically long NC freezes. I have seen other anecdotals that they are grown as diebacks in parts of Tennessee as well. Brrrrrr.

I'm trialing some of the spectacular old Evans and Reeves hybrid P. x 'Evansii' this year in the ground, bipinnatifidum/selloum is one of the parents and this hybrid is known to have some good hardiness, but not sure if they can take as much as bipinnatifidum, nor whether they've been tested to much extent north of 9b in the humid south.

A friend planted planted the dwarf 'Xanadu' last year in a suburban setting that probably sees about 20-21F in the open, they're under an overhang so protected, but they did very well, just a little bit of burn. Look great presently.

Michael Norell

Rancho Mirage, California | 33°44' N 116°25' W | 287 ft | z10a | avg Jan 43/70F | Jul 78/108F avg | Weather Station KCARANCH310

previously Big Pine Key, Florida | 24°40' N 81°21' W | 4.5 ft. | z12a | Calcareous substrate | avg annual min. approx 52F | avg Jan 65/75F | Jul 83/90 | extreme min approx 41F

previously Natchez, Mississippi | 31°33' N 91°24' W | 220 ft.| z9a | Downtown/river-adjacent | Loess substrate | avg annual min. 23F | Jan 43/61F | Jul 73/93F | extreme min 2.5F (1899); previously Los Angeles, California (multiple locations)

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"As I stated, my selloums can't maintain a vertical trunk, but fall over and grow laterally. They are creeping farther and farther away from their original planting area."

Walt , with some effort you should be able to get them to climb up some palm trunks .

I have made sure I plant most next to a palm or tree , and when they start getting a bit of a trunk , I will start winding strong rope around the Philo and host and try and get them closer .

If you have a strong vertical sucker , you can always cut off the creeping space hog . I am sure someone would take it off your hands .

Michael in palm paradise,

Tully, wet tropics in Australia, over 4 meters of rain every year.

Home of the Golden Gumboot, its over 8m high , our record annual rainfall.

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P. bipinnatifidum (aka P. selloum) is amazingly hardy, grows beautifully in landscapes here, we see at least one long freeze (10+ hours) each year, absolute min of 22-24F most years. They are evergreen under canopy in a typical winter, burn or defoliate under open sky depending on the temp (23F seeming to be the threshold for major leaf-damage or defoliation in the open). In my courtyard, even in large containers, they usually defoliate but they regrow new leaves each spring from the top of the stem...neither trunks nor roots in containers seem to have a problem, though any aerial trunk-roots will go to mush after a hard freeze. Though I wouldn't expect a containerized specimen to survive bad winters in the southeast, though. Trunks probably go to the ground once temps dip somewhere into the teens.

Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC (zone 8a) has supposedly overwintered these as returning root-hardy perennials to about 0 degrees F with typically long NC freezes. I have seen other anecdotals that they are grown as diebacks in parts of Tennessee as well. Brrrrrr.

I'm trialing some of the spectacular old Evans and Reeves hybrid P. x 'Evansii' this year in the ground, bipinnatifidum/selloum is one of the parents and this hybrid is known to have some good hardiness, but not sure if they can take as much as bipinnatifidum, nor whether they've been tested to much extent north of 9b in the humid south.

A friend planted planted the dwarf 'Xanadu' last year in a suburban setting that probably sees about 20-21F in the open, they're under an overhang so protected, but they did very well, just a little bit of burn. Look great presently.

My Xanadu was totally defoliated, but is coming back nicly now. Also, my Philodendron Burly Marx was defoliated (but has nearly recovered already), as well as pothos vines, Monstera deliciosa and Monstera friedrichstahlii et al tropical vines, etc., except vine foliage above about 25 feet in trees, as it was warmer at higher elevation due to air inversion.

Mad about palms

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"As I stated, my selloums can't maintain a vertical trunk, but fall over and grow laterally. They are creeping farther and farther away from their original planting area."

Walt , with some effort you should be able to get them to climb up some palm trunks .

I have made sure I plant most next to a palm or tree , and when they start getting a bit of a trunk , I will start winding strong rope around the Philo and host and try and get them closer .

If you have a strong vertical sucker , you can always cut off the creeping space hog . I am sure someone would take it off your hands .

Michael, I have on a particular P. selloum growing right up against a tall pine tree. It's about 3 meters high overall now and hasn't fallen over due to its shear size and weight. I may tie it to the tree (to help support it) and see how high it will grow. Of course, I don't care if they fall over and grow somewhat laterally. I use P. selloums all over my property to help achieve a more tropical look, and it really doesn't matter to me if they don't continue to grow vertically.

Mad about palms

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Walt--

It's good to know your P. 'Burle-Marx' has recovered, I have a small one and haven't the courage to put it in the ground until either it gets larger or I top it to make a second plant for security. I also have found that Monstera deliciosa is quite root-hardy here, I bury the stems and though they defoliate under canopy below about 25-27F, they pop right back in spring. My large plant is already quite full again, leaves are large and splitting. Other tropical aroids I've found to be good here in my 9a location as perennials and that have some leaf hardiness under canopy are Philodendron mexicanum and good ol' Epipremnum aureum (Pothos), the latter seems unkillable if some stems are buried, even in a good long freeze. But they're too slow here in shade to make enough of a recovery to look impressive by the end of each season. One that didn't even defoliate at 23F under canopy was Syngonium podophyllum, this seems just as hardy as P. bipinnatifidum. It grows fast (as I think all you Floridians know)...I can't wait to see it climb the trees and get its adult foliage. Jury's out on P. subincisum, seemingly root-hardy as I had a smallish one come back this spring, but it's in a chronically dry spot and isn't growing much, it is disappointingly slow for me.

Michael Norell

Rancho Mirage, California | 33°44' N 116°25' W | 287 ft | z10a | avg Jan 43/70F | Jul 78/108F avg | Weather Station KCARANCH310

previously Big Pine Key, Florida | 24°40' N 81°21' W | 4.5 ft. | z12a | Calcareous substrate | avg annual min. approx 52F | avg Jan 65/75F | Jul 83/90 | extreme min approx 41F

previously Natchez, Mississippi | 31°33' N 91°24' W | 220 ft.| z9a | Downtown/river-adjacent | Loess substrate | avg annual min. 23F | Jan 43/61F | Jul 73/93F | extreme min 2.5F (1899); previously Los Angeles, California (multiple locations)

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Walt--

It's good to know your P. 'Burle-Marx' has recovered, I have a small one and haven't the courage to put it in the ground until either it gets larger or I top it to make a second plant for security. I also have found that Monstera deliciosa is quite root-hardy here, I bury the stems and though they defoliate under canopy below about 25-27F, they pop right back in spring. My large plant is already quite full again, leaves are large and splitting. Other tropical aroids I've found to be good here in my 9a location as perennials and that have some leaf hardiness under canopy are Philodendron mexicanum and good ol' Epipremnum aureum (Pothos), the latter seems unkillable if some stems are buried, even in a good long freeze. But they're too slow here in shade to make enough of a recovery to look impressive by the end of each season. One that didn't even defoliate at 23F under canopy was Syngonium podophyllum, this seems just as hardy as P. bipinnatifidum. It grows fast (as I think all you Floridians know)...I can't wait to see it climb the trees and get its adult foliage. Jury's out on P. subincisum, seemingly root-hardy as I had a smallish one come back this spring, but it's in a chronically dry spot and isn't growing much, it is disappointingly slow for me.

Michael,

I bought my P. B. Marx in Oct. of 2005 (or maybe 2006) and planted it at the base of a scrub oak. It's a fairly slow grower for me in terms of Philodendrons. This past winter was the first time it was defoliated, let alone hurt in any way, as it's back in a light wooded area where frost is infrequent.

The plant was almost totally defoliated, less maybe 2-3 leaves there weren't hurt at all (I've seen this with so many plants and palms).

In any event, as you can see from the two below photos, it's making a great come back. It's really picking up steam now with this hot and humid weather (truly tropical now).

The first photo below is of my only P. xanadu. It started out as one plant but has developed into several. This plant, in the past, has receieved some minor leaf damage during winters past, but this past winter was the first it was totally defoliated.

I like aroids and recently purchased four plants (both alocasia and colocasia. Ones I didn't have yet) because they always come back after winter.

Another vine, Philodendron scandans, also was almost totally defoliated except for leaves very high up in the trees where it was slightly warmer. These vines had grown to the top of the tree and then spilled over and grew back down to the ground. The vine stems in the air were frozen and killed, but the stems on the tree trunks survived and they are growing nicely again. However, it will probably be the end of the year if not sometime next year (provided they aren't frozen again this winter) before they will have grown completely back as they were.

I have some other climbing vines but have no idea what they are. I'd like to aquire even more tropical vines to help round out my collection of plants. Of course, I only want vines that are root and stem hardy for my area. I may post a photo later of them. I'm sure someone can I.D. them.

You mentioned Syngonium podophyllum. Is that commonly called arrow head vine? If so, I have many of them growing. I can't recall if they were hurt or not by the freeze. In any event, they look good now.

100_2508.jpg

100_2493.jpg

100_2494.jpg

Some of my Philodendron scandans before last winter's freeze:

2148681580042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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My late friend Paul Drummond once told me that the botanical garden in the conservatory was bombed during WWII in Berlin, Germany. Berlin then got an incredible snow storm and that only plant that was still green was P. selloum.

I think it would out live any silk plant. But I agree, it is tropical in looks, but does 'walk' taking up too much ground space. I have many more varieties of 'self heading' philodendrons. I pulled out all of my P. selloum.

Rick Leitner

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

26.07N/80.15W

Zone 10B

Average Annual Low 67 F

Average Annual High 84 F

Average Annual Rainfall 62"

 

Riverfront exposure, 1 mile from Atlantic Ocean

Part time in the western mountains of North Carolina

Gratefully, the best of both worlds!

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Large, pre 1980's freeze specimens are all around Tampa Bay.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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  • 2 weeks later...
Large, pre 1980's freeze specimens are all around Tampa Bay.

I think my philodendron 'Chumley/miniature selloum' has held up under the most severe freezes during the 60's,

70's , 80's and until now. Julias Boos concurs that the plant coming from high elevation at the most Southern range that philodendrons grow in the mountains of Uraguay has got to be "extremely cold tolerant" . I, being a large grower of cycads at the time, in Plant City, Fla., remember 100,000 cycads having icicles (even covered) with the temperatures in the mid teens for two days straight duration..........but never even thought to protect my "special selloum" which was under an oak tree in the shade. It was fine,but the cycads all defoliated. You can google 'miniature selloum' or go to tropicsphere or jungle forums to read the history. My personal photo album is:.......................................................http://s243.photobucket.com/albums/ff145/chumleyrobert/ .............

I have recently seeded the plant and a hybrid of it as well,so hopefully soon, it will be available. Any visits are welcomed to see the plant...............I must warn you it IS NOT a miniature. ............Robert Chumley

Same as above

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  • 12 years later...

I don't know the policy for bumping old posts, but I came across this one and thought it might be helpful.

I'm in Shreveport and we were part of the big freeze last winter. Low of 2F and below freezing for about a week. These are some Selloums, which aren't philodendron anymore, that came back and thrived this summer. As big as they were last summer. The big one is the standard one and to the right is Hope. They were under about 8 inches of frozen stuff so that had to help. These things are tough.

 

20211229_164612.jpg

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They’re pretty root hardy. I’ve had them take damage above ground from a deep freeze but they always come back next spring. 

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8 hours ago, Chester B said:

They’re pretty root hardy. I’ve had them take damage above ground from a deep freeze but they always come back next spring. 

There is a store not to far from me that has two potted ones and they are evergreen all year.  They have overhead protection and face south with a overhang roof.  They have been evergreen down to 22F.  This is it after a 25F freeze and three day below 32F. Not only is the plant dry but so is the soil. 

IMG-0128.jpg

Edited by Paradise Found
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