Anthurium hookeri cold tolerance?

[Reyes Vargas]

Does anyone know what the cold tolerance of Anthurium hookeri (aka birds nest Anthurium) is.  I have one that I think is Anthurium hookeri but don't know for sure since it was gifted to me by one of my grandma's friend.  The one I have had been planted in the ground for many years (over 10 years).  It went through the arctic blast without any protection and looked dead after.  The growing point fell off but as of a few days ago I noticed that it was starting to sprout from the trunk.  Here is a picture.

You can see where the growing point fell and is just to the left of the plant on the ground.  I didn't expect this plant to survive 23° unprotected.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Reyes Vargas

[Keys6505]

I always wondered the same.  That's incredible that it came back from 23.  There was a well established one at the Houston zoo that was well protected and from what I understand was there for years.  The zoo example prompted me to buy one last year, but even though it was labeled Hookeri I'm 99.9% sure it's not as it took a beating in a pot outside when temps barely dropped under 40.  There's very little info online about cold tolerance of Philos and Anthuriums, mostly just guesses and now with the current plant craze it's almost too expensive to buy test dummies.  I do have a P. Subincusim in ground that's rumored to be almost as tough as Bipinnatifidum. It was growing up an oak but I wussed out and dug it before the freeze, so it's currently working on getting reestablished.

[metalfan]

Anthurium hookeri is a generic term for a bird nest anthurium (section Pachyneurium) that has been applied to these plants for years now. Anthurium hookeri is an actual plant...a Pachyneurium Anthurium, but its extremely rare, and somehow ALL pachys that have no definitive ID are labeled hookeri. Hookeri has a very specific identifying factor...the spadix produces WHITE berries. No other pachy has white berries.. Your Anthurium is most likely a hybrid called 'Marie'.

[Reyes Vargas]

23 hours ago, metalfan said:

Anthurium hookeri is a generic term for a bird nest anthurium (section Pachyneurium) that has been applied to these plants for years now. Anthurium hookeri is an actual plant...a Pachyneurium Anthurium, but its extremely rare, and somehow ALL pachys that have no definitive ID are labeled hookeri. Hookeri has a very specific identifying factor...the spadix produces WHITE berries. No other pachy has white berries.. Your Anthurium is most likely a hybrid called 'Marie'.

Yeah my plant produced red berries.  So I probably have a hybrid like you say.

[Keys6505]

I was at the Houston Zoo today and I'm 99.9999% sure this is the Hookeri that I was referencing.  Hard to tell when all my plant landmarks are dead.  As @metalfan mmentioned, I'm only referring to it as "Hookeri" based on visual appearance, habit and rumored cold tolerance.  This is planted at the base of a 25'-ish faux cliff (so basically a masonary wall) with generous live oak canopy nearby, so very protected but this area saw low teens and it is definitely still alive.

[metalfan]

I had some large pachyneuriums outside here that went through our 2 nights of 24 and 25 back to back which was as cold as we got here last winter and they all survived. Those that were planted as understory under other stuff like palms and the eaves did not even sustain much damage. Those that were completely in the open got stung but are releasing from the core now

[Keys6505]

12 hours ago, metalfan said:

I had some large pachyneuriums outside here that went through our 2 nights of 24 and 25 back to back which was as cold as we got here last winter and they all survived. Those that were planted as understory under other stuff like palms and the eaves did not even sustain much damage. Those that were completely in the open got stung but are releasing from the core now

So the whole genus has the cold tolerance traits?  Do you have any experience with them in temps lower than 24?

[metalfan]

No I do not believe the entire SECTION (Pachyneurium is a section of the GENUS Anthurium) that includes Pachyneuriums are cold tolerant. The section Pachyneurium is the largest section of Anthurium. Hundreds of species and hybrids. This is one reason why almost any Pachyneurium (which are the Birdsnest anthuriums) that cannot be conclusively identified by morphological traits is referred to as an Anthurium hookeri. Somehow it just became a catch all name for any unidentified Pachy, even though there IS a very rare species plant named Anthurium hookeri. Just like most plants sold as Anthurium jenmanii are actually Anthurium bonplandii. Mistaken identity

[Reyes Vargas]

Well I just passed by my Anthurium and saw a small flower.  Not only did it survive the arctic blast but it's starting to flower.

[metalfan]

super cool! Next year if you cover it, it will probably not get that much damage

[Reyes Vargas]

5 hours ago, metalfan said:

super cool! Next year if you cover it, it will probably not get that much damage

I know I should have covered it but was busy covering other stuff and forgot all about it.  It has been in the ground for years without any protection.  This arctic blast was a once in 40-50 year thing.  I doubt it will happen again anytime soon (cross my fingers).

[metalfan]

I know the feeling. I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast below Corpus Christi. It never dropped below 40F there, I can only recall one winter where it actually froze.  Here in my part of FL we do get frost sometimes, but actual freezes are becoming more and more infrequent. The Arctic Express that froze you also froze us, we dropped to the mid-20's for 2 consecutive nights. I never cover anything. It has to be able to take its chances here. I trial a lot of stuff out, we are technically zone 9A but the past 4 winters we have had almost like 10A winters. I have plumeria, monstera deliciosa, Philodendron tripartitum, Philodendron Jose Buono, and various other assorted zone 10 plants planted in my yard to see if they cam make it long term. So far, so good. This is one of the Pachyneuriums that made it through the freeze uncovered. I am pretty sure its a 'Marie'. And this is one of my plumerias that made it, I have maybe 10-12 planted out in various places to test the microclimates Curiously enough, one of the plants I actually lost was a young Foxtail palm, but it wasn;t under cover, just out under the stars, so in a poor microclimate.