Mother-in-law's tongue Cold Hardiness

[Palmfarmer]

Hey, i have one i planted in my Cactus, Agave and succulent section of my garden however as winter is approaching i am having second thoughts and i considered putting it in a pot because of cold. Typical Climate in winter here is 32f/0c in the night and 60f/20c during the day and ones a year we can get a dip into the 20s but its extremly rare and only lasts a few hours at night. I cant really find some realiable information on how hardy this species throughly is. Does anyone have any Experience growing them in a a climate where the temps can drop at times? Thanks 

[Palmfarmer]

Edit My climate is different, i was looking at the wrong sheet. wintertime nighttemps are more like 3-10c and the biggest dip last year was -1

[Fusca]

When I lived in Austin (zone 8b) the previous owners of the house I bought had quite a bit of the common Sansevieria trifasciata planted in shaded spots around the property.  I didn't pay any attention to them but I remember that they were killed to the ground in severe freezes and came back from the roots in spring.  I recall that they experienced winter lows of 15° F (-9°C) at least 3 times. I'm guessing that if you were planting the same variety that I had they would probably not die back and stay green through your winter most years.  I don't recall what temp they experienced damage and I did not provide them any protection other than cedar elm leaves that naturally covered them each fall.  In fact I don't think I even provided them any water during our record-setting 2009 drought and they still survived.

Jon

[Ittai Baratz]

I am in the California bay area, zone 10a and mine is on the balcony in a pot with no problems. 

The lowest I've seen here is about 36F/2C, and it did not bother my snakes at all (The common name for them here is snake plants).

That said, we have rainy winters so if it was in the ground, a rainy winter might have caused some rot. Mine is in a spot somewhat protected from the rain, in a terracotta pot.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Ittai Baratz
More info

[Silas_Sancona]

  On 12/2/2019 at 3:49 PM, Fusca said:

When I lived in Austin (zone 8b) the previous owners of the house I bought had quite a bit of the common Sansevieria trifasciata planted in shaded spots around the property.  I didn't pay any attention to them but I remember that they were killed to the ground in severe freezes and came back from the roots in spring.  I recall that they experienced winter lows of 15° F (-9°C) at least 3 times. I'm guessing that if you were planting the same variety that I had they would probably not die back and stay green through your winter most years.  I don't recall what temp they experienced damage and I did not provide them any protection other than cedar elm leaves that naturally covered them each fall.  In fact I don't think I even provided them any water during our record-setting 2009 drought and they still survived.

Jon

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Would agree w/ Jon.. very tough plants..  annoying weeds in Florida. Had them growing around a large Weeping Bottlebrush in front of my apartment when I lived in Largo. Don't remember seeing any damage on them, or other clumps growing around town after the 2009/ 10 freeze.  Never got any extra water, other than rainfall either.  Interesting that some have mentioned problems in consistantly wet soil conditions since I've seen them growing in densely shaded swales that retain runoff for long periods of time without any apparent problems. 

That said, I'm sure they'd handle more cold better if drier.  

[Fresnotropics]

In zone 9b they overwinter under the frost protected areas of trees, rooflines etc. the frost and cold wet roots are more damaging than the low temps