Palm/tree fern freeze survival in Fukuoka, Japan

[Fukuoka Scott]

Hello to those I’ve not said hello to yet! I’m Scott, American permanent resident of Japan. I bought our house in 9b Fukuoka (hot and humid but fairly short summers, chilly but relatively mild winters with occasional light snow), in western Japan 9 years ago, and with it inherited a small garden with a large koi pond and a steep slope behind it. Gradually over the years I’ve changed the look of the garden to one with a more lush look, first with tree ferns, then with palms and other tropicals.

 

The first pic shows the original state of the garden, with the pond making most of the space unusable. Once the pond was filled in and pavers laid, the space was a lot more inviting.

 

I mention tree ferns because my oldest son had a thing for them since he was a small child in California. Early on we had Cyathea medullaris, Cyathea spinulosa, Dicksonia antarctica, Asplenium nidum and a Strelitzia reginae brought from our old townhouse. But in January 2016, we had a 40-year freeze. Most years we have about a week or so worth of nights when it hits freezing, usually -1C or -2C at worst, rebounding to 5C in the daytime. But this freeze was sustained, down to -4.5C, and lasted a full 48 hours below freezing. The cyatheas and other exotics all died, bougainvillea and Strelitzia froze to the ground, with only the two Dicksonias surviving. After that I decided to start putting in palms, since I like them a lot. And lo and behold, this January we had another rare sustained freeze, 40 hours. This time bottoming out at -2, thankfully. So here is how the collection did!
 

Not pictured: 6 small queens, which are bulletproof here, and an Arenga engleri, also hardy here, a Chambeyronia macrocarpa I grew from seed and put in the ground this spring after the freeze, and a couple of Beccariophoenix alfredii seedlings in pots I’m trying to figure out what to do with...

 

Pictured below you can see the Asplenium antiquum (a Japanese native to replace the more tender A. nidum) Chamaedorea cataractarum, which was totally unprotected and looks pretty rough but seems to be coming back, a Cyathea spinulosa (Japanese native but it seems relatively tender), Dicksonia antarctica (more sensitive to our heat than our winters), Syagrus weddeliana (which has turned out to be remarkably hardy and well suited to our climate), Howea forsteriana, which got a bit burned, Strelitzia nicolai, severely damaged because it’s in a windy spot, heavily damaged Strelitzia reginae (it will come back), Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, which I covered with frost cloth and it doesn’t look too bad, Cyathea (Alsophila) cooperi, which is a BEAST in this climate. The only reason it looks this raggedy is that I transplanted it from the other side of the garden last fall and it’s still sulking. Finally, the second Dicksonia and another Strelitzia nicolai that was a bit more sheltered.

 

Now it’s May and the highs are in the low to mid 70s but it should be getting muggy in June followed by July, August and half of September with temps in the low/mid 90s. Hoping the damaged plants will start to flourish with the heat. Next weekend I’m going to Miyazaki on the east coast of Kyushu to buy some more Arenga engleri to put in various dull pockets of the garden.

 

Anyway, pleasure to meet you!

 

 

[zero]

Very nice garden Scott!  We hit -13° and -11° on consecutive nights back in mid-February with nearly 100 hours below freezing and my Strelitzia nicolai survived unprotected much to my surprise!

[Fukuoka Scott]

42 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Very nice garden Scott!  We hit -13° and -11° on consecutive nights back in mid-February with nearly 100 hours below freezing and my Strelitzia nicolai survived unprotected much to my surprise!

Oh that’s very encouraging! Thanks!

And boy that is a rough freeze!

[Chester B]

Very cool.  Please share updates through summer.

[PricklyPearSATC]

3 hours ago, Fusca said:

Very nice garden Scott!  We hit -13° and -11° on consecutive nights back in mid-February with nearly 100 hours below freezing and my Strelitzia nicolai survived unprotected much to my surprise!

Say what???????

(Runs out and buys it!)


Sorry to hijack the thread!

Edited May 6, 2021 by PricklyPearSATC

[PricklyPearSATC]

Beautiful!  Love it!

Lived in Tokyo between 1960 and 1963.  Japan is so enchanting. 

[Xenon]

Very nice! Now I really want a "cold hardy" Asplenium...

[zero]

3 hours ago, PricklyPearSATC said:

Say what???????
(Runs out and buys it!)

Sorry to hijack the thread!

Here it is.  On the south side of the house with only bougainvillea leaves to protect it.  I forgot to mention that the temps I provided in my previous post were converted to Celcius.  Interestingly the boug. hasn't come back although 2 smaller ones on the west side of the house did.

 

[Collectorpalms]

Mine came back too. Orange and White Bird of Paradise.

[Reyes Vargas]

Here is mine before the freeze.

And here it is after the freeze.  It only endured 23°f but it's out in the open.

 

[Axel Amsterdam]

On 5/7/2021 at 1:17 AM, Reyes Vargas said:

Here is mine before the freeze.

And here it is after the freeze.  It only endured 23°f but it's out in the open.

 

My small nicolai also came back from soil level after 24f. I wonder if the large pseudotrunk in the picture resumed growth or did it only regrow from soil level?