More on the aroid front, and a class

Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 12:31:31 PM

Cold damage creeps on little cat feet, it appears. More yellow-then-brown leaves seem to reveal

This bird's nest Anthurium was
not covered for the cold.

themselves daily. Back in 1980, the International Aroid Society’s journal, Aroideana, published a small field study by Mark Moffler of the degrees of cold damage on aroids he was growing in Tampa. “The self-heading or arborescent philodendrons (Philodendron selloum and P. x evansii) and the birds-nest anthuriums (Anthurium hookeri and A. schlectendalii) appear to be the hardiest,’’ he wrote, while dieffenbachias and aglaonemas suffer in cold and need protection.

This aquatic aroid sat in warm water but was killed anyway.

Although colocasias, caladiums, alocasias and xanthosomas may be damaged and “go down in winter,’’ he continued, “they come back in the spring and can provide an excellent landscape accent.”

A lot depends on exposure and overhead canopy, wind protection and other factors. I’ve seen some totally brown monsteras and others that are unscathed. A tiny Anthurium clarinervium, one of those lovely velvet-leafed species, was killed in my shadehouse, while a mature A. magnificum is fine.

Chris Migliaccio, who will teach a Tuesday, Feb. 16 class called “Aroids from A to Z” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the garden, said “Generally heavy leaves are more hardy.” He plans to water less now, about once a week, and fertilize in March.

Deadline for online registration for Chris’ class is Feb. 12, and he will have a much better idea of survival rates then.

3 comments - Add a comment

During the recent cold-spell, the lowest temperature recorded on my enclosed terrace was 44F, however it nearly wiped-out all of my potted Dieffenbachia amoena 'Snow Queen'.

By contrast, Dieffenbachia maculata 'Camille' had damage to only a couple of leaves, and is otherwise fine.

Dieffenbachia picta 'Barraquiniana' appears to have no damage at all.

Out in the open garden where the coldest night fell to between 36F and 38F, Dieffenbachia amoena 'Snow Queen' foliage was zapped heavily.

So, the thought that the heavier the leaf, the more cold-tolerant may not hold true for Dieffenbachias.

posted by Michael, Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 8:50 PM

I think dieffenbachias in general are pretty susceptible to cold.

posted by Georgia, Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 7:08 AM

And yet, as time goes on, I'm seeing ever greater damage to Dieffenbachia amonea in my enclosed, potted terrace garden than to the other varieties of Doeffenbachia, to date.

In fact, the varieties are mixed in the same large planters, and while most of my D. amonea has been almost completely wiped out (from root rot?) the other two species mentioned above are fine, and in fact D. maculata showed minor damage, and D. picta was totally untouched.

Again, this is just anecdotal to my terrace garden (where the lowest temp was digitally recorded at 44F), and it would be interesting to see if Dieffenbachia commercial growers and enthusiasts/hybridizers noticed a similar distinction to cold-tolerance between the various species.

posted by Michael, Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 11:51 AM

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Georgia Tasker

Georgia Tasker was the garden writer for The Miami Herald for over 30 years and has written four books on gardening. Her blog is a must read for any gardener.