Anyone Growing "Scarlet Belle" Inground Zone 7 or Colder?

[SubRosa]

Like the title says. I understand that S. psittacina isn't as cold hardy as the other members of the genus, and being that Scarlet Belle is a hybrid of psittacina I'm curious as to whether I should expect mine to survive the winter inground in SE PA. Anyone have experience in this matter? TIA!

 

[chibae]

I grow my psittacinas in both barrel bogs and container bogs year round in Zone 7b. The barrels are mulched over and the smaller containers are buried up to their rims for the winter to help prevent freezing. been doing so for years without problems.

 

[SubRosa]

Ok thanks, good to know!

 

[Cthulhu138]

I grow several forms of psitticina and a few of it's hybrids including 'Scarlet Belle' outside year round in zone 5 with no issues. The only plants that don't do well up here are minor and rosea.

 

[scottychaos]

I grow several forms of psitticina and a few of it's hybrids including 'Scarlet Belle' outside year round in zone 5 with no issues. The only plants that don't do well up here are minor and rosea.

Boston area is zone 6 or 7..
not zone 5.

Scot

 

[chibae]

For what it's worth, I grow my minors the same way, without any problems

 

[Cthulhu138]

Boston area is zone 6 or 7..
not zone 5.

Scot

Boston is actually zone 5. Most of RI and CT are in zone 6 but, most of Mass is solidly zone 5.

 

[scottychaos]

Boston is actually zone 5. Most of RI and CT are in zone 6 but, most of Mass is solidly zone 5.

Not according to every USDA chart in existence:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/images/landers/LargeHardinessZoneMap.jpg

http://0.tqn.com/d/landscaping/1/0/E/a/NE_region.jpg

and the best one:
http://0.tqn.com/d/treesandshrubs/1/0/v/F/-/-/MassachusettsZones.jpg

As I said, Boston area is in zone 6 and 7.
And most of Mass is solidly zone 6 and 7..
less than half of the state is zone 5, and its the half on the other side of the state from Boston.

Scot

 

[Cthulhu138]

Scot, you have to go by the temperatures, not the colored map. Those are almost always off a bit. Any grower or farmer in the area will tell you that we are in zone 5A according to the actual temperatures we experience.

 

[nitwig]

Hey I just want to chime in on the hardiness zone discussion. When was the last time we hit -10 degrees Fahrenheit in this area? I don't believe wind chill factors into the cold hardiness zone determination. I live in Bedford, MA and I can't remember the temperature falling below -5 for a long time. The chart says I am in zone 6b and that seems quite accurate based on the temperatures we have had here recently. It is hard to find weather data that shows lowest temperature by year, but the map seems very accurate to me.

 

[scottychaos]

Scot, you have to go by the temperatures, not the colored map. Those are almost always off a bit. Any grower or farmer in the area will tell you that we are in zone 5A according to the actual temperatures we experience.

Wow, so you are right..and the USDA, the United States Department of Agriculture,
the people who actually *created* the USDA zones we are talking about, and have spent the previous
half a century gathering the data, researching and fine-tuning their USDA hardiness maps, for the entire USA, are wrong..
interesting..

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Sorry, but you just cant pull that off!
Its your word against the USDA, one of you is wrong about the USDA zones of Boston..
um, yeah..it's definitely you.

Scot

 

[dionae]

Zone 6b here and I grow minors, scarlette belles, psittacina and psittacina hybrids without a problem in pots, bogs and mini bogs without any special protection during the winter.

 

[Wire Man]

I grow psittacina and minor inground all year, no mulching, no problem.