It’s mid-February and you may have already missed seeing the fragrant yellow blossoms of wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox). Its tiny flowers, 3/4 to 1 inch across, open in the coldest period of the winter season. Blooms are weather-proof, rarely injured when nighttime temps dip below freezing in zones 6 and 7. Bloom injury likely occurs as […]
Archive for February 15th, 2010
Fragrant Wintersweet in Bloom Now
Posted by Hugh on February 15th, 2010
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Comments Off on Fragrant Wintersweet in Bloom NowThermotropism in Plants
Posted by Hugh on February 15th, 2010
How cold is it outside this morning? Look out the window….perhaps your rhododendron is telling you. On very cold winter mornings some broadleaf evergreen shrubs, like rhododendron and daphniphyllum in my landscape, droop down and/or curl up. (see photo). This is a specific response by some plants to sub-freezing temperatures, called “thermotropism”.Scientists do not fully […]
