Conifer cold-hardiness list

[philinsydney]

This fascinating list was on GardenWeb. I wish there was a similar one for the well-known flowering trees.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/co...0441411588.html

[_Keith]

When I saw the subject line, I thought this thread was a joke. That list is truly interesting. Check out those low temps. Wow.

[edbrown_III]

Keith,

The list caugt my interest as I didnt know you could grow Agathis australis here-- I always thought it was a z one 10 plant. I have a large Araucaria bidwillii that was out in 1989 , it was about 6 foot tall then. it wasnt6 hurt with 16F but I did throuw a blanket over it.. It is know about 25 feet or so.

Best regards,

Ed

[Eric in Orlando]

Ed,

Agathis australis is probably the hardiest one but I don't think they like our heat. I have tired them a few times and they croak in summer, they are New Zealand natives. We do have A. robusta growing well and it has taken 27F with no damage. Also have a small Agathis vitiensis in the nursery. I was at the Montgomery Botanic Center a couple weeks ago and they have started an incredible tropical conifer collection. They had several rare Agathis.

Are you growing Nageia nagi, formerly Podocarpus nagi? The foliage looks similar to Agathis.

Interestingly, an old name for Agathis australis is Podocarpus zamiifolius.

Agathis robusta

Nageia nagi

[edbrown_III]

Eric,

Thanks I didnt know that I guess this means I will be buying 2 new species the Wollemia and Agathis robusta.. The other Aracauriae you have A. hundstedia ? how cold hardy is that. I am frontering my yard with these tall species.

Best regards,

Ed

[Eric in Orlando]

Yes, we have an Araucaria hunsteinii. When young they look very similar to A. bidwillii. I had read these grow over 200ft in natural habitat in Papau New Guinea and was told that it is probably one of the tallest trees in any tropical rainforest.

We have one planted in 2000 and it is over 20ft tall now. It blew over in Hurricane Charley in 2004 and layed on its side for 3 weeks before we could stand it up but it survived. The picture below was from 5 years ago, I need to get a new one. It has grown quite a bit since then. Not sure exactly how hardy they are but this one also tolerated one night at 27F back in Jan. 2003 with no damage.

[Matthew92]

Interesting page on Agathis robusta from "San Marcos Growers" website supposedly saying it can tolerate below 20 degrees. Usually I find this site to have pretty accurate information on plant's cold hardiness.