Plumbago

Superb ...

I love anything blue!

Thank you Terra.

I like most blues too Bathgate.

That is what you call blue .

Beautiful blue :)

I love this blue Roy. You have to see the whole plant.....it stands out in the garden.

Thank you Sheilabub.

That's a weed! lol! :>)

I'm sure it grows like a weed there, just like here in San Diego, CA.

I love Plumbago! The Blue colour is just so beautiful - I wish I could grow it like a weed...! ;o)

Petaltracey:

It grows like a weed here, because Plumbago produces many hundreds of thousands of seeds which germinate everywhere. (that's in my subtropical climate) :>)

Not like a weed but grows really easy. I wonder if I've pulled out hundreds of seedling???
I've seen this plant grow really big! I have to prune mine really hard every year.

Alexandra I wonder if I talk nicely to you , you would save me a couple of seeds thank-you Roy.

Alexandramou:

That's strange it doesn't grow like a weed there.

The seeds stick to anything that it touches. I have to be careful in the parks (where it grow wild, many times) because the seeds will get stuck in my dogs hair.

Roy, I can always give you a cutting to take back as well as seeds.

My mom use to have one in the front of her shop by the big palm. I took a cutting and stuck it in the garden and it was that easy. Then I received this one as a gift. I have two Plumbago plants ;o)))

Hhhmmm....wonder why? It grows really easy.

Your poor little dog but I'm sure he enjoys his walks.

I better bring another suitcase in June then Alexandra .

Must grow another one (it's not hardy in the UK as I found out last winter!).

Meanie:

Most likely it must get established and grow large before they get hardier. I remember the big freeze of December of 1990 in the San Francisco Bay Area, none of the Plumbagos were damaged by the horrible cold. They're super, super hardy!

How cold and long was the big freeze of 1990?

Great question Meanie. ;o)

Meanie:

It depends on which city you lived in. San Francisco had 3 consecutive nights of freezing temps. This was the most consecutive freezing nights ever recorded in the city in more than 150 years of weather records.

Where I lived, in Hayward (which is located a few miles from the bay) got down to 22ºF (-5.5ºC) for one morning and 3 consecutive subfreezing morning low temps (around 28ºF [-2.2ºC]). It caused a tremendous amount of damage to many of my plants. My Abutilons were not touched, though. My two gorgeous large Ficus elastica 'Decora' 'Burgundy's were completely killed and never came back from the roots (which was so strange).

Many cities around the bay had at least 5 or 8 nights of freezing or subfreezing temps and much further inland two weeks or more of subfreezing temps as low as 18º - 16ºF (-7.7 to -8.8ºC). This was the worst freeze to ever hit California in recorded history. Most of urban Los Angeles areas were spared, canyon areas were hit very hard by the freeze, though. San Diego lucked out! I think the coldest temps San Diego had was one early morning low of 41ºF (5ºC), which was still very cold for San Diego. Some canyon areas further inland had freezing temps at night, though (it only happened a couple of nights).

California's Central Valley crops were devastated! The damage to citrus and avocados were at 3.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Now you have the story. LOL!

-7.7 to -8.8ºC for a month or more is t-shirt weather in the winter here!!!!!!

Wow! Okay, you win! LOL! -7.7 to -8.8ºC. are all-time coldest temps ever recorded at many inland cities in Northern California and the Central Valleys of California (and were extremely rare!)

What was so very rare was the high temps in some cities for a few days only climbed barely above freezing during the 1990 Freeze. Typically, at most low elevations of Northern California the high temps are between 55 - 65ºF (13 - 18ºC) on average during winter.

Ha!!!

I did exaggerate about the t-shirt bit though - I hate it! My Plumbago croaked last winter despite being next to my Cantua in a dry sheltered spot.

Yes, I would think so. I still remember very vividly the cold weather and going Christmas shopping (because the freeze started a few days before Christmas) walking in downtown San Francisco at Union Square and it was so damned cold I was actually getting angry! I don't ever remember feeling so cold in my life!!! We had to leave because we felt like we were going to freeze to death! (this was with wearing a huge jacket and scarf and hat).

I don't know how you can tolerate such cold temps. I would never go outside!!! When temps get below 60ºF (16ºC) we're freezing to death!!! (that's here in San Diego).