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nadine27_gw

Can snapdragons and pansies overwinter in Calgary?

nadine27
15 years ago

I was just outside checking out my south facing beds, looking for signs of growth. My sedums have new growth, crazy lamium growing, and of course my prairie crocus is sending off new shoots. But I noticed a type of ice plant (which I planted as an annual and which I believe is Delosperma sutherlandii) appears to have new green growth at the base; that I cannot believe. But then my neighbor came out and showed me her dwarf snaps and pansies in her front south facing bed that also appear to have new green growth at their bases. We really do have a microclimate in our area as we routinely can grow the zone 5 plants in our south beds, but has anyone heard of snaps and pansies overwintering in Calgary? I'm piling a bit more compost on my ice plant now - since we just lost our snow cover again.

Comments (17)

  • nadine27
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    This is the ice plant that appears to have overwintered:

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ice plant

  • Crazy_Gardener
    15 years ago

    Wow, that is awesome!

  • nadine27
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Yes I really like these iceplants, I believe I am correctly naming them Delosperma sutherlandii as I also have a peachy colored one:

  • Crazy_Gardener
    15 years ago

    I'm trying DELOSPERMA aff. congestum (Formerly listed as D. basuticum) from seed this year, will see if its hardy here.

    I'm sure it will be very hardy in balmy Calgary ;)

    Sharon

    Here is a link that might be useful: DELOSPERMA aff. congestum

  • nadine27
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    I believe that is DELOSPERMA aff. congestum to left of the picture of the peach iceplant - it does routinely overwinter in my garden although last year it died back a lot (it's positioned at the very corner of a raised bed) and didn't bloom until later in the summer.

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    15 years ago

    I've just gotten seeds for Ice Plants, but the botanical name on the packet is Mesenbryanthemum. I'd bought some Mesembryanthemum seeds too, and there was no mention of Ice Plants on them. Can anyone clear up my confusion?

    Pansies have often overwintered here.

  • shazam_z3
    15 years ago

    It was a very mild winter for Calgary, relatively speaking.

    That, and we had actually had real snowcover for the first time in who knows how long. I still have 2.5 feet of snow in the backyard, a first.

  • Crazy_Gardener
    15 years ago

    Marcia, Mesembryanthemum is the common annual Ice Plant or Livingstone Daisy. I've never had them overwinter but I do get some reseeders.

    Mesembryanthemum is a genus in which many species which were formerly placed herein have since been moved into other genera such as Delosperma.

    Sharon

  • nadine27
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    It just never crossed my mind that the snaps and the pansies (and violas too) could withstand a winter. I love getting them outside in early spring, as I've seen my pansies easily survive -10 C, and I knew my snaps were always very frost hardy. But any year that I grew them I had pulled them out in the fall (after a few hard frosts) as I was making room for fall bulbs. Little did I know that they could overwinter (if conditions are favorable, good snow cover etc.).

  • don555
    15 years ago

    In Edmonton I've had pansies overwinter and bloom soon after spring arrives. But they are just a teaser here, you get some blooms, but not anything you'd want to hedge the entire summer on. While I enjoy the early-season bloom, it's definitely time to re-plant with new stock come May.

  • garden_chicken
    15 years ago

    A few years back I had 'Sonnet' series snaps overwinter in my Calgary garden, not through any master planning on my part, more like laziness! It was quite a pleasant shock to see green at the base of them after the snow had melted. I don't recall them actually blooming but also don't recall that they didn't.

    It's the little surprises just like this that keep it interesting!

  • hmacdona1
    15 years ago

    I am in Calgary and I have pansies overwinter quite regularly. They bloom beautifully the next spring. I have had snaps overwinter, but the greenery has only survived the first spring melt. When frost hits again the snaps die off again and I never do get blooms out of them. I'm convinced one year they will pull through though so I keep trying. I just leave them in grown when they die down in the fall, and consider it a fun experiment every year.

    Good luck.

  • Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
    15 years ago

    Beautiful Ice Plant! I lived in Calgary for 8 years and had Mesembryanthemum overwinter many of those years in a west exposure garden outside the city. Some years with snow, some without. They were fairly close to the fireplace though. My pansies almost always overwintered and readily self seeded. Snaps always self seeded.
    Back in Edmonton, pansies have overwintered in planters by the deck with snow cover. Snaps reseed and overwinter in the front bed south west exposure close to the house and I have not planted any ice plant yet.
    Nature never ceases to surprise me though. Isn't it wonderful???!!!
    Ginny Garden

  • oilpainter
    15 years ago

    I have had snaps and especially pansies winter over here in northern Ontario and we are a true zone 3. Zone 5 plants would never survive here. They could actually be this years seeds too because both these plants need their seeds frozen to germinate and both germinate in cool weather

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    15 years ago

    Oilpainter, where in NOntario are you?

  • oilpainter
    15 years ago

    Hi: Just north of Sudbury

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    15 years ago

    Just checking to see if i had another NWestern buddy here. We're few and far between! :)