Debra, I don't know if any of mine are 'John Proffitt' but the oldest and largest are a very similar color. These photos are from 2010. These plants were moved then, and they have more than doubled in spread....maybe 2-3 feet across now.

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Wow, Bill, those photos are gorgeous! Deb, I can't help you with this question, but I wanted to thank you for bringing this plant to my attention. I tried to grow delosperma Starburst (I think that was the name) but it just never really took off and then died out. Maybe the John Profitt will do better for me. Off to check it out!

Thank you, and good luck!
Dee

Bill,
Your "enabling photos" are keeping Bluestone in business. I ordered an iceplant simply because of one of your photos... I promise to learn how to post photos eventually!

Dee - I think Bill might be in a little warmer zone than me - I'm in five and I think he's in six. But supposedly these delosperma are hardy to zone 4... Aren't his photos great? Glad to see you are still gardening and still posting in GW. Hope all is well with you. Can we get you to come up to Annie's Swap in NH? You would enjoy it, I promise.

Hi Bill, Dee and others,

Here is my delosperma just beggining to bloom this past summer and you can see that it is only one plant but it is doing very well, even though my photo cannot compare to yours Bill. I will try to get a closeup later this summer if it makes it through this single digit temp nonsense.

Your iceplant seems to be doing very well! I have finally given up on the blue creeping phlox out on my little hot dry slope, even though when it did bloom it looked like perfection itself with the daffodils and grape hyacinths there.

I think I will redo the whole thing, and will try the delosperma there. I do have some creeping sedum there that does well, but it's a wide slope and I need lots more stuff for it. Bluestone used to have these great prices on flats of groundcovers, but they don't offer that anymore, sadly. I'll have to look around for a good price - although maybe I should start with one or two and see if they do better than the Starburst iceplant did.

Dee

I'm not sure that everything sold as this variety is true to name. Most zone 4 to 5 ratings apply to CO and similar places. I think most are zone 6 to 7 in New England. Mine has grown to 3 to 4 feet across in a couple of years but will mostly die in an open winter. It tries to flower at least til Novermber, but never is wall to wall, solid flowers. Sunscapes Nursery CO, offers a dwarf forn of D. cooperi, maybe hardier, less rampant, and possibly a brighther color. D. basuticum (and what passes for similar) may be most hardy small and bright yellow. Growers may use standard potting soil, which makes xeric plants grow fast, rot fast, and difficult to establish. May need to wash off potting soil and plant in a very sandy raised bed. How did your plant do in it's first year?

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunscapes Nursery CO

I have some Delosperma too............forget the species name.

Tim I have a photo posted above. It seems you like to push the zone a bit, and also grow some unusual things. Where in MA are you located?

I have several delospermas, cacti, yucca, sedum, sempervivum, kniphofia and rosemary in my xeric garden. Elsewhere I have gardenia, camellia, illicium, crape myrtle, roscoea and a sad looking Trachycarpus fortunei.

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Hi Bill

I'm in Seekonk. Yes I like unusual plants. How do the Gardenias perform in our climate....... I've seen some reports that they can be rather hardy. The Gardenias in South Attleboro were fried this winter but I'm not sure which cultivar he has.

How do you like the hardy Camellias? Which culivar do you like best. I never tried one.

Which Crape do you have......I have some small seedlings....that's it.

I tend to collect and hybridize Yuccas...... Got way to many. I have some interesting ones like Y. filamentosa x rostrata.....great for our climate. Yucca elata is a must in our climate.

I'm also messing with hardy citrus and Eucalyptus.

What is Roscoea?

Tim: I have gardenia 'Frostproof'. It bloomed well last year, which was only its second year in the ground. I have a fall blooming Camellia sasanqua 'Snow Flurry' that is rock hardy here. I've had for about 15 years and it's never had any winter dieback at all. It has hundreds of blooms every Oct-Dec (weather permitting). I have two kinds of spring blooming C. japonica....two plants of 'April Blush' and two of 'April Dawn'. One blush is about 6 ft. tall and has maybe 150+ buds right now. The other is 3-4 ft and has a few dozen. The dawns are both 4 ft or so but not as bushy yet, and both have about a dozen buds. The crape is 'Pink Velour' and was only planted last year. I have Yucca filamentosa and Y. recurvifolia. They both do fine here, as do the cacti (various Opuntias). I haven't tried any citrus or Eucalyptus.

Roscoea is a member of the ginger family, but most are hardy here. When googling 'hardy ginger' just be sure the search is zingiberaceae and not asarum, which is also called 'hardy ginger' but not at all related to true gingers. There are also some Japanese gingers that are real gingers and supposedly hardy here called 'mioga' or 'myoga'. I am also tempted to try a Hedychium, but I always see them listed for zone 7.

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Hi Bill,

did your 'frost proof' get any winter burn on it's leaves? If not that sounds like a great one.

Your Camellias sound real cool and BIG. I want to see those! Which are better bloomers.....the fall/winter or spring. If they bloom too late they may have issues in our area?

You'll have to post a photo of your hardy gingers. I've been messing with a few types too. I have three forms and this one is the 'best' in my opinion since it has great looking blooms.

Tim:
Both types of Camellias can perform well once established. Both my "Snow Flurry" and "April Blush" are around 15 years old and it took a few years to get to having lots of buds, more so for the 'April Blush'. The fall blooming one may not have time to open all the buds some years if we get really cold weather in late November into December, but usually has a nice display when most everything else is dismal and gray. The spring bloomers would have a problem if a warm spell if followed by cold weather. Last year I had blooms in March and well into early May, but last year was really mild.

I forgot about Hesperaloe ("Red yucca"), and Gelsemium sempervirens 'Margarita' (evergreen yellow vine - nice!).

Here are some photos:

Camellia 'April Blush'
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Camellia 'Snow Flurry'

Camellia 'April Dawn' - variation #1

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Camellia 'April Dawn" - variation #2

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Clerodendron trichotomum

Gelsemium sempervirens 'Margarita'

Are you digging that ginger in fall like cannas?

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great plants Bill. Those Camellias are really great......gotta get some!

Those other plants you posted look great too.....I haven't tried any of them. (I need to thin out my Yuccas for more room).

I've had a Hesperaloe parviflora for many years (2004) and it's bloomed only in 2006 or so. Someone told me the blooms are formed on last seasons growth and when winter is too cold/wet the blooms my be killed. Is this true? Do you get blooms?

I didn't dig up my gingers. This is the second winter for them.......so I'm not sure if they will return. I planted them against a house foundation wall so the soil should be a little warmer there. Do you dig your gingers?

Tim:

I don't have any gingers like yours (looks like a Hedychium if I'm correct). Like the Hedychium, my Roscoea plants are members of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) but they are rated as hardy in zone 6, while the Hedychiums are zone 7 or higher. But it seems yours is quite happy there!

I have gotten blooms (and seeds) on my Hesperaloe every year since I planted it in early 2010. I don't know if it blooms on previous year's growth, since it all comes from the heart of the leaves at ground level.........

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Hi Bill

I have a couple of those Zing type gingers......one with solid green leaves which blooms near the ground and another variegated one which never blooms LOL. I hope they return from the roots since their leaves are really tropical looking. The solid green leaf type grows real fast too.

It sounds like your Hesperaloe is hardier than mine unless mine don't like the sandy soil I have them growing in? Mine aren't happy. I have two different sources too. Remind me to give you some Nolina seedlings too.....I forget if they are N. texana or N. parviflora but I have them labeled. I had a N. lindheim...bloom back in 2006.....great blooms.

I do have my xeric plants in full sun out front, and I have a crushed stone mulch, which I think helps a lot. It keeps the Hesperaloe, cacti and others dry and reflects heat in winter.

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Perhaps lack of sun is the issue with my Hesperaloes? I have mine growing in a raised bed with peastone surface which is south facing against a 6' tall wood fence......it gets hot and sunny here but one Hesperaloe may be behind a trunked Yucca part of the day.....this could be the issue.

Here's the last time my Hesperaloe bloomed....2006. I wish it would bloom more often. Does this Hesperaloe look like yours?

This post was edited by TimMAz6 on Sat, Mar 2, 13 at 9:06

Yes Tim, exactly the same.

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