Do tropical plants survive winter? Some do, but most do not. With this thought in mind, I decided to try an unscientific experiment with my pereskias. I would leave about eight plants of mine outside during the winter, and document the result.

The plants were put into two groups. Three small plants were left outside in the open air close to the brick wall of my house. The other group (about five), that involved two larger plants, were placed in a polytunnel (greenhouse), which was kept closed all winter.

By Christmas, most plants were still very much alive, and still had most of their leaves. There was very little new growth, but all plants were still quite leafy.

The big change came in January when the temperature plunged, and small amounts of snow begin to fall. The tips of plant began to rot. The rot was much more obvious on the plants outside in the open. As the cold month progressed the rot grew deeper, but then stopped. By this time most of the plants outside had lost the majority of its leaves. Inside, the plants still had about half their leaves.

Ironically, by early spring most of the leaves were lost by the warmer weather. As the polytunnel heated up rapidly while the plants were still dormant, the leaves simply shrivelled and dried.

Almost all the pereskia plants grew again by summer after they were pruned, carefully cutting out the stems that were bad. The larger plants, with their substantial root system, recovered sooner. But the smaller plants, and the group from outside, eventually started sending out shoots.

Winston James