A pictorial will follow this post. Here is a list of the plants I will be overwintering, and the climate in the general area.

Kingston proper is USDA zone 5a, but there are pockets of 5b (long term, with weather data) on nearby islands, and probably downtown as well.
My location is c. 20km north of the city and probably a true 4b. Seasonal weather averages: http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayIntlNORMS.asp?CityCode=71620&Units=metric

This year I have the following plants that are new and/or well out of zone. I will also describe the protection that I think they will need 1) survive and 2) look decent in spring.

Starting with woody plants:

Acubua japonica (z.7): Last year I wrapped them and they survived, but they are smaller this year. I think I will wrap them with frost cloth and give them a few more leaves around the outside to try to retain the foliage.

Asimina triloba (z. 5): One large one that usually gets a bit of tip die-back, 4 newly planted seedlings from a Sarnia area plant. I will give some extra mulch.

Magnolia ashei (z. 6): Heavy mulch and frost cloth wrap.
Magnolia tripetala (z. 4): Heavy mulch and frost cloth wrap.
Magnolia sieboldii (Z. 5): Heavy mulch and frost cloth mulch.
Magnolia virginiana 'Henry Hicks' (z. 6): Heavy mulch and frost cloth mulch. Hoping to have 0 stem tip die back this year.
Ilex glabra (z. 6): Heavy mulch and frost cloth. Hoping for no stem tip die back.
Ilex opaca (z. 5): Hevay mulch and frost cloth. Hoping for no stem tip die-back.
Ilex cornuta 'Burford Holly' (z. 6-7): Heavy mulch and frost cloth. Hope it's alive in spring.
Quercus phellos (z. 5-6): Heavy mulch. Hoping for no die back this year.
Quercus ? (Arizona Evergreen) (z. 6 dry?): Heavy mulch. Hope it survives.
Quercus virginiana x ? (z. 7?): As above!

Rhodo's (z.4-6): Various wind screens. Eventually these will be on their own since I only want them to be background evergreens for mostly fall, winter, and spring interest. So, they don't get much help, since I have no use for these if they can't handle the cold.

Bamboos:
Phyllostachys spp.(z5-7): All will be protected the same way. The rhizome area has been mulched heavily, then, when it gets a little colder, I will bend the stems down to the ground using 'bamboo' stakes (actually Miscanthus stakes, but they serve the same purpose) and let the snow cover them.

Fargesia: Might be more tricky. These are pretty small, but I might not be able to bend them down. IN future they'd be on their own vs. winter, but they are first year plants. Maybe I'll wrap them with frost cloth...

Ground covers (z.7): Will be mulched, the tops will be left to die naturally. They will be mowed in spring to allow new attractive top growth to take over.

Cactus and Succulents

Cacti: None get any protection at all.
Yucca (z. 4-8): Some will be chicken wire to keep the rabbits away.
Agave utahensis ssp. kaibabensis (z. 4 DRY): Some of these will get moisture protection.
Agave americana (Z.7-8): I have one offset that I planted between my palms... This will be protected in the palm house this winter... Wonder if it will make it?

Palms:
Rhapidophyllum hystrix(z.7): One will be in palm house with heat. The other will get mulch and frost cloth again.

Sabal minor (Z.7): One in palm house. The other, a weak McCurtain will get frost cloth and maybe some leaves or something... Not sure, it is only 1 leaf.

Trachycarpus fortunei (z. 8): Frost cloth, mulch, then leaves around the frost cloth. Looking to see if the frost cloth can lessen/eliminate leaf death from sitting in a pile of wet leaves.

Bananas:
Musa basjoo: Burlap wrapped enclosure. Heavy mulch (with pop bottles to ensure that the roots don't freeze). Then c9 lights, and the enclosure will be filled with leaves and topped with frost cloth and some plastic (to exclue a bit of water).
Musa velutina: As above.

Misc.

Gunnera manicata: Burlap wrapped enclosure. Heavy mulching with the leaves used to cover the crown (treated with fungicide). Then the enclosure will be filled with leaves. I'm going to try this without heat. It might be a mistake.

Pictures and plants I forgot to follow:)

Paul

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the helpful pics. I'm in zone 8a where we get mild but wet winters here in Vancouver. Our average monthly lows for Nov, Dec. and Jan. range from 33F to about 37F. Fall to beginning of winter is the rainiest, so right now my main concern is keeping the rain out. I've mulched about 4 - 6" of mushroom manure and large bark nuggets, 6" from the trunk. I have straw to put in the burlap cage if we do expect overnight deep freezes, (if it was anything like our bizarre and unusual winter we had last year where we had 50 cm of snow and 0F in Dec. YIKES!) We're told our forecast this year will be warmer and even wetter than average. I want to be prepared for anything last minute so I have the stakes up and burlap ready to go in case it's the other side of the coin. 😉

Impressive list Paul! Wish you the best of luck! I'll be using the frost cloths on my S. Mags as well as I'm sure you know. I'm not sure if you read my post after I email dupont, they say they can stay on until 65 degrees if that helps you any, I'm sure that can be pushed some.

Have you ever considered Tyvek/typar? It's used as a house wrap before siding and it's water proof but also breaths. I'm going to use this on my figs with straw inside. It's expensive but if you know any contractors I'm sure you could get some.

Do you have any plants at your city home?

Bill

Rhapidophyllum hystrix(z.7): One will be in palm house with heat. The other will get mulch and frost cloth again.
Trachycarpus fortunei (z. 8): Frost cloth, mulch, then leaves around the frost cloth. Looking to see if the frost cloth can lessen/eliminate leaf death from sitting in a pile of wet leaves.
Paul

Paul, this sounds good. So if I read this correctly sometimes you put mulch around a plant first and then wrap with frost cloth (remay?)
but sometimes the frost cloth comes first to try and eliminate leaf death as you wrote?

Okay I've piled mulch around a lot of my plants only to see now that we've gone back into our normal
pattern of Max 12C/54F and min 3C/37F.

Should I leave off covering things totally until the lows get down into freezing temps consistently again? 😕

I look forward to your pictures.

Hilashes-Got it

Paul-good luck with all your plants,look forward to your pics.

B.T.W. A.americana is hardy to maybe 20F then it starts to turn to a nice jelly!
I may have a pic of mine........Yep.here's what my(these were sold as Parryi-they were not-any decent Parryi can handle -10 to possibly -20F)A.americana looked like after 20-22F
I have a nice one I am considering trying on the same(x-mas lights)life line as my Washy/Butia but I may want to move it so,I may end up digging it up after all.Here's the pics

A.americana after 20F,second pic may be a Blue Tequila agave,I don't think they would have recovered so.I replaced them with Parryi and Havardiana

<a href=" " target="_blank"><img src=" " border="0" alt="2xParryii"></a>

<a href=" " target="_blank"><img src=" " border="0" alt="A.tequila"></a>

Nice selection there Paul. I guess I feel lucky looking at your list as Muas velutina would be the only basket case on my list, any of the rest would be a no brainer here. We're largely zone 8b but 8a can visit in exceptional winters such as the last one. We're not without complications, as the vast majority of our rain falls in the Nov - Feb period.
I use an enclosure for my Phoenix canariensis to shelter it from frost and periodic snow. Last year was the first time I used a space heater to assist it along.

Cheers, Barrie.

Nice Phoenix Barrie! It looks really happy there.

Bill

Barrie that's beautiful. What does your shelter look like?
I tied up the fronds on my Trachys and keeping the rain out. Should I be letting them enjoy all the rain until we know a freeze is coming?

Here's what I've used as shelter for the palm. This pic was taken 3 years ago.

I've never tied up fronds on Trachycarpus and I've never known anyone to do that, at least here anyway.
Rain is good, especially after such a dry summer.

Cheers, Barrie.

Hey Guys,

I have a Magnolia Brakens Brown Beauty. The guy I bought it from in Niagara Falls has a few himself. He doesn't use any protection on them. They have been in the ground for 4 years now. They usually look pretty rough in the spring but bounce back quickly. I hadn't planned on protecting mine at all. Should I be doing something for it?

Check it out... http://niagaratropicals.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-02-11T00%3A34%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=5

Barrie, thanks for the pic, I'll have to invest in a couple of those! Would I find them at a box store such as Canadian Tire?
I was told by my local nursery to tie up the fronds for easier wrapping and unwrapping. It pained me to see the poor things tied like that, not to mention it wasn't easy to do. I'd much rather refer to other experts on this forum; the tried-and-true. 🙂 Thanks again Barrie!

Here is the rest of my pertected plants that I finished up on the weekend.

Dwarf Sable.

Musa Basjoo stuffed with leaves.

Agave covered allowing light in but not rain..

img] [/img]

All finished...

One more of the protection...

Well Heidi, beautiful? ... I don't know but it serves it's purpose. I picked this up locally at one of the "liquidator stores" in Nanaimo. It's since closed down but I imagine finding one wouldn't be too difficult. I anchor it down with six concrete pier blocks.
When it out grows this I have plan "B" in order already.

Cheers, Barrie.