Texas weather sure isn’t spoiling us: we had record-breaking summer heatwaves which were followed by an actual freeze for many days in a row, which really makes it difficult to figure out what low-effort edible perennials could survive both of these extremes! What’s a lazy gardener or a permaculture enthusiast to do? While I don’t have all the answers for you, in this video I’m going to show you 10 of my edible perennials that survived the record breaking heat of 2023 and the frosts that followed. Some of these survived multiple freezing winters, too! Keep on watching for a quick list of vegetables, fruits and herbs that survived the climate extremes with little to no protection from the elements.
Please comment with your experiences with the temperature extremes and share your knowledge with others! Together, we can help each other create climate proof gardens and grow food in our backyards year round.
I may be looking extra pale or sounding off in this video, because I got covid and am just recovering from it. But I know that garden shopping season is in full swing and really wanted to share my experiences in case anyone is looking for this kind of information!
By the way, I post on TikTok sometimes under @centraltexasoasis if that’s your thing.
When I’m not sick, I am to put out new videos every Sunday.
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Hello Gam friends syvia here along with my little buddy potato and there is a big buddy fafi here at my feet with record-breaking Summers followed by record-breaking Winters you’re probably struggling to figure out what perennials will withstand both of these extremes well I don’t have all the answers but I
Can show you which edible perennials survived in my garden throughout the record-breaking Heat Of Summer 2023 which was followed by actual freeezing temperatures just months later all of these plants survived with zero or very little protection this is by no means any kind of complete list but it is what
Did well in my garden and if you’re anything like me you will appreciate any pointers you can get without further Ado let’s get into this very quick list and lastly welcome to my central Texas Oasis number one figs I have two Celeste and brown turkey and they are both in the ground and of course they lost all of their leaves in the winter but they are supposed to I kept them completely uncovered and unprotected throughout the freezes that we had in January as well
As the previous year now they are growing back they also need full sunand and don’t care about extremely hot temperatures at all in the area I’m in it is totally safe to put them in the ground because the temperatures don’t get so low that they would be damaged in
The winter and I bet that makes them additionally resilient number two blueberries they actually need some cold to develop fruit in Spring it’s called chilling hours I am growing rabbit eye blueberries which are suited for the South so they don’t need a lot of chilling hours and can also withstand
Heat really well on protected these blueberries will start taking damage only if it starts getting to about -5° F in the summer I did have them under a shade cloth because it reached them over from the Tomato beds I also had them on Automatic Irrigation which is also very
Important for blueberries I actually have a video coming up about growing blueberries in the warm climate like Central and South Texas so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it in number three we have chili pein which is a small native Bush producing small spicy peppers I was actually surprised but all
Of mine are growing back the one in the container is growing back from The Roots whereas the one in the ground is growing back from the main stem which once again shows you the resilience of things planted in the ground the temperatures dropped to 20 for several days in a row
And I thought they weren’t going to make it but they totally did they are native to the area so they didn’t care about the historic summer heat waves either number four blackberries I have one thornless Bush which I planted last spring I placed a plastic container over it to protect it
During the winter freezes and it seems to be growing back now I don’t do anything to protect it in the summer and it is placed in a spot where it receives full sun blackberries overall are the actual best and easiest berries to grow in Central and South Texas number five prickly pear cactus
You can eat not just the fruit it produces but also the cactus paddles themselves obviously after removing the spines it’s especially common in Mexican Cuisine and when used in dishes it’s called nopalitos I had to protect it the year before when the temperatures went down to single digits but this year with
The low being around 20 I leftt it out just like this and it’s clearly fine obviously it thrives in the summer pretty much no matter how high the temperatures get I mean it is a cactus after all with number six we are going to move on to Perennial herbs first step we have
Lemon balm honestly it can grow like a weed uh case in point this guy right here has been doing just that for more than a couple years now it’s in full blasting sun in the summer and while it doesn’t look the best at the head of the
Summer it’s still in an acceptable shape in the winter the foliage can take damage below freezing and you have to cut it down but it always and I mean always comes back from The Roots this applies to the ones I had in containers as well number seven Rosemary I have two prostrate rosemary
Plants in my front yard where they receive full blast Summer Sun and probably some dog pee too obviously I don’t consume these ones I simply let them be both in the summer and in the winter and they seem to have survived the low 20 is just fine this other one
Isn’t looking as hot probably because I might have accidentally shared it with a weed whacker recently but it is sending out fresh shoots so it seems like it will recover eight is mint I mean who’s surprised I will say that I only have mint in containers and I cover them with
Agricultural fabric during the freezes the leaves sustained a little freeze damage but actually not a lot and of course the plants are rebounding now very enthusiastically as for summer heat as long as you keep it watered it will survive that just fine as well if you want to have decent looking mint
Throughout the summer in extremely high temperatures you should place it in a spot where it receives shade in the afternoon Mexican oregano is our number nine it is very similar in flavor to the regular Italian oregano to the extent that I personally think you can substitute it without most people even
Noticing what surprised me about this plant is that it didn’t sustain any freeze damage despite being completely unprotected I kind of thought that since it’s native to Mexico it wouldn’t be very cold hearty and would at least die back to the roots but the foliage shook
Off the frost like it was nothing of course it does well on the summer heat which you would expect from something called Mexican oregano number 10 is lemon verbina this one also surprised me as I thought I was saying goodbye to it once the freezes came because I left it in the container
That was completely unprotected it barely even has any Mulch on top but as you can see it’s growing back very vigorously which I did not expect in the hot summer lemon verbina will be grateful for some afternoon shade and regular watering but as long as it has
That it will make it through the heat waves relatively unscathed all right I hope you enjoyed this list let me know if it was helpful let me know if it aligns with your experience as well and I would also love to see any perenials that I didn’t
Mention that did well for you in the extreme heat and extreme cold obviously I don’t grow every single thing in the world this is a very small section of what you can out there and I am still planning on doing a lot more so next year hopefully I’ll have some more
Results for you along with some viable options for our challenging climate if you haven’t already please subscribe for more content about gardening in a warm climate such as Texas and I will hopefully see you in my next video syia and potato out Oh
3 Comments
Another awesome video, keep up the good work
Up here in Ontario all our plants need to do this! It goes from minus 20 to plus 30 almost every year. So many see what plants that grow in the NE are also native to Texas.
Helpful vid! I mainly grow flowers (zone 8/pnw) and hellebores and brunnera have basically withstood everything, lack of water, too much water, hotter than hot heat, freezing temps. They’re awesome.