HARDY PLANTS OF CHILE

One of the greatest advantages of many Chilean plants is their resistance to cold temperatures. If you are not very familiar with Chile, you may think that due to its geographical location (the central parts of the country, together with the capital, Santiago, are located at 30-32º latitude, that would correspond to the northern parts of Africa, El Cairo, and similar, rather warm places) the plants here would be of the subtropical or Mediterranean type and would not be able to withstand even simple freezing spells.

Nothing can be further from the truth: the high mountains all along the country make the habitat very different from what the latitude may have suggested: a considerable portion of the plants (about 30 - 40 %) grow at high altitudes where there is snow and sub-zero temperatures for several months during the winter. It may never be as cold as in Syberia, but be assured that -10º C (+5º F) are routine here.

In this section you will find plants which are suitable for cold climates. There are two sections, in the first section, most resistant plants are shown: these are those plants that could perfectly grow in continental climates, like Central Europe (Germany, France, Austria) or most parts of the United States excluding the central-northern states. The second section presents somewhat less hardy plants, which could grow in places like Great Britain, coastal France, coastal and southern states of the United States.

Calceolaria alba