
‘Pele’s Smoke’ sugarcane has grown enough for installation into the landscapes. I am not certain how happy they will be here through winter, but we will find out. Frost is mild here, but is supposedly enough to kill them to the ground. I expect that. Even if they do not die to the ground, I would prefer to cut them down by the end of winter regardless. Survival of their basal growth is more of a concern. I want them to regenerate next spring. It is difficult to imagine a species as vigorous as this being so vulnerable to the locally mild frost, but all the information that I find about it insists that it is marginal here. There are so many canned specimens that it would be no problem to shelter some through winter to replace any that do not survive in the landscapes. Later, if they get depleted, it would be no problem to take cuttings from those in the landscapes in autumn, and shelter them through winter to put back into the landscapes in spring. However, that is just too much unnatural intervention for me. If they are not happy here, they I do not want to force them. I enjoyed growing them while I did. I got the cuttings from grooming a specimen in Brent’s garden. I was not very careful with them, and did not process them very efficiently because I knew that I would get more than I could accommodate. Ultimately, after sharing a few with friends and neighbors who are aware of the risks, thirty new specimens remain here. Fifteen are in #1 can, including the first three that were just installed into the landscapes. Another fifteen are in four inch pots, which is annoying one less than a full flat of sixteen.