Is it normal for Bletilla striata to die back in the Winter?
Last year, I had purchased a Bletilla striata "Soryu" at a local nursery. At some point, I saw on the internet articles were saying stuff like "Bletilla striata comes from mountainous regions in Asia, so it can handle temperatures as low as -20° C." I figured, "oh, awesome. Our Winters don't get that cold; we usually only get a little bit below freezing." Yeah... it was only out there for a night or two, but that was enough to destroy all of the leaves and shoots.
I was a little bit confused and annoyed at first. Was the information I got wrong? Why had the plant suffered frost damage when it should have been able to handle colder temperatures? I think at the time, I chalked it up to "maybe the Winters where it is from are dry, and our super-wet Winters bothered it."
I took the pot inside where it was warm, and figured, maybe if the rhizome survived, it might come back, so I waited. I'm really glad it did and didn't just throw it out because after about month it had already regrown three shoots (I set it up with a grow light on it when it first started showing signs of growth), and the biggest one proceeded to flower. It wasn't a spectacular show flowers — I there were only two flowers at first and a bud that didn't bloom until the first flower wilted.
Anyways, it wasn't until later that I considered, maybe that article was talking about how this. Maybe it had handled the cold fine, as it naturally would. My mother grows hostas outside, and they die back and return with the seasons. Is Bletilla striata anything like that?
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