Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Caladium White Christmas (Caladium bicolor 'White Christmas')cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called White Christmas caladium, angel wings White Christmas.

More about caladium white christmas

About Caladium White Christmas

Caladium bicolor 'White Christmas' · also called White Christmas caladium, angel wings White Christmas · tropical

White Christmas is a fancy-leaf caladium prized for its large, heart-shaped leaves of near-pure white veined and flecked in deep green. Grown from tubers, it produces a flush of luminous foliage through the warm months, then goes dormant. It thrives in warmth, moisture and humidity, lighting up shady spots indoors or in the garden.

Cold limit: USDA 9-11 outdoors (lift tubers in cooler zones; indoor elsewhere) · RHS H1b (21-29°C)

Watch for — Tuber rot: Caused by cold or wet soil during dormancy or planting too early. Keep tubers warm and barely moist; plant only once soil is reliably warm.

What caladium white christmas's hardiness rating actually means

Caladium White Christmas is not cold hardy. It is a tropical houseplant that dies if it is left out through frost — there is no zone where it overwinters outdoors in a UK or cold-US climate. Its RHS rating of H1b means: Sub-tropical — a normal warm home is fine, but it cannot go outside in a cool season. On the US scale that maps to USDA 9-11 outdoors (lift tubers in cooler zones; indoor elsewhere) — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about 10 °C (sustained cold below this is damaging). Caladium White Christmas has no frost tolerance at all — it is an indoor plant in any climate with a real winter.

Concretely, for caladium white christmas as it gets too cold:

Below about about 10 °C, growth stalls and the leaves start to show cold stress — dark, water-soaked, or yellowing patches.
A single light frost blackens the foliage; a hard freeze kills the whole plant, roots included, and it does not recover.
Even a cold, draughty windowsill or an unheated porch in winter can be enough to damage it permanently.

Can caladium white christmas go outside or overwinter — and where?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 10 °C, in shade or dappled light, hardened off gradually.
Bring it back indoors well before the first autumn frost — do not wait for a frost warning, move it when nights drop toward 10-12 °C.
It will never overwinter outside in a temperate climate; the indoors is its winter home, full stop.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when caladium white christmas can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H1b figure above.

Caladium White Christmas hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is caladium white christmas cold hardy?

Caladium White Christmas is not cold hardy. It is a tropical houseplant that dies if it is left out through frost — there is no zone where it overwinters outdoors in a UK or cold-US climate. Indoor-only in almost every home. Caladium White Christmas can only live outside year-round in genuinely frost-free climates (roughly USDA 9-11 outdoors (lift tubers in cooler zones; indoor elsewhere)); everywhere else it is a houseplant that summers out at most.

What is the minimum temperature caladium white christmas can survive?

What hardiness zone is caladium white christmas?

Caladium White Christmas is rated USDA 9-11 outdoors (lift tubers in cooler zones; indoor elsewhere) and RHS H1b — Sub-tropical — a normal warm home is fine, but it cannot go outside in a cool season.

Can caladium white christmas survive winter outside?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 10 °C, in shade or dappled light, hardened off gradually. Bring it back indoors well before the first autumn frost — do not wait for a frost warning, move it when nights drop toward 10-12 °C. It will never overwinter outside in a temperate climate; the indoors is its winter home, full stop.

What happens to caladium white christmas below its minimum temperature?

Below about about 10 °C, growth stalls and the leaves start to show cold stress — dark, water-soaked, or yellowing patches. A single light frost blackens the foliage; a hard freeze kills the whole plant, roots included, and it does not recover. Even a cold, draughty windowsill or an unheated porch in winter can be enough to damage it permanently.