Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Chandelier Plant (Kalanchoe delagoensis)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called Mother of Millions.

More about chandelier plant

About Chandelier Plant

Kalanchoe delagoensis · also called Mother of Millions · houseplant

Chandelier Plant is an upright Kalanchoe with slender, tubular grey-green leaves that mass tiny plantlets along their tips, dropping countless babies that root anywhere. It bears clusters of orange-red bell flowers and grows fast in full sun and dry, gritty soil. Vigorous to the point of weediness, it is invasive in warm regions and toxic to pets.

Cold limit: USDA 9-11 (invasive outdoors in warm climates; grow as a contained houseplant elsewhere) · RHS H1c (10-27°C)

Watch for — Spreads everywhere from plantlets: Dropped tip-plantlets root in nearby pots and soil. Catch a tray beneath it, remove stray babies promptly, and never plant it outdoors in frost-free regions where it is invasive.

What chandelier plant's hardiness rating actually means

Chandelier Plant 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 H1c means: Warm-temperate — can summer outdoors but must come in well before the first frost. On the US scale that maps to USDA 9-11 (invasive outdoors in warm climates; grow as a contained houseplant 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 5 °C (and never frost). Chandelier Plant has no frost tolerance at all — it is an indoor plant in any climate with a real winter.

Concretely, for chandelier plant as it gets too cold:

Below about about 5 °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 chandelier plant go outside or overwinter — and where?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 5 °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 chandelier plant can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H1c figure above.

Chandelier Plant hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is chandelier plant cold hardy?

Chandelier Plant 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. Chandelier Plant can only live outside year-round in genuinely frost-free climates (roughly USDA 9-11 (invasive outdoors in warm climates; grow as a contained houseplant elsewhere)); everywhere else it is a houseplant that summers out at most.

What is the minimum temperature chandelier plant can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about 5 °C (and never frost). Chandelier Plant has no frost tolerance at all — it is an indoor plant in any climate with a real winter.

What hardiness zone is chandelier plant?

Chandelier Plant is rated USDA 9-11 (invasive outdoors in warm climates; grow as a contained houseplant elsewhere) and RHS H1c — Warm-temperate — can summer outdoors but must come in well before the first frost.

Can chandelier plant survive winter outside?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 5 °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 chandelier plant below its minimum temperature?

Below about about 5 °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.