Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Orpine (Hylotelephium telephium)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called Orpine, Live-forever, Livelong, Life Everlasting, Frog's Stomach.

More about orpine

About Orpine

Hylotelephium telephium · also called Orpine, Live-forever · flowering

A tough, long-lived herbaceous perennial native across Europe, Russia, and northern China, with fleshy blue-green foliage and flat-topped clusters of pink to red-purple flowers in late summer. Tolerant of cold to USDA zone 4, drought, and poor soils. Popular in cottage gardens and wildlife borders; dies back in winter and re-emerges reliably in spring.

Cold limit: USDA 4-9 · RHS H6 (-29–35°C)

Watch for — Crown rot in waterlogged soil: Sitting in wet winter soil kills the crown. Ensure well-drained soil or plant on a slight slope. Grit added to the planting hole improves drainage in heavier soils.

What orpine's hardiness rating actually means

Yes — orpine is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H6 and USDA 4-9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. Its RHS rating of H6 means: Hardy throughout the UK and northern Europe. On the US scale that maps to USDA 4-9 — 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 −20 to −15 °C. Orpine is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

Concretely, for orpine as it gets too cold:

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 to −15 °C once established.
Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root.
First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.

Can orpine go outside or overwinter — and where?

Plant it out within USDA 4-9 and it overwinters with little or no help.
It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy.
The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

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 orpine can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H6 figure above.

Orpine hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is orpine cold hardy?

Yes — orpine is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H6 and USDA 4-9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. An outdoor plant. Orpine is hardy across USDA 4-9; it belongs in the ground or a frost-proof container, not on a windowsill, and many types actively need a cold winter to perform.

What is the minimum temperature orpine can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about −20 to −15 °C. Orpine is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

What hardiness zone is orpine?

Orpine is rated USDA 4-9 and RHS H6 — Hardy throughout the UK and northern Europe.

Can orpine survive winter outside?

Plant it out within USDA 4-9 and it overwinters with little or no help. It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy. The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

What happens to orpine below its minimum temperature?

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 to −15 °C once established. Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root. First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.