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Re: California vs Florida climate zones
Thank you, Catriona! I knew that plants worked differently in CA because of
the difference in seasonal moisture and humidity, but I had no idea that
there was that much variation in tolerance. That brings up some other
thoughts about Zones, too. For example, I am currently writing material
intended for Great Britain as well as Canada and the States--the Zones are a
perpetual problem, of course. You can grow so many things in England that
you simply can't grow north of Zone 9 (East Coast) in the U.S. In
desperation, I often mention temperature and humidity tolerances. From now
on, I will check the WFF catalog to see if they mention a plant I'm
discussing and will include their information, too.
I would LOVE it if this sort of information was uniform--we barely recognize
Canada's Zones, either, although I always include information about them in
a note. And as for the UK? So far, the only way I can figure out how to deal
with it is to talk about tolerated ranges. How do other people handle that
problem?
Miranda
On Jan 3, 2008 3:15 PM, Catriona Tudor Erler <cterler@gardenvista.com>
wrote:
> For years I wondered why the American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia
> of Plants would list plants as USDA zone 8 or 9 that I knew grew happily
> in zone 10 in San Diego. Pat Welsh, my mentor when I first began garden
> writing 26 years ago, explained it to me. The tropical and subtropical
> areas of Florida and coastal California and much of Arizona are assigned
> the same USDA climate zones (9 and 10) because the average maximum cold
> temperatures in the two regions are similar. However, many plants that
> flourish in the west are not suitable for Florida. In the west, winters
> are wet, and summers are dry. The opposite is true in Florida. There
> the winters are dry, and the rainfall comes in summer. Plus, as Marina
> mentions, in Florida you have humidity. Perhaps because most of the USDA
> researchers are based on the east coast, there is a predisposition to
> assign climate zones to plants that fall into the 9 and 10 zone based on
> their performance in Florida and not in the west. As a result, it's not
> unusual to see a plant, such as the Southern magnolia (Magnolia
> grandiflora), that is listed in The American Horticultural Society A-Z
> Encyclopedia of Garden Plants as hardy in zones 7 - 9, that will grow
> just fine in zone 10 along the coast in southern California.
> The problem caused by this misinformation is solved in the excellent
> catalogue produced by White Flower Farms nursery. In it they break down
> their climate zones listing with recommended zones for the south and for
> the west. For example, Hosta 'Guacamole' is listed hardy for zones 3 -
> 8 in the south, 9 in the west.
> Catriona Tudor Erler
>
> Miranda Smith wrote:
>
> >Nice to have you here!
> >
> >Miranda
> >
> >On Jan 3, 2008 11:52 AM, <blombem@gvillesun.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >>Hi all: I've been reading posts for two years now, and hope to get
> >>involved
> >>in the discussions. I have been writing a garden column for The
> >>Gainesville
> >>(Fla.) Sun for nearly 35 years (it's a side job from my "real job" as a
> >>reporter and editor) and have noticed there aren't many 8b'ers on this
> >>list
> >>(except for those of you in California -- that's an entirely different
> >>zone
> >>8b than ours; we have humidity).
> >>
> >>If this goes through, then I have broken the barrier.
> >>
> >>Marina Blomberg
> >>
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> >>
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> >>
> >>
> >>
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