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Re: California vs Florida climate zones
Talking about tolerances is a good way of writing for these islands.
Those Zone 9 plants will often grow only in Cornwall and West Cork.
When I was gardening in Yorkshire I used to add almost three weeks to
sowing dates in books, since most UK books seem to be written for the
south-east. When we moved to Glasgow - 200 miles north - spring came
a week earlier because of gulf stream effects. Here in Ireland I
sometimes have more than two weeks - though only seven miles -
between my own north facing heavy clay frost pocket and Sonairte's
south facing walled light loam. Friends in Dublin city, only 20 miles
south, have a mean annual temperature that is 6C higher than that in
my garden because of the spilled heat from human activity and the
heat sink that is the water of Dublin Bay.
Kathryn Marsh
kmarsh@iol.ie
On 3 Jan 2008, at 21:53, Miranda Smith wrote:
> 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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> Post gardening questions/threads to
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>
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