Re: tanecetum and veronica

The most common reason for wildly incorrect hardiness zones is that the 
person writing the book or article has no experience with the plant in 
colder climates.  If you garden in Virginia, or on Long Island, you have no 
idea what a plant will do in zone 4. You have to fall back on quoting from 
another book or a catalogue-and the writer who did that may not know any 
more than you did.  Also, I notice that many writers without cold climate 
experience, or nursery/seed house catalogue writers tend to be conservative. 
Better to have a few customers not order a plant they could be growing than 
to have a lot of customers writing to complain that something died and they 
want their money back.
To fall back on an old standby, the T&M catalogue last time I looked, listed 
Knautia macedonia as hardy only to zone 6.  Well, that plant has gone 
through -32 C winters in my garden with absolutely no snow cover and it 
comes back bigger and better every year.  Turns out it is hardy to at least 
zone 3,and if we could find somebody to try it in zone 2, it might be okay 
there.

For dividing your veronica (which unfortunately I don't know, I'd look 
closely at the base.  If it comes out of the ground as a single stem, like 
my beloved V. austraica prostrata (at least that's what they sold it to me 
as), you need cuttings.  If it looks like it can be divided, it probably 
can.

Bob Campbell
USDA 4



>In a message dated 8/28/00 10:23:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>mrwill1@juno.com writes:
>
><< Could any of you tell me why tanecetum niveum "Jackpot" should be listed
>  as zones 7-9 in one catalogue and 4-9 in another?
>
>  Also, would you propagate veronica prostrata "Trehane" by division or
>  cuttings? Any hints? >>
>
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