Re: winter damage/zones

Hank - I will try to calm you a bit maybe ...


Remember there is a lot of gardening also by living in a climate where the
conditions you describe is quite normal ...freezing/traw ...  and like us
people it looks like the plants can take it as well us people ... it is
called USDA zone 7 or 8 or something like that .. not so bad or ?? :)

Arnhild - where it is +7,3 *C out right now, but just had two days with
frost .. :)

At 03:27 PM 16.1.00 -0600, Hank Zumach wrote:
>Just wondering--I understand that a major determining factor of assigning
a growing zone is the lowest expected winter time temperature. In what
different  way is a plant affected when the low temperature is say, minus
10 F verses minus 20 F verses minus 30 F. It seems to me that at some
point, warmer than the example temperatures, that plant tissue would be
frozen completely and any lowering of the temperature would not make any
difference. What happens?
>
>Along these same lines, here in zone 4 I am used to things freezing up
around December 1st and more or less staying that way until around March
1st. We can also expect  a protective layer of snow during that time.  The
last three years we have had very little lasting snow cover  because of the
many days above freezing and the accompanying warmer nights. I  have been
following the advise for years to mulch certain plants in the late fall to
avoid winter damage from freeze/thaw cycles. So my next question is: At
what point can I expect damage  on the general plant population from all
these  unusual freeze/thaw cycles?
>
>Hank Zumach
>Stoddard, WI
>zone 4
>
>
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