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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] Nurseries

At 11:48 AM 1/24/98 -0600, you wrote:
>
>The second thing is that I would disagree with the statement that there are
>no shade lovers. If a plant does well in the shade and does not tolerate
>sunshine, I would consider it a shade lover. In my climate, blue hostas do
>not tolerate sun...they look awful.....they burn....and their leaves never
>recover from that frying, so in my climate, they are shade lovers. Some
>things are shade lovers, and 'sun-tolerant', meaning that they will take
>some sun, but will be much happier in the shade. Many of our wildflowers do
>not do well in full sun. I think that this is one of the most interesting
>parts of being able to communicate with people all over the world...we get
>to learn their growing differences. The plants also change their needs
>depending on whether they're in pots in a nursery or whether they're in the
>ground. Corydalis 'Blue Panda' in the nursery goes downhill and dies very
>quickly if given similar amounts of water to other things, but seems to be
>happiest in moister soil when in the ground. Gardening is an experiment,
>because no two sites are exactly the same....they differ in drainage, amount
>of rainfall, soil composition.....what works in one garden, doesn't work in
>another. I find myself learning more all the time; and the great thing about
>plants is that the learning is never done! There is no human being that
>knows everything about plants, and there never will be. We each have our own
>area of 'high' knowledge, and we have areas that we can learn from everyone
>else. That's the beauty of the listserves. Jean Bawden-Madison, Wi
>***********
Alex was right
There are no "shade lovers"  I beg those of you who are tempted to apply
terms such as "need", "want", "love" and "happy" to plants, to remember that
plants CAN NOT have any of these "needs or feelings"! The temptation to
apply human feelings to plants, sends the wrong message.  In thinking about
shade condtions that produce the "best results" in certain plants, I think
we should  remember ---plants do not respond  (for growth)to verious amounts
of "lack of light" but rather to the optimum the amount of light required
for the best growth and flower and seed production.  So a given plant should
never be categorized by shade requirements, but rather by light requiremants!
Ran Lydell
Eagle Bay Hosta Gardens
Dunkirk,  NY  14048  ( Where our 1998 Hosta list will be finished in about
one week.  Finally!)

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