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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] Shade loving tolerance.

At 12:15 PM 1/24/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear Sombreros and Debra Teachout,

>A plant under a tree, the same plant under a tree in an almost identical
>situation yet close to a white wall that reflects light (not sun) into the
>shade. Are these similar shade conditions?

Dang, at last one I can speak to.  Not similar!  I grow vegetables in a
lightly shaded area, too shady for vegetables - except for the white siding
on my house directly behind it.  The reflected light also creates the right
conditions for growing rudbeckia with my hostas.

>It has been said that a plant's hardiness is more connected to the plant's
>ability to tolerate large fluctuations in temperature in a short time than
>its ability to survive very low temperatures. Does anybody know more about
this?

I know that both bamboo and palms have demonstrated hardiness by the length
of time they are able to withstand temperatures below a particular limit.
For instance, some palms suffer leaf damage at 20F, and die after 12 hrs.
exposure to 15F.  Presumably an increase in temperature during that 12 hr.
period would renew or save the plant.  But I'm willing to bet that the same
plant subjected to 15F repeatedly, for, say, an hour or two at a time,
would die after a few days of such rough treatment.



Sheila Smith
mikecook@pipeline.com
Z 5/6
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