The wish books are coming! The wish books are coming!
In the fall my sister enjoys the Neiman Marcus and Tiffany catalogues, but I hold my breath waiting for the plant and flower circulars arriving in my mailbox now.
Imagine the days of old when there were no local nurseries with shelves stocked with vegetables, marigolds and petunias. Imagine when the big box stores weren’t even an idea waiting to happen. The connection with food and floral beauty came in printed pamphlets with detailed descriptions, as colored pictures were too expensive. Now we can find any sampling of vegetable, seed, flower or shrub on the Internet, but for me, nothing beats coming in from the garden and taking a well-deserved rest with the new Park Seed catalogue propped upon my stomach.
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Many of us are enticed by Photoshopped pictures or exorbitantly hubristic verse into buying plants unsuited for our climate. That’s why the first thing I look at, before I let myself be seduced by the flowery prose, is the listed hardiness zones.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Cold Hardiness Zone Map has been around for most of our lifetimes. It divides the country into zones, varying by 10 degrees of temperature, according to the lowest temperature reading expected each winter. Right now there are eleven zones with Zone 1 anticipating temperatures of below -50. We live in the relatively balmy Zone 8, which like all others is currently subdivided into 8a (cooler) and 8b (slightly less cool). Plants are placed into zones where the lowest predicated temperature should not kill them. Cold weather results in desiccation of plant tissues, and a hard freeze will render certain plants immediate candidates for the compost heap.
But as anyone who lived through last summer knows, plants have different responses to hot weather, too. Now the American Horticultural Society offers us a Heat-Zone Map with 12 divisions predicting the number of days each year the designated area will have temperatures over 86 degrees, with Zone 1 being the coolest. Two or three days of excessive heat may leave plants unscathed. Not so if those temperatures continue on and on. Extreme and prolonged heat can affect numerous plant processes, although death may not come until after months or years of stressful conditions.
Most catalogues currently list only the cold hardiness zones for specific plants. If I am tempted by a Heuchera Venus, I stop myself from adding it to my list when I see that it is hardy in Zones 3-8. Obviously this plant is quite cold tolerant but probably will be unhappy in our prolonged summer heat, and Zone 8 is the upper limit it can tolerate. Its sister, Heuchera Christa, purports to exist happily in Zones 4-9, and its description even mentions that it has been bred for improved heat and sun tolerance. I long for an expensive Pieris japonica, but Dr. Michael Dirr states it grows best in Zones 4b-7.
Keep in mind these are manmade maps, and within South Carolina you see pockets where the color changes for no discernible reason. Even in your yard, you have places where the wind rushes through and the ground is compacted. Contrast that with a south facing brick wall, which creates a mini ecosystem where more tender plants may thrive. And there is always that green thumb that some gardeners possess, which allows them to coax growth and beauty out of many a misplaced posy. Let the maps be your guides, but take a leap here and there.
Amanda McNulty is an associate extension agent for the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service and is a co-host of “Making It Grow” broadcast weekly on ETV television stations. Website: www.clemson.edu /extension/hgic/
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