Yolanda Wilson
Gardening in your new climate zone
The United States Department of Agriculture is working on a new climate zone map for the country that was scheduled to be finished three years ago. It is difficult to do because there are so many climate zones within each geographical area between the mountains, the lakes, the valleys and the oceans.
To top it off some winters in Portland, Oregon are a zone seven, others a zone nine. It just depends on how cold it gets each winter. Every seven years or so we have really a bad ice storm that causes major devastation to exotic plants because plants turn into an ice cube for a few days. When they defrost they turn to slime.
Because the Earth is the right distance from the sun and we have the right combination of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen, so we can live on this planet. It is a beautiful place to be. Our temperatures have gotten a little warmer in the summer and the winter. Blame it on a cycle, carbon, or overpopulation. It has happened in the past when humans were not on the planet and it is happening again. The experts say we are speeding it up.
The Clackamas River froze completely over when I was in primary school way back in the seventies as my daughter tells me. We could walk across the river to the other side. We threw big boulders onto the ice and it didn’t crack. I can’t imagine that ever happening again. It froze in Oregon for nearly a month straight then. Now it rarely freezes for more than a day. Just the ice storm every few years that gets a few exotic plants but never all of them. Especially if they are near the eves or have really good drainage.
Pictures of the past remind us of the change. The museum in Seaside, Oregon has photos of the city from one hundred years ago.. They had a few feet of snow every winter and people owned sleds they could hook up to their horses to get supplies. They used sleds to get to town. That is hard to believe.
Plants Acclimate to Assimilate
Climate change is great for exotic gardening. Twenty years ago an agapanthus or palm tree could not survive our cold winters. Now they can in Portland, Oregon .Many plants can go down below freezing for short periods of time. I have tried to over-winter banana trees outside but have lost them each time. Maybe when we have no freezes at all, then we could grow nearly all the plants from the tropical areas again here in the Northwest. History repeats itself they say.
Fifty million years ago, the Pacific Northwest had lush tropical flora and marine fauna similar to the South Pacific today. Behind the high school in Fossil, Oregon you can find leaf prints of species of plants such as bananas that indicate the habitat of O. borealis would have been similar to today's subtropical and tropical forests.Then everything started to cool down during the Eocene-Oligocene epochs nearly 40 million years ago.
The forests in the Pacific Northwest changed from tropical plants to a combination of conifers, broad-leafed evergreens and deciduous plants that were adapted to cooler climates.Banana plants ultimately became extinct in the Northwest because they could not survive in the new temperate climate. They still don’t make it most winters but if experts are correct, they will survive outside in Oregon twenty to fifty years from now.
We all know we should reduce, reuse, and recycle to slow down global warming. Instead of pointing fingers, let’s concentrate on acclimating to our new climate zone. There are many things that we can do in the garden particularly to prepare for our future. It may take twenty, fifty, or even one hundred years or more before we notice some of the changes so don’t panic, just think about what you can do to help your plants adjust.Find ways to use less water.
*We will have longer drier summers and warmer wetter winters. Storms and summer heat will be more intense.
*Plant drought tolerant plants from South Africa (Red Hot Pokers, Agapanthus, Crocosmia), the Mediterranean (Euphorbia, Salvia, Allium, Grapes, Figs), and Mexico(Cannas, Begonias and Dahlias)
*Add small round or crushed rock to the top of your beds because they do not give off carbon, they keep plants moist, and keep weeds down.
*If it is over 90 degrees outside in the day or if there is no dew at night, water in the evenings after 9 pm for only a short time so that the plants can hydrate overnight.
*Watering in the mornings is also good but when it gets that hot that fast, plants will need more time to hydrate if they are to survive. Never water between 9 am and 9 pm outside when it is really hot out.
*Set hanging baskets in a bucket of water and let them soak the water up. Spray the foliage with water at night as well. Instead of fuchsias, invest in geraniums that don’t need as much water and they can handle the heat much better and need less water.The raising price of water and water restrictions
*You will be forced to decide which trees, shrubs and perennials you can not live without and water them above others. Sentimental, historic, endangered, and expensive plants will be at the top of your list and your lawn should be at the bottom.
*Plant raised garden beds with groups of plants crowded together that are drought tolerant. Mix vegetable, exotic and native plants together.
*Cover with rock, mulch, and bark dust to help retain the water.
*Water will be expensive but we will have more rain in the winter so we will find ways to collect it in tanks to use for the summer.Save the native plants
*Eradicate all invasive plants like English ivy and keep wildlife areas native.
*Plant exotic flora next to your home and in the city but be careful not to plant anything invasive next to a state park or natural habitat.
*In the future there will be no dew at night. Native plants will need to watered lightly at night for them to survive the hot summers.
*Place natives in more shade so they don’t get as hot.
*Send a few up north to any place that used to have our climate zone. Friends, botanical gardens and parks in cooler climates will think they are exotic and they can be saved on earth.Garden organically with no fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides
*Americans spend $956 million on synthetic lawn fertilizers and $1.5 billion on pesticides and herbicides. Most of it goes into our waterways. Stop using it and you will find your lawn and plants will still grow wonderfully without it.
*Most lawns are placed directly on top of clay with no compost underneath. Either start over with a layer of compost or add sand or compost to the areas of your lawn that are not doing well and sprinkle with grass seed each spring and fall. You will be amazed how well it will do.
*Hand pull weeds in your lawn and garden. By adding grass seed each spring and fall, you will choke out the weeds so there will be no need for herbicides to kill your weeds.Using a hand held flame burner after it has rained so you don’t catch the neighborhood on fire also removes unwanted weeds from gravel and garden areas..
*Currently, in colder climates we use Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye, bentgrass and fescue. Many of these varieties have become invasive weeds in natural areas so we need to watch out where we plant them. When temperatures continue to rise into the triple digits for days at a time, our lawns will burn. They can not handle that much heat.
*Eventually we will have to switch over to warm climate grasses such as Bermuda or Zoysia grass in order to have a lawn without burn spots. They can not handle freezes so we will have to deal with our current lawns for now.
*Another option is to remove your grassy areas and replace with flower beds or rock gardens.
*Fertilizer will not make a plant healthy, moving it to a location with more drainage, more sun or shade, adding compost or watering less or more is usually the answer. Think of it this way. You can not give someone that is starving vitamins and expect them to become healthy. A good diet (for plants that is compost) is the key. Change is good.Bugs, Bugs and More Bugs
*Because our winters will be milder, insects will not die in the winter so we will have more of them in our lives. Pesticides are not the answer (although there are some organic options that aren’t too bad for the environment) but watch out because even if it is organic it may be very poisonous.
*We deal with bugs when we travel to Hawaii, we will have to deal with them in colder climates as well soon. They will be a fact of life.
*There are some options: Cover your body with cedar oil, rubbing alcohol,, vaporub, vanilla, garlic, or mineral oil to ward off fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes.
*At the first sign of insects on your plants, spray them off with plain water. If that doesn’t work spray watered-down dishwashing soap or oil (canola, olive, soybean or vegetable) on your plants. It works on aphids, ants and many other insects.Grow vegetables that can handle heat
*Eggplant, gourds, melons, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cowpeas, peanuts, snap beans and limas love warm summers.
*Cool-weather vegetables including cabbage, onions, potatoes, lettuce, peas, radishes, carrots and greens will need to be planted earlier or become a winter crop.Flowers will bloom at a different time and for a longer season
*The bloom date for flowers will continue to change. Most plants now bloom at least one week to one month earlier than they did one hundred years ago. Summer blooming flowers will bloom in the spring and spring blooming flowers will bloom in the winter.
*Many annuals will become perennials because we won’t lose them and they will continue to bloom through the winter. Pansies, petunias, cosmos, marigolds and begonias will not have to be replaced each year.
*Perennials will become annuals. In San Diego cold climate bulbs such as lilies, tulips, crocus, lily of the valley and peonies must be pulled up and placed in refrigeration to grow the next year. Even then they do not do so well because of the heat. In the future, we may have to treat cold climate plants as annuals.Trees will have to handle wet winters and dry summers
*Silver maple, black cherry trees, sycamore, yew, magnolia, eucalyptus and willows thrive in warmer weather and are resistant to storm damage. Be careful to plant them where they will not become invasive to native trees.
*Spruce, pine, fir, and alpine trees will grow further up mountains and will need water to survive in the garden.
*Acid rain and pollution will continue to be a problem for some conifers, oak trees and other plants around the world. They will have to be relocated to remote areas only that are not near any major cities.
When one door closes, another door opens. Embrace our climate change and take it one day at a time. It won’t happen over night but if we take steps to save our native and endangered exotic plants now we can look forward to a beautiful garden for many years to come. We acclimate when we go on vacation to Hawaii. Plants can do it as well.Someday, I will enjoy my pineapples, oranges and bananas that I grew in my Northwest garden and you will too!
1 Comments:
Rina said...
People should read this.
November 11, 2008 2:57 AM Rina-Thanks for the comment. I will publish it again-Yolanda
