The Conversation

Gardeners just aren’t going to take it anymore. Dead plants, that is. It seems that every gardening conversation these days comes down to the plants we’re absolutely, finally through with. (Yeah, sure….) Whether you call the game we’ve been playing zonal denial or “If you aren't out there killing plants you're not really a gardener", people are tired of pulling out corpses and starting over in the spring.

We’ve been lured into marginal-hardiness gardening by a stretch of warm winters, ending abruptly last year and continuing with the ’08-’09 deep freeze. But how to resist all those very cool plants from New Zealand and Australia?  Banana trees, hebes, palms and tree ferns work their magic on us.  We fell in love, and convinced ourselves that we could grow all kinds of plants that aren’t dependably hardy in Puget Sound region.  As we clear away the debris left behind by winter freezes, we feel too keenly the toll on our wallets, our gardens, our hearts.

Everyone has their theories as to why we’ve reached the tipping point on growing lovely marginals like this glossy-leafed, purple-flowered Hebe ‘Amy’, turned to toast in December cold. Some say it’s the economy. Others that exotics have had a good decade-long run; they were a phase like perennials, and now vegetables.

I go with the theory that after a couple of years of cold springs, wet summers, and frigid winters we have a visceral understanding of how unpredictable the weather has become. Exceptional seasons are now the norm. Combine discouraging climate realities with the goal of sustainability, and you have gardeners searching for a more ecologically savvy, regional-appropriate way to garden. What does that mean to you? Are we prepared to quell our experimental spirits?  To give up some of those stirring, climate-bending Mediterranean beauties?  When does tried-and-true become dull-and-ordinary?  Stay tuned…chime in…..let's continue this conversation....

Comments

[Deborah Heg]

It is an interesting conversation, Val, and it seems many of us are in the 'data gathering' stage: I lost ______ - What did you lose? What did you take in? What did you try to insulate?

There is extra work, and some comedy involved in running around outside in freezing weather trying to throw covers on plants as the wind plays havoc with your efforts. (Are we having fun yet?) And I guess it will be a couple more months before I'm sure who is, in the words of the Munchkins, 'not merely dead, but really quite sincerely dead'.

In the meantime, I realize I am still drawn in by the challenge of it all. There are plants I will not try to grow again. But there are also plants that I will continue to grow only as container specimens I can move inside each fall. And also a few that I will - yes - replace.

I've never been a Banana or tree fern girl, but had hoped I lived in the coveted zone 8 "b". This two-week-long sub-freezing experience has got me asking many more questions. What do those hardiness zones really mean? Here, we never went near the lowest number for zone 8. Is prolonged low temp different than one-night low temp? (I'd sure say so!) What forms of insulation work best? And many more.

[Sue N.]

I'm hoping Cliff Mass's take on NW weather will bring some clarity for us too. People sure are talking about this.
Val, talking about weather changes. I've been listening to what's happening with threatened Flower and Garden Shows. Would be interested in your take on what Mass Hort is doing this week, the Blooms in Boston, where the show is dispersed throughout the city. A tack that Seattle may need to follow if no one surfaces. Opportunity?

[Valerie Easton]

Hi Deborah,
I love the munchkin quote - and I'm afraid that many of our plants are really quite sincerely dead...not only because of more than a week of plunging temperatures, but because the cold followed quickly upon a mild, late autumn. Our plants weren't any more ready for frigid December temperatures than we were.

I agree this winter has raised many questions about our plant choices and practices - but how good you aren't discouraged and "still drawn in by the challenge of it all...."

Thanks for commenting,
Val

Hi Sue,
I think the Mass Hort re-thinking of their flower show and staging it on a smaller scale in a variety of urban venues is brilliant. I'm hoping that the void left by the end of the Northwest Flower and Garden Show will be filled with great creativity and fresh thinking - and that non-profits like the Dunn Garden, NHS, the Arboretum, Bellevue Botanical Garden will plunge in, and maybe team up, to put on some smaller, perhaps sweeter, less commercial events, lectures, and shows...

Isn't Cliff Mass's take on the weather basically that it's going to be more volatile, more extreme, less predictable? Which is pretty much a pickle for gardeners...

Thanks for your comment -
Val