Roger.......I find it difficult to talk meaningful "stuff" with many an
English gardener......their way or no way.....just like a visitor to my
place a couple of years ago that told me I knew nothing about cutting
grass.....he wanted to cut mine as short as he cuts his in the UK......could
I get him to understand our reasons for keeping the grass a minimum height
of between 2 1/2 to 3 inches.....not on your life......hec, if I cut mine to
English heights it would be burnt brown before the end of June unless I
poured about an inch of water per day on it.....his final answer was that
American grass must differ from English grass.......what rubbish........HW..
"Roger Van Loon" wrote in message
...
Jane Ransom wrote:
In article , Roger Van Loon
writes
But as long as you can grow large-leaved tree Rhododendrons in
Cornwall and in the West of Scotland, and not in the rest of the UK,
you have different climatic zones.
Not so?
Absolutely - but they don't correspond to USDA hardiness ones!!!
Well - did I say so?
In this string of messages, I just reacted against Alan's saying
""you americans seem to overlook the fact that we do not have 'Zones'
we have 'weather'""
Remember? :-)
But, on the other hand - as has been said repeatedly -
The 'USDA' zones are just numbers and lines to indicate the average
minimum winter temperatures, over many years, for a certain place,
and, as such, the system is valid for every spot on the earth. How can
there be a place, anywhere, that does not "correspond" to that?
Which does not mean (sigh, again) that a plant that grows in Z8 in the
Mojave desert (yes, there are such places) wil grow without problems
in Lancaster. (Opuntias will certainly need protection from winter wet
etc.) I would suggest, once more, to re-read the first answer that was
given in this thread.
But, Jane, if you think that the average minimum winter temperature is
of no importance whatever, for your garden, then I too say: ""I give
up - we will just have to agree to differ"".
One last thing, though. As soon as you and the British gardeners come
up with a better winter hardiness system (even if only for the UK),
I'm sure it will be a howling success. Why haven't you? If you haven't
found one - why complain?
For example, when I look in my "Encyclopedia of Rhododendron hybrids"
by Cox (very good work, by the way) I see that he doesn't use the USDA
system; no - he just gives a minimum temperature that (he thinks) a
certain plant will survive ("Albatross = 0 F/ -18 C", for example). If
anything, I find that less useful than the USDA system: as has been
said here repeatedly, a one night freeze does not mean everything, if
you don't look at other factors. Before that, there was the H1 / H4
system - also abandoned, apparently.
Anyhow, best of luck with your garden, Jane. I just wonder, if you
order things and seeds from all over the world (as I do), how you
decide whether or not they are worth trying outside where you are -
without the zone system.
Regards,
Roger.
--
Walk tall, walk straight, and look the world right into the eye.
You're welcome to visit my gardening page:
http://users.pandora.be/roger.van.loon/gardenp.htm