Eco quiz
What is the largest cause of plant deaths
in the winter?
a. freezing
b. dehydration
c. pests, animals, and disease
What tool makes it easy for everyone to measure
climate change and its impact on daily life?
a. thermometer
b. phenology
c. internet searches
What is the best guide to determine hardiness
before planting.
a. USDA hardiness zones
b. information from neighbors
c. garden diary and research
Answers: The biggest problems for plants in the
winter is dehydration. Many plants dehydrate
themselves to withstand cold and a strong wind
can continue dehydration to point of death.
This information was discussed on NPR's "Science
today" and can be found in other places.
The tool anyone can use to measure climate change
is phenology. This is the monitoring of seasonal
events such as leaf formation and bird migrations. At
present this data is changing very fast and clubs are
forming to exchange information. The internet has some
interesting charts but for local conditions
it is best to keep ones own charts. When phenology is
combined with freeze up records for local lakes this
produces more accuracy.
The best guide to plant hardiness is (in my opinion)
a garden diary. Other sources can get one close but
things like climate change, heat islands, topography,
plus other factors make a diary the most reliable tool.
I've sometimes moved a plant to 3 or four locations
before it finds a niche. OK, for a place like Kansas
a long established neighbor might be a better source
at first. When you move beyond tomatoes forget most
neighbors.
What is the significance of all this? Well ... you may be able
to grow exotic plants and fruit and not know it.
jeff - http://www.bctonline.com/users/jko/ehome.html
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