When it comes to choosing the right plants for your garden, there are several considerations and care requirements that need to be taken into account. My personal experience with Lily of the Valley serves as a great example. I had previously grown this beautiful plant in acidic clay soil, in full sun at my old house, which is definitely not the typical environment for it.
However, when I decided to transplant them to my new homestead, I started to research the risks associated with growing this plant. To my surprise, every post I read suggested that Lily of the Valley requires shady, alkaline soils to thrive. Yet, somehow, I had managed to defy the odds and grow them perfectly in conditions that are not ideal for this type of plant.
This has led me to wonder if I’m just a naturally talented gardener who can achieve great results with ease or if there’s something else at play here that allows me to successfully grow plants in less than ideal environments.
The Truth About Plant Selection and Care Requirements
I’ve spent years honing my gardening skills, but even with that expertise, I’ve come to realize that it’s still challenging to grow plants outside of their optimal environments. However, the truth is that plants have much more nuanced needs than most beginner-friendly guides would have you believe. It’s not just about providing a few basic necessities – there’s a lot more to consider when selecting the right plants for your garden.
How Cold Tolerant Are Your Plants?
To increase the chances of a plant’s survival in its given location, it is crucial to consider its cold tolerance. This factor plays a significant role in determining whether a plant will flourish or struggle under specific conditions. By taking the time to understand your local climate and selecting plants that are well-suited to it, you can avoid investing in plants that may ultimately underperform due to the cold temperatures.
When choosing plants for overwintering in your area, it is essential to go beyond the USDA’s cold hardiness zone and carefully consider the plant’s specific needs, including the right location within your space.
Use the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones
While the USDA Plant Hardiness zones are a widely used and seemingly straightforward tool for gardeners, they have several limitations. The 2012 map provides an average cold temperature reading for each area, which can be misleading. It doesn’t account for extreme outlier cold days, wind chill, humidity, frost duration, or soil freezing depth – all crucial factors in determining whether a plant will survive winter in your specific garden.
This lack of detail also makes the zones unhelpful when it comes to growing annuals like basil, which requires protection from winter temperatures. Despite this, I successfully grow over 50 basil plants as annuals each year in Zone 7 by starting them indoors and providing cold protection.
The USDA Plant Hardiness data can still be a useful starting point for choosing perennials or biennials that need to be protected from winter, and it provides clues about the cold tolerance of annuals, allowing you to plant them at suitable times.
Cold Requirements of Some Plants
When evaluating the hardiness zone of your area, it’s essential to consider not only the USDA Plant Hardiness data but also other factors that can impact plant growth and productivity. Two crucial elements are chill hours and vernalization, which are particularly important for plants that require a certain number of cold days or winter conditions to produce flowers and fruit.
Chill Hours: For instance, apple trees typically thrive in zones 4 and above but also need at least 400-1000 chill hours per year. Chill hours refer to the period when the soil temperature ranges between 32-45°F. Even if an apple tree doesn’t freeze overwinter in zones 9 or 10, it might never produce apples unless it receives its required chill hours. These hours are necessary for bud formation, flowering, pollination, and fruit setting.
Vernalization: With herbaceous plants that require vernalization, such as caraway, fennel, carrots, beets, turnips, and celery, the plant won’t flower and set seed in its second year unless it experiences a certain number of hours per year with temperatures between 32-55°F. Garlic is another example that requires vernalization to bulb properly. This is why it’s essential to plant garlic in fall or early spring or store it in the fridge for 10-12 weeks prior to planting.
Dormancy: Furthermore, plants go dormant in response to declining soil temperatures and reduced daylight hours. By lowering sap levels in their stems and dropping leaves, they reduce their risk of damage from cold weather. However, if your climate or daylight conditions don’t trigger dormancy before the onset of really cold days, plants may not be ready to survive the cold when it comes.
In zones 6b-9, or even in parts of your landscape with microclimates, plants can sometimes be at greater risk for damage due to delayed dormancy than they would in a colder zone.
For example, sweet cherries are at risk for not being dormant early enough in fall and breaking dormancy too early in spring. This results in limb loss, making them more susceptible to diseases.
Soil and Cold Factors to Consider
When it comes to overwintering plants, temperature is just one piece of the puzzle. The actual capacity of a plant to survive cold weather also depends on three crucial factors: soil depth, moisture-holding capacity, and root structure. These factors work together to determine whether a plant can withstand the rigors of winter. Soil quality plays a significant role in overwintering success.
Shallow, boggy soils are more susceptible to freeze-thaw cycles, making them less suitable for planting during the cold season. In contrast, deep, loamy soils provide a more stable environment for plants to thrive. The difference between these two soil types is crucial when selecting plants that can survive harsh winters. Another important consideration is root development. When planting late in the season, young plant roots may not have had time to establish themselves properly.
As a result, they are more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations in the top few inches of soil, making them more susceptible to cold damage. Mature plants with well-established roots can also struggle if their soil lacks depth, as freezing and thawing cycles can cause significant stress. Ultimately, a plant’s ability to overwinter is influenced by a combination of these factors.
By considering soil depth, moisture-holding capacity, and root structure, you can make informed decisions about which plants are best suited for your climate.
Local Windchill Conditions
When venturing outdoors on a chilly day, we’re all too familiar with the biting effects of wind. Similarly, your plants are not immune to the harsh conditions that arise when wind and cold combine. In colder regions, this phenomenon is particularly pronounced. To effectively garden in such conditions, it’s essential to factor in the potential wind chill factor.
As someone who resides on a mountainous slope, I can attest that brutally cold winds periodically sweep across my property, dropping temperatures significantly. Despite being situated in USDA Zone 7a, certain areas of my land experience conditions akin to those found in Zone 6a when windchill is taken into account.
This crucial piece of information fundamentally alters my approach to plant selection and dictates the types of plants I choose to cultivate in these exposed regions or necessitates implementing wind protection measures for less hardy species.
What Heat Factors Must You Consider?
When it comes to rhubarb’s preferences, temperature plays a significant role. In hot weather, this plant thrives when provided with ample shade to protect its delicate leaves from scorching sunlight. Interestingly, while some plants are renowned for their ability to withstand extreme heat, rhubarb is not one of them. Like many other plants, it too has its limits when it comes to heat tolerance.
Are Your Plants Heat Hardy or Not?
The American Horticultural Society has developed the Plant Heat-Zone Map, a tool that categorizes regions based on their average number of days above 86℉ each year. This is in contrast to the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which focuses on cold temperatures. The heat zone map highlights the importance of plant transpiration and heat stress. Most plants begin experiencing heat stress around 86ℭ, which can lead to a range of issues including reduced photosynthesis and nutrient uptake.
Prolonged heat stress can even be fatal for plants. When selecting plants for areas with high temperatures, it’s crucial to choose varieties that are heat-tolerant or implement cooling mechanisms like mulching, watering with cold water, and using temporary shade covers. Although the Plant Heat-Zone Map isn’t yet widely adopted, it’s gaining popularity. In the meantime, understanding a plant’s heat tolerance is key when conducting research for your garden or landscaping project.
Heat Tolerance Research To Do
When evaluating lettuce bolting due to heat stress, it’s crucial to consider various factors beyond just temperature. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to determining plant heat tolerance, several clues can help you identify a plant’s comfort zone. Some resources may describe plants as ‘heat-tolerant’ or ‘protect from extreme heat,’ which can serve as indicators of their ability to withstand high temperatures.
Additionally, understanding the bolting threshold – the point at which a plant resorts to reproducing due to stress – can provide valuable insights. Typically, a plant’s comfort zone is around 5 degrees lower than its bolting threshold. Other important considerations include the native climate and naturalized range of the plant. By tracing a plant’s history to its natural habitat, you may uncover clues about its preferred temperature ranges.
Similarly, researching areas where a plant has become naturalized can provide valuable information about its tolerance for different temperatures.
Basic Care Conditions to Remember
Beyond the fundamental factors of temperature control, it’s essential to consider a range of other crucial aspects that contribute to the overall health and well-being of your plants. These might include factors such as humidity levels, lighting conditions, watering schedules, and nutrient availability, all of which can have a significant impact on plant growth and development.
Soil Preferences
When it comes to growing plants, the type of soil they’re planted in is crucial. One key aspect is the pH level, as plants can’t absorb necessary nutrients if it’s outside a certain range. Soil depth also plays a significant role, as plants can become root-bound just as easily in poor soil as they would in a pot.
Additionally, the moisture content of the soil is vital, with some plants thriving in consistently moist conditions and others requiring more drought-like conditions or even being able to survive with minimal watering.
Sun Requirements
When it comes to sun requirements, plants can exhibit a wide range of adaptations. While some species can thrive in varying light conditions, others are incredibly finicky and will perish if their needs aren’t met. In fact, some plants require specific daylight quotas under particular conditions. Take long-day onions, for instance, which won’t initiate bulb formation until day length reaches 14-15 hours. Conversely, short-day onions will begin to bulb at a mere 12 hours of daylight.
This nuance is crucial in hot climates where it’s essential to ensure these plants mature earlier, under shorter days, to prevent bolting due to the intense heat.
Other Requirements
When it comes to cultivating thriving plants, there’s more to consider than just providing the essential elements of light and soil. Additional factors can impact their growth and success, including the need for specialized nutrients and techniques like staking or training. Furthermore, protecting your plants from pests is crucial in maintaining a healthy landscape.
So, Why Can I Grow Lily of the Valley in the Wrong Conditions?
As I reflected on the Lily of the Valley plants’ impressive resilience, I realized that their adaptability was largely due to my own intentional approach. Instead of forcing them into an environment that might not be suitable for them, I harvested them from a location with similar conditions – a cleared forest with eroded clay soils where they were thriving despite the supposed ‘wrong’ conditions.
When it came time to replant them at home, I deliberately chose a spot that mirrored their native habitat. This experience has taught me a valuable lesson in selecting plants for my own garden: sometimes, embracing the imperfections and quirks of a location can be the key to a plant’s success.
Plant Adaptation
When seeking the ideal plants for your environment, it’s essential to consider their adaptation process over time. For optimal results, select plants that have been grown in similar conditions as yours. You can either purchase them from local sellers or propagate them yourself from areas with comparable climates. If this is not feasible, look for climate analogs where the plant was raised in a environment similar to your own.
This approach will significantly boost its chances of thriving despite minor setbacks like imperfect soil or slight variations in watering habits. Once established, plants typically require gentle care and regular maintenance to ensure their long-term health. However, with proper selection and nurturing, you can enjoy the rewards of a well-loved plant for years to come.
