Cold Climate Gardening — Hardy plants for hardy souls

January Thaw Discoveries: Plants

by Kathy Purdy on February 7, 2010 · 4 comments

The January thaw of last week provided me with an opportunity to “check under the hood”–or, in this case, under the snow cover. It’s always thought provoking, prompting me to think about how different plants respond to this cold season.

I saw this snapdragon last time we had a thaw. It was in better shape then

This snapdragon looked perkier the last time I saw it. I don’t think it will make it till spring.

This foxglove was a seedling last year

Here’s the biggest of several foxglove rosettes that I saw in various places. Sometimes they can look great all winter, but turn brown sometime before May, when I find their dried up remains. I don’t know why. Do you? I wonder if I should be mulching them. [click to continue…]

Tagged as: arnott, bergenia, Colchicums, foxgloves, galanthus, snapdragons, Snowdrops, thaw

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She calls herself a 'general gardener' because she grows everything and loves everything that grows.

Elizabeth Lawrence

The Great Houseplant Census of 2010

February 2, 2010

Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, in an effort to promote domestic harmony*, has requested gardeners everywhere to tally up the number of plants they currently have growing inside. Here are my results:
Outdoor Plants Wintering Over
1 rosemary
1 ‘Rehoku Sunrise’ carex (an experiment)
1 apple seedling (my middle daughter’s experiment)
1 orange tree grown from seed by my 16 year old [...]

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Edible Blue Honeysuckle: A Fruit for Cold Climates

January 26, 2010

My first introduction to Clayton was his comment on my post about cold climate seeds. On his recommendation I checked out the links in his sidebar. That’s how I found out he grows edible blue honeysuckle, a fruit that is extremely hardy. I thought my readers would like to know more about it, so I [...]

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January Thaw: A Video

January 25, 2010

What happens when the snow melts in the middle of winter? I made a brief video to show you:

Some roads and a few low bridges have flooded, forcing early school closings and rerouting traffic.
A thaw in January is common, but rain doesn’t always accompany it. Sometimes it is brilliantly sunny, inspiring snowball fights in shirt [...]

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Seventh Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium

January 22, 2010

Kerry Mendez just emailed me about the Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium: “Six dynamic garden lectures by nationally recognized speakers, great handouts, food, door prizes, and garden gifts. The event takes place at The Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT. Overnight packages and day only rates available. Speakers include garden designer Julie Moir [...]

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How Do You Know If A Plant Is Hardy?

January 21, 2010

I was just reading Graham Rice’s musings on plants that grow in the coldest climates. He observed that the resources he consulted did not agree on which plants were tough enough to take USDA zone 2. If you’ve been gardening for any length of time (which of course Graham has), this won’t surprise you.
First, [...]

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Winner of the Botanical Interests Seed Collection Giveaway

January 18, 2010

John Deal is the winner, chosen randomly by the random number generator. Thank you to everyone for participating! Botanical Interests will be holding other giveaways later on this year, so you will have other chances to win.

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day January 2010

January 15, 2010

There’s Nothing Blooming Outside
The plants I saw two and a half weeks ago are buried under snow.
No Houseplants Are Blooming
The Christmas cactus that provided a bloom this time last year dropped its one and only blossom a couple of days ago.
My Forced Bulbs Aren’t Ready Yet–Neither Hyacinths
My forced hyacinth is just barely getting started:

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Seeds for Cold Climates

January 14, 2010

Seeds of vegetables grown in cold climates need to have a short length to maturity and an ability to tolerate cooler than typical temperatures–day and night. You can look in any general seed catalog for terms like “short growing season,” “early-bearing,” “tolerates cool evenings,” or even the magic words, “especially bred for northern growers.”
It’s even [...]

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Botanical Interests Seed Collection Giveaway

January 12, 2010

Botanical Interests was a new seed company for me when I hosted a giveaway of their seeds last year. Since then I’ve had a chance to grow their seeds. My favorite has got to be the Lauren’s Grape poppy. It is gorgeous paired up with ‘Dark Towers’ penstemon.
Over 300 Kinds of Seeds
But Botanical Interests sells [...]

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Why Is This Winter So Cold?

January 10, 2010

Yesterday, the low here was 8F (-13C). That’s not too surprising. But Dee Nash of Red Dirt Ramblings told me her low that same day was 5F (-15C) in Oklahoma. Whoa! What’s going on here? Check out Eric Berger’s explanation in the Houston Chronicle. It turns out a lot of factors have contributed to the [...]

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Buffa10: Garden Bloggers Meet-Up

January 7, 2010

For the third year in a row, garden bloggers from all over the country are gathering to meet face-to-face, this time in Buffalo, NY. Buffa10 officially begins Thursday night, July 8th and extends to Saturday, July 10th. Elizabeth Licata and Jim Charlier are the masterminds behind this garden lover’s extravaganza. Check out the blog they’ve [...]

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Winter Thaw Discoveries

December 29, 2009

Even in a cold, snowy climate, there are often thaws, periods where it warms up (that means, above freezing), the sun shines, and you may even lose snow cover. In my case, while Oklahoma was getting buried under a record snowfall, it was raining here, and then, on this past Sunday, the sun came out. [...]

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