Just like you, Judy, “I like having an idea of whether [a plant] would turn to slime come April before I spend money on it.” I’m always on the lookout for sources of information that keep me from reinventing the wheel. Woody Landscape Plant Cold-Hardiness Ratings, Technical Bulletin #156 from the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, is one of the first sources of information I found. UMaine maintains the Lyle E. Littlefield Ornamentals Trial Garden in Orono. According to the Introduction, “the site is in USDA hardiness zone 4a having suffered winter temperatures as low as -30 degrees F. three times in the last 6 years.” (This was published in 1994.) The plants are grown without winter protection except for mulch and are rated numerically to indicate their winter survival: 1= no damage whatsoever and 5=died. However, as Reeser C. Manley pointed out to me in an email dated 3/7/2001, “. . . in some cases only one to a few plants were tested. This is fine if they survive, but tells you nothing if they die since winter survival is a function of so many variables, freezing tolerance being only one.” True enough, but it’s a good place to start if you don’t have a clue as to what trees and shrubs will survive in your climate, and the woody plants are the most expensive. Best of all, the booklet is free for the downloading.
About Kathy Purdy
Kathy Purdy discovered the joys of writing in fourth grade, when she started corresponding with a former classmate. She's been writing letters ever since, first on looseleaf, then electronically, and now as weblog entries. That makes you, the blog reader, her pen pal. Her first independent (though frustrating) attempts at gardening were made in high school, though the gardening bug didn't bite hard until her mid-thirties, when she found herself mistress of a rural home on 15 acres. • USDA Hardiness Zone:4 • AHS Heat Zone: 3 • Location: rural; Southern Tier of NY • Geographic type: foothills of Appalachian Mountains • Soil Type: acid clay • Experience level: intermediate • Particular interests: colchicums, narcissus, cottage gardening, NY native plants, gardening with/for children
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