I know my snow cover is a magical thing, but I can't help wondering (stimulated by Marilyn Daly's posting) how many other variables also govern success with summer-rainfall South Africans? Certainly one thing that comes to mind is summer climate. Summer highs in the Drakensberg are not all that hot, and nights are cool; virtually all their rain comes in summer, and in roughly the same quantity that serves us for a whole year (37-39 inches, from memory). In winter, things at the surface freeze and thaw repeatedly - rough treatment for most plants. The bottom line is that talking about "zone 7 hardiness" or "zone 5 hardiness with snow but not without" does not, I suspect, capture anything terribly useful. More is needed. This isn't a problem with South Africans alone, of course. In our zest to popularize gardening we have largely dispensed with sensitivity to variations in a large number of variables, as dwelling on them, in the eye of the publisher, only confuses readers (who apparently are assumed to have the sophistication of three-year-olds). As I like to remind audiences when I speak, Syracuse, NY, Omaha, Nebraska, and Denver, CO are all in zone 5. Other than that, they have very little in common. Ellen Ellen Hornig Seneca Hill Perennials 3712 County Route 57 Oswego NY 13126 USA http://www.senecahillperennials.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: <mlgd@aol.com> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:51 AM Subject: Re: [pbs] Return of some borderline plants > "Whenever a purportedly tender plant survives the winter outside, it's a > bit > like finding money blowing down the street." from Jim McKenney > > Jim...I know how you feel!! Three years ago I planted a South African > Morea houtonii in my Pennsylvania garden (Zone 6). I was careful to place > it in a warm and protected area and added turkey grit to improve the > drainage. Last year it returned and bloomed. Beautiful! Then we had to > build a small stone wall exactly where my treasure was growing so > wonderfully, so I had to dig it up in the heat of the summer and move it. > Again I took care to situate it and plant it carefully. It returned and a > couple of weeks ago it bloomed again, in spite of the torture it had been > put through last year. ... This really was like "finding money blowing > down the street." The next morning I went out to take a picture of it in > the perfect light, and the flower was GONE. Then I saw it--snipped off by > a rabbit or groundhog and laying wilted on the ground. I guess someone > grabbed the money before I could. It hasn't had another blossom, yet, but > I'm keeping my hopes up that maybe I'll be surprised again. > > Have you had any luck with South African bulbs (or anything else South > African) making it through the winter in your area. I see you're Zone 7 > (and with global warming some say we're now in Zone 7 too). Has anyone > else in colder zones had any luck with South African plants? I'm > interested in hearing because I'm currently writing a book for Timber > Press on gardening with South African plants in colder climates. I know > Ellen Hornig of Seneca Hill Perennials has had GREAT success, but she has > winter snow cover, which we don't. > > Thanks for any input/experiences/successes and/or failures. > > Marilyn Daly > Rosewood Farm > Dallastown, Pennsylvania USA USDA Zone 6 > Where it is a most perfect summer morning--birds are singing, bullfrogs > are croaking, and our first water lily is blooming. "There's no place like > home" on a morning like this. > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > ________________________________________________________________________ > AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free > from AOL at AOL.com. > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/