Climate Disruption for Gardeners: Another Voice

Extreme Gardening? That sounds like what's going on here, and I'm not the only one noticing that "gardening as usual" isn't working anymore:

Cloud Study, MR, 2013

What do you think of this interview?

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=14-P13-00019&segmentID=4

What do you think of the idea of growing species for many different climates in your garden, in the hopes that some of them thrive?

I'm thinking he's onto something....

Move It Up a Notch, It's Gettin' Hot Here!

I have been thinking, the way my garden shrivels up starting in May now instead of June, that I'm really not gardening in Zone 9 anymore. So I checked the latest USDA hardiness zone map, and sure enough, I'm in Zone 10! If you're in the US, you can check your zone here:

 http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Banana River Windsurfers, MR, 2014

 
Many hardiness zones all over the world are changing. It's getting hot in here! I'd recommend that any gardeners who haven't checked their zone in a while should do so. Most seed packets use old zoning maps, so their directions can be just plain wrong. Find your 2014 zone, then look on the internet to find the best planting times for your actual zone. I've gone officially Tropical, and will be planting my zinnias in September. Or maybe I'll skip the zinnias and just on to bananas and coconuts....

Dragonfly, MR, 2014

Weird Wednesday: Revive a Bryophyte for Science!

Bryophytes are pretty weird little plants. Mosses and liverworts have been around for over 400 million years. They are at the opposite end of the evolutionary timeline as Tillandsias; Tillies may be the newest kids on the plant block.

So these "old timer" bryophytes frequently get buried by glaciers during ice ages. And they can sit patiently under the ice for a really long time....

A number of unfortunate bryophytes have been stuck under the ice for half a millennium, since the Little Ice Age! But as glaciers everywhere retreat with global warming, these plants are actually reviving. Here's the link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130528202549.htm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Earth+%26+Climate+News%29

Dr. La Farge is the curator of the very cool-sounding Cryptogamic Herbarium; do you think she imagined her career when she was just a kid? I doubt it. But she and her team of scientists are growing these long-dormant plants, and glaciers are looking more like long-term depositories of many plant species; Mother Nature turns out to be an efficient archivist!

A random bryophyte.