Fearless Gardening by Loree Bohl

Author:Loree Bohl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Passiflora ‘Sunburst’, a zone 10 plant. Or is it?

Plants don’t read labels, or maybe it’s more accurate to say plants can’t talk, so they aren’t able to tell us low they can go. Hardiness ratings for many of the plants we buy are simply educated guesses based on the experience of nurseries and growers who’ve trialed them and observed how they’ve done. Assumptions are made based on similar plants and where plants (or their parents) are found growing in the wild. As my friend Janet Sluis, director of the Sunset Western Garden Collection, points out: there are numerous new plant varieties from frost-free climates being introduced to the market. We assume these plants can’t take a frost, but are we right? She also warns, “With so much hybridization going on, you never really know what parental genes (so to speak) are going to come through.” It’s true, you never really know!

Case in point: I fell hard for an orange passionflower, Passiflora ‘Sunburst’, snatching it up as soon as I laid eyes on it. The nursery had it listed as a zone 10 plant—two zones warmer than my garden—but I was so spellbound that I didn’t care. That plant bloomed like crazy its first year in my garden, so when temperatures dropped that autumn I dug it out, potted it up, and put it in the basement, hoping it would overwinter there. Sure enough, when planted out the next spring, it took off as though it had never been on hold. But it gets even better! I must have left a bit of the plant behind when I dug it up, because it also reappeared in its original spot that spring. In fact, it has come back every year since, even surviving temperatures in the teens. Is the plant hardier than its listed zone? Or did I get lucky and happen to plant it in a magical microclimate? Likely a combination of both, as this example shows plant hardiness ratings are not an exact science. Experimenting with what you plant and pushing your USDA zone can yield very exciting, and yes, at times, disappointing results. Remember, killing plants is part of gardening on the fearless side.

It’s also worth noting that the reverse can happen. Sometimes those responsible for writing plant labels err on the side of being overly generous when describing the low temperatures a plant will survive. Maybe they’re working with inaccurate information, or—possibly—being a little unscrupulous and hoping to sell more plants. Whatever the case, it’s best to treat the information on a label as a guideline only, not fact. Talk with like-minded gardeners in your area and compare notes on how borderline plants do in your gardens. Then celebrate your successes and learn from your failures.

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