First frost...

Thursday, 09 Oct 08 (posted about 1 months ago) Sunny 4°C / 39°F

A light, patchy frost this morning, some on the front lawn but as far as I could see nothing in my garden. The coleus in one of the planters was the only plant that appeared affected. A gorgeous day but cool, with the smell and feel of snow on the wind. However it was mostly viewed through steamy windows as I dealt with the plums picked on Sunday, 9 half pint bottles of Oriental Plum Sauce, the same of plum jam (although I have a nasty idea that I may have to boil it up again tomorrow as it seems a bit runny) and two big bottles of plums.

I was looking at plant hardiness zones for this general area of BC, roughly the West Kootenays, and at where MyFolia gardeners were located in this region. The plant hardiness zones were interesting and somewhat mystifying. I thought I was in 5b but it looks as if Agriculture Canada thinks I am in 6a along with Salmon Arm and Kelowna. However Kelowna has completely different weather, it is always considerably warmer than Revelstoke, we are ‘West Coast rainforest’ and they are semi-arid with completely different growing conditions and native plants. I know that there are different micro-climates and plant hardiness zones within Revelstoke depending on how close to the valley bottom and the river one is situated. In addition, mapping plant hardiness zones doesn’t take into consideration rainfall, light/UV levels, hours of sunlight, etc. So I am going to stick with zone 5b as a rough guide, recognising that zones on plant labels are a limited guide and that knowing about where a plant originated is probably a better guide to whether it will thrive here or not.

Gardening books are as poor guides to what might grow in my garden as zone hardiness maps. I am reading an imaginative book on ground covers, but the writer doesn’t say where she gardens and a lot of her comments about invasive plants are certainly not applicable here.

first_frost hardiness_zones

Want to comment?

Cmagnus wrote:
It’s odd that you mention the smell. I woke up this morning and wandered down stairs and thought “Hmm… it smells like Fall.” Which is weird; I had to spend a few minutes trying to figure out why I thought that. I’m fairly positive such a thought has never crossed my mind before. I’m not sure what the smell is, but it smells like Fall.

Posted on 10 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)
Nax wrote:
Your right about zone confusion; you have to take it with a grain of salt. USDA says my 5-county area is zone 6 (a recent rezoning! from 5), except right by the Lake, which is 5b, except my yard acts like 6 for some plants and 4 for others. If you check Chicago area gardeners, we describe ourselves as anything from 4 to 6. I’m surprised that you are supposedly 5b, because your fall color, cold weather and frost hit you way earlier than me, supposedly the same zone. My garden still thinks it’s early September.

You just have to know your own space.

Posted on 10 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)
Vivvy wrote:
It’s the same here in the uk,down on the south coast where I am it can vary between 8 and 10 depending on how high up or sheltered you are.That said,we certainly don’t get the extremes of weather you do over there!My garden is still in sept. as well,with moments of late august.

Posted on 10 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)
Cmagnus wrote:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t USDA zones consider only the lowest temperature? So, if you were someplace in the north where it was oddly sheltered and it was really cold all year, you could be the same zone as someplace in the south that dipped down really cold just once in February. I know my summers here in zone 5 average much warmer than my zone 10 summers ever did. I don’t think they can possibly tell you much beyond what can safely over-winter.

Posted on 11 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)
Nax wrote:
@cm, and even at that I’ve had stuff overwinter just fine that shouldn’t, and lost plants that are supposedly hardy. But you’re right, it less about planting season than about hard freeze date and duration. Which makes me wonder who came up with this, why, and if there is a subtler measure?

Posted on 11 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)
Cmagnus wrote:
In the US there are the Sunset Zones, which break it up by climate type.

Posted on 11 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)
Rainymountain wrote:
You are right Cmagnus, Zones are ranked mostly by Winter minimum temperatures. Here we have relatively mild winters (compared to Saskatchewan) with daytime averages of about -10C, and maybe a couple of days down to -20C. Usually we have good snow cover from December on so the ground doesn’t usually freeze here. This compares to Saskatoon for example which is around Z3-3b, where the Winter average must be about -20C with a few days of -40C and the ground can freeze to a couple of feet depth, however the summer is consistantly hotter and sunnier than here and daylight hours are longer so one can bank on having the first ripe tomatoes by the beginning of August, even if the first killing frost date is mid-September. The Yukon grows whopping veggies despite their short growing season and fairly cool temperatures because they have 24 hours of light at mid-summer. So latitude plays a part too.
Zones will only tell you what perennials, trees, shrubs, will almost certainly get killed over winter, beyond that you just have to know your area and the microclimates of your garden. Which is why I think that if you know the country and conditions under which ancestor plants grew, you have a better chance of success, even allowing for breeding modifications.

The smell of Fall – here a cocktail of poplars – have you noticed how suddenly strongly they smell when the sap is rising in Spring and at leaf-fall now; dead leaves; dampness and decomposition; and underneath, the smell of snow from the peaks, plus other things I can’t identify. In Winter it seems as though smell hibenates along with the vegetation.

Posted on 11 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)