Gardeners, We're Moving on Up

[Jim Koepke]

About half of the country moved into a slightly warmer zone in the Agriculture Department’s new “plant hardiness” map, an important guide for gardeners.

https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/

On a related subject, I always kept an eye on the Woolly Bear caterpillars as an indication of what kind of weather we might have ahead of us. Of course this is pure folklore. This year I have not seen any Woolly Bear caterpillars in my yard. Usually there are a lot of them. It has also been noticed that the population of other insects and animals have been changing.

In my area we have been having some very heavy rain but are still considered to be under drought conditions.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?WA

Northwest Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, has areas that normally receive over 100" of rain in a normal year.

Also the drought monitor link above can be used for any state by changing the last two letters to indicate the state.

jtk

[Edward Weber]

For you Jim, Happy Thanksgiving
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-GzAPMkBY4

[Jim Koepke]

For you Jim, Happy Thanksgiving
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-GzAPMkBY4

Thanks Ed, that was fun.

jtk

[Keegan Shields]

And the planting dates have moved up by an average of two weeks over the last 120 years, with a notable acceleration in the last 30 years.

https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-length-growing-season

[Doug Garson]

There's a company in Ontario, not far from where I grew up, growing bananas and other tropical fruits in greenhouses. https://canadabananafarms.ca/plans-and-prices/

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The Stan Rogers song Up In Fox Island has always confused me. Apparently bananas have been grown in Canada for some time. Or am I confusing a poem with non fiction.

It's up in Fox Island, prosperity lies
Mackerel are plenty, but not many flies
Business is booming, starvation's unknown
Bananas and oranges and peaches are grown

It's in this big city great people do dwell
Ten story houses, you all know them well
There's Dailys, and Reinholds, McDuffs by the score
The fogarty boys have there huts by the shore

There's railway stations, hotels and cafes
Churches, cathedrals where George Reinhold prays
Radio Stations, art galleries a few
And you come through the sub-way on the six thirty two

One night we decided to have us some fun
We're all feelin' frisky with plenty of rum
To Reinhold's back doorstep, we goes on the drunk
And the rum in our bellies was sure gettin' hot

There's dancin' and singin' and sittin' on chairs
And suddenly we hears a queer noise on the stairs
The door it flies open and Abby comes down
In a big woolen night dress she looks like a clown

Says George, can't make that dollar if he don't get his sleep
There is too much singin' and stampin' of feet
The party's all over, it sure was a fright
Now we won't get to Abby's 'till next Sunday night

[Brian Elfert]

Parts, or all, of Minnesota also got their hardiness zones changed.

[Mark Wedel]

There are both pluses and minuses to this.
Plus side is longer growing season, perhaps ability to grow new things.
Downside is that certain things may no longer grow well. Fruit trees that require a certain number of chill hours may not get as many - certainly the case where I live, where if one wants to grow cherries, one has to find specific low chill varieties, as even though there used to be many prolific cherry orchards in the area 50 years ago, those varieties just don't get the chill hours they need.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Ticks and tick borne illness are problems in new, larger areas. There is growing concern that the world will have much smaller coffee growing areas in the near future. The list goes on. Not much good is expected to be gained by a warmer world. This thread will likely self destruct.

I remember seeing a banana tree in Ithaca NY on the grounds of Cornell University. Apparently a green house was constructed around it each winter.

[Dave Fritz]

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" Bobby Dylan You can listen to the talking heads, or you can look around.

[Andrew Seemann]

Parts, or all, of Minnesota also got their hardiness zones changed.

I was surprised when the Minneapolis St Paul metro got moved to 5a. I guess it makes sense when I think about it. I'm about 25 miles west of the cities and for the most part outside the urban heat dome. It is usually 2-5 degrees warmer downtown than where I live, sometimes nearly 10. When I drive 394 out of Mpls, I can watch the outside temp gauge drop as I get further away,