 Palms Won't Grow HereDavid A. Francko. Palms Won't Grow Here. Timber Press. 2003. David A. Francko challenges the principle that some plants will only succeed in certain United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hardiness zones. The zones are differentiated from each other by 10 degrees. NOTE: The USDA zones have just been revised and should be available to the public very soon. He created a concept called "north by south landscaping". I'll let him explain this concept in his own words: North-by-South landscaping challenges myths about where plants should grow and replaces those myths with evidence on where they can and do grow. …. In this book, I challenge the notion that tradition (or perhaps better stated, landscaping inertia) alone is a valid reason for restricting yourself to default gardening in temperate parts of the United States, Canada, and Europe. Specifically, I challenge the notion that southern plants cannot (and should not) be grown in temperate gardens. At the outset, I want to emphasize that I am not against native plants or regional conventional wisdom in plant selection per se. Rather, this book is about challenging conventional wisdom in your garden-about being an adventurous gardener. By adventurous, I do not mean ignoring common sense and expecting miracles. Instead, you must be willing to take some chances, make some mistakes, and invest a little more effort. [Pages 16-17]Chapter 2 is entitled "A Primer on North-by-South Gardening, or Botany for Poets." This chapter explains all you need to know about cold hardiness, hardiness zones, and how plants handle the cold. This information is followed by a thorough discussion of gardening in microclimates in Chapter 3. The next chapter, Four-Season Care for Warm-Climate Plants," will help you learn what special care may be needed to help a warm climate plants survive colder than normal winters for them. I can guarantee you that these few chapters will challenge you to try out some "different" plants in your landscape. Francko spends the final four chapters discussing cold-hardy palms, broadleaved evergreen trees and shrubs such as magnolias and hollies, crape myrtles and other deciduous trees and shrubs, and bamboos, bananas, yuccas, cacti and other exotic temperate plants. You'll find the information in each of these chapters very informative and thought provoking. Recommendation Are you bored with the plants typical for your hardiness zone? Reading this book will certainly challenge you to try some new varieties. I urge you to purchase Palms Won't Grow Here and Other Myths:.... It is written in an easy-to-understand language suitable for the professional and amateur gardener. |
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