Climate change challenging gardeners to plant smarter (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

NEW MARKET, Virginia (AP) -- Don't look now, but the early signs of climate change have already landed with a thud in our backyards.

Gardeners across the country have to adapt, the sooner the better, said Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections with the New York Botanical Garden.

"That means planting smarter and planting for the future," he said. "The first thing gardeners can do is understand they'll have to live with elevated temperatures, including higher nighttime temperatures. In winter, they'll have less snowfall. Those two changes will have a significant impact on what we can grow."
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"This is a visible and conscious thing in my lifetime," Spencer said. "We're growing apples in Anchorage now and we've never been able to do that before."

A gradual warming -- generally attributed to greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning fossil fuels -- has been charted for several decades. But the climate's unpredictability is increasing, too.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/homestyle/08/08/climate.gardening.ap/index.html

[Colorado Progressive]

1. Interesting, we live at 10K feet and want to move becasue its so cold,

but maybe it will be perfect if we just wait it out? And, how will people be able to garden at lower, hotter elevations in 50 years? The way the northern ice is melting this year, with climatologists panicking, what else did they miss? Are the people at Burpees busting their butts to develop drought and heat-tolerant strains of seeds?

[kestrel91316]

3. how will people be able to garden at lower, hotter elevations in 50 years?

Ummmm.......they won't.

I'm about to throw in the towel here in the San Fernando Valley.

[stuntcat]

2. my zone is changing

Where I live used to be zone 6 but now I think it's turning into full-on 7. Some people are happy with it but that's BS, it's just a bad sign.

[Colorado Progressive]

4. Yeah thats a bad sign! I dont think we're 4A anymore either! nt

[emmadoggy]

5. I believe the USDA is re-doing the hardiness zone map.

I'm not sure when it's expected to be done, but I'm very curious to see it. I'm in 4b right now, but I think there's a chance we'll move up to 5a.

Their last map came out in 1990, I think? And the climate definitely has changed during that time, IMO.

[Colorado Progressive]

6. That will be interesting to see nt