THE FREAKING MISSISSIPPI RIVER IS DRYING UP.

[NickB79]

68. Peaches, pawpaws, chestnuts, persimmons, pecans all now growing in Minnesota

Two different friends have fruiting peach trees; I'm growing seedlings from them. Another friend has fruiting pawpaws; I'm also growing seedlings from them along with the older ones I'm growing from a Chicago seed source. I have nut-bearing hybrid chestnuts now in my yard, from an orchard in Iowa, and persimmon seedlings I started from a friend growing them in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum now has mature, nut-bearing pecans of all things. They also have decent sized bald cypress trees, tupelos, American beech and Carolina silverbell.

These are all species more associated with Southern/Appalachian type geographic areas. Even the hardiest populations used to peter out around mid-Iowa or Illinois. I've even got some sweet gum, Osage orange, flowering dogwood and sycamore trees I'm trialing here for winter hardiness. They aren't supposed to survive, but some are going on year 3 with no dieback.

And then there are the redbuds, tulip poplars and magnolias. My God, they're adapting well here to our warming climate. I've got hundreds of those from local seed ready to go into the woods next spring. I'm already seeing them spread on their own now.

If you've gardened for more than a decade, the reality of climate change is inescapable.