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Perennials and Zones
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by Diana Roberts |
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Category:
Flowers
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| When it comes to choosing which perennials to put in your garden, you normally look up which zone they are hardy and take it from there. The problem with that is that you may be unnecessarily limiting yourself. |
Zones
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| Over the years, I have talked about this plant and that tree that I grew in zone 2, which were only supposed to be hardy to zone 5! There are a variety of reasons that this happens and one of them is that we each have our own micro-climate in our back yards. If we have a garden inside a fenced area where it is very sheltered, it can raise the zone within your garden while your neighbors may be much lower. If you have a septic tank in your yard, this area will stay warmer than the rest of the area. In the summer you may be able to get away with raising tomatoes outdoors while everyone else must grow them in a greenhouse. |
Temperatures
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| We get kidded in Burns Lake about our temperatures. The radio will announce that the temperature here is -5 but in town it’s only -1! Of course that has everything to do with where the weather station is situated; it’s out at the airport which is in a colder area than right in town. It’s those sorts of things you must look at to find out what mini-zone you are in. If you really want to know what your zone is, keep track of the coldest temperature you receive over a winter and compare it to the charts on zones. If you do this over a couple of years, you will know what zone you really are. |
Hardy
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| The plants themselves are sometimes hardier than they are judged to be. Most areas here in the north are about zone 3, though we are zone 2 where I live, and the closer you get to the coast the zone goes to 4. Let’s take a look at some perennials that we grow successfully here and see what zone they are supposed to be hardy according to the charts. |
Giants
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| Let’s start with some giant perennials. Yarrow is supposed to be hardy in zones 4-8, but I am sure many gardeners here have grown it very successfully. Monkshood is rated to zone 3, and hollyhocks only to zone 4. Angelica or wild parsnip and Goatsbeard are hardy to zone 3. Artemesia and wormwood are hardy to zone 4. |
More
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Astilbe is hardy to zone 3, and false chamomile and bellflower are a zone 4. The clematis is only hardy to zone 3 (of course this changes with the variety). The tall golden coreopsis is also hardy to zone 3. The delphinium is hardy to zone 2, which is really no surprise, as it is very hardy. The foxglove is zone 4 and the globe thistle is hardy to zone 3. Joe Pye weed is hardy to zone 3 and sweet fennel to zone 4. |
And More
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Goat’s rue or French lilac is hardy to zone 4. Sneezeweed is hardy to zone 4 and the perennial sunflower is only hardy to zone 5. Heliopsis, which I have grown and loved for years, is hardy to zone 4. Hops are supposed to be hardy only to zone 5, but if there is a perennial which will grow no matter what, it’s hops! So once again, you can’t always go by what they are zoned. Even the iris is zoned at 5!
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Bee Balm
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The red hot poker is zone 3 and the giant daisy, lilies and leopard plant are zone 4. Another of my all-time favorites is Bee Balm (very easy to grow and hard to get rid of) is a zone 5. Rhubarb is also zone 5, and how many of us don’t grow that? Cone flower and bloodroot are zone 3 and goldenrod and ox eye daisy are zone 4. Verbena is zone 3 while the yucca is zone 4.
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Hops
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As you can see there is a huge variety of giant perennials you can grow, or at least try. If you have ever thought that there is not much of a variety of flowers you can grow in the north, think again! I keep in my mind that hops are supposed to be zone 5 and it gives me the urge to try other zone 5 plants in our zone 2 area.
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