Are you a zone pusher?

I plant some annuals (Salvias mainly) in the ground besides in containers. I always hope the ones in the ground will survive the Winter, but they don't with the exception one planting of Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'! It has overwintered in the place I have it for 2 or 3 years now! :-)

edited to add: I have not replanted it since first planting it in 2007. I am in zone 6, by the way.

This message was edited Oct 5, 2009 6:39 AM

This message was edited Oct 5, 2009 6:59 AM

In this pic are three 'sort of separate' sections of Victoria Blue that I planted in 2007 among different varieties of Agastaches.

I have one of the 'sections' (pretty sure it's the one in the middle) still growing and blooming in 2008 and 2009!

Pic was taken July 25, 2007

Here's the Victoria Blue I was talking about that I planted in 2007.

This is taken July 2009 (couldn't find a pic of it from 2008).

Here's another pic of it taken in August 2009

Closeup of the previous pic

I push the limit all the time!!! I'm classified as Zone 8B but the last 5 winters haven't gone below Zone 9B. But of course that isn't good enough...I push for 10's & 11's.

I always have hope and sometimes hope blooms.

No, I don't push the zones here. We usually get a few days of sub-zero temps, winds up to 50mph and windchills down to -33° during the winter, along with 2' of snow and Ice. No need to prove the experts right...

I push zone all the time, and am lucky with a degree or two of in town area warmth, with another degree or two of micro climate from the tree canopy of oaks and pecans. Some years there is a price to pay, but they are fewer and the tropical plants mostly recover. Still, it offers some interesting scenery sometimes, like last winter a freak snow- on the Australian tree fern.

Being in Zone 10-11 I push the zone sometimes. Plants that need the cold just do not grow here. Most the time I don't push it because it is sooooo disappointing when something does not grow and you really want it to or worse it grows and dies because it is to hot. When a plant dies I actually go through grief period.

Tina

I use the zone as a guideline for whether to buy plants or not but I really rely on looking at other gardens in my area to see what they grow. Im new enough at this to make mistakes about plants all the time so I know the zone "might not be the problem". That said, Houston Texas August is a barrier beyond which you cannot grow. I can err to the tropical side much easier than I can grow something from a colder zone. The most reliable plants in my landscape are the xeriscape varieties.

I am with you Jeri....push the zone....the worst that will happen is the plant may not make it. I rarely buy any plant that would require a mortgage, so I am willing to experiment....grin

I push both ways - higher zones & lower zones. The higher zone ones tend to go in pots so that I can put them under cover in the winter. The lower zone ones, I plant in semi-shade where they're protected from the sun, or I plant in the fall or late winter.
Jo-Ann

I am pushing my zone with about 90% of my stock. I live in Zone 9B and most of the plants I have are Zone 10 and Higher.

I finally gave up on Bougainvillea and Brugmansia.... But I planted them every possible way for 6 years!

Although the backbone of my garden is hardy perennials, I luv to push the zonal envelop. Tina I hear you about the mourning period. I have a little memorial service at the compost pile when I lose one and I still hate to add one to the "Plants I Have Luved and Killed" list. Alot of what I 'push' is homegrown from seed, though, so my experiments are not expensive.

Looks like I have good company with the other "zone pushers" from Louisiana--jomoncon, themoonhowl, and jerri11. Sometimes the plants just don't know they're not supposed to thrive in Zone 8!

I'm definitely a zone pusher. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have some of the neat things I do, like evergreen daylilies. Granted, I can't just plop them in the ground any old place in the yard, but right up close to the foundation on the south side of the house works wonderfully.

But I've lost my share of other plants also.

I guess I am lucky enough enough to have a section of my basement just for me. Worktable ,storage and minimal heat to store my favorite tropicals through our zone 5 winter.All my 20 different cannas ,several brugs,mirabelis ,night jessimine and even my large standard hibiscus have succesfully made it through storage and will be ready soon to go back to their winter home as it will be soon before the first frost shows up.

I luv my cold room too for storing my tenders (dahlias, callas, cannas, glads) nymegen but I like to push zone 5ers to overwinter outside.

I pushed the zone constantly while living in North Dakota. Sometimes I got lucky, sometimes not. Generally though I would put the plants in containers and overwinter them in my upstairs room that had southern and western windows. I put two warm mist humidifers in there and created a tropical paradise for myself. I even managed to get a palm to flower.
Now that I live in Oklahoma, most of the plants that I have are ok here with the exception of the tropicals. We are renting so I'm unwilling to plant a whole lot in the ground. Gotta make my tropical paradise here too although I don't have the ideal setup that I did before. This time I will be relying on grow lights more since the sun exposure is much more limited here. You gotta love experimenting though.

In my youth, I was a zone pusher.
Now, however, I direct all efforts
to permanence.

This week I'm making a big space in my garage to store my lantanas, some verbenas, elephant ears, and salvias.

Always worth a try, and sometimes it works!

I too push the zone limit.Sometimes good sometimes not so good.
This year was a not so good year for me, mostly do to the lack of care I could give.
I had an injury that kept me out of the garden for most of the summer. The weeds survived wondrously and took advantage of anything else I was trying to grow.
Well there is a next year, so I'll have to try try again. lol
Russ

I don't spend a lot of money on my plants and have a greenhouse for those I really care about.
i don't push the zones a lot, but do ahve several plants that have survived when they weren't supposed to
Barb

Because I'm still relatively new to northeastern gardening (coming from coastal California) I alternate between slavish attention to the zonal rules and a certain happy-go-lucky disregard because I feel like it. That's why I have a bunch of semi-tropicals that despite their size will have to be hauled inside for over-wintering.

GO CCG GO! I am a big fan of happy go lucky ^_^

Push all the time both ways. Plants that prefer a cooler summer, or so many cold days to produce and those that require higher temps.

Since I'm on the edge of zone 6 (bordering zone 5), I figure that anything hardy to zone 6 is taking a chance as it is, so I don't attempt to grown anything zone 7 or higher. I have many plants to choose from in zone 6. I refuse to move into zone 5. My parents moved to this area from zone 7 and the native plants that make them feel at home here wouldn't survive in zone 5. However, there are some native plants that I enjoy that won't grown well in zone 7. I feel like I'm in the ideal zone.

We push the zones and push them hard in some cases.
While Cincinnati is listed as a Zone 6b there are many micro pockets along the Ohio River, both warm and cold.
We appear to be in a warmer one.
I'd have to say we are actually 7a.
Add our urban location, fully enclosed yard, 10 tons of rock and a 25' tall Bamboo hedge on the north boundary and 2' of leaves we mulch the whole yard in and we easily winter most 7b plants we attempt.

In the front yard we have a sweet spot.
Brick walled home w/ overhang backing, south face, hedge running e-w 8' away...
we over winter EE's and Canna in the ground.
They are Zone 8b.
Late season Daffs won't grow there. They come up in early February and get frozen out most years.
The ones in the picture are 3 winters in the ground.

We also over winter 200 or so Tropicals in our GH's (new one going up as I type).

Ric

I try not to push the zones unless it is something I really really want like my Night Blooming Jasmine, EEs and Caladiums. Most of these aren't hard to over winter so I can contend with that much. Had to get rid of the Brugs though as no place to put those.

I don't push anything I don't have backups for. Did I end a sentence with a preposition?

I live in WI, zone 4 but quite often can winter over some zone 5. I find that if I don't clean up my flower bed too well I get quite a few volunteers the next year. I had a fantastic display of larkspur one year. All volunteers. Petunias, Datura, nicotiana, Verbena Bonariensis, all have come back for me. So me more than one year. I put my calla lilies in pots and after frost put then in the cellar. We have an old farmhouse and the cellar was used for storage of veggies. I water them about once during the winter and haul them out in the spring and they start growing again. Plan to do more to push the envelope in the future.

i pushed the zone all the time, but have grown tired of losing plants all the time. i also mourn the loss of plants, aunt_A. i have decided from now on i am going to stick to indigenous! :-)
Isaac

Since we don't have the time or the money for travel, if I don't try to grow it, then I will never see it and seeing it, touching it, smelling it is so much (better) than pictures.

This message was edited Oct 6, 2009 6:47 PM

No matter were I live I push the Zone envelopes. I just have to find the right spot for things in the garden. I am starting over from scratch here in Kentucky. The only thing growing on this lot is pasture grass and pokeweed. I've got the area mowed now I have to get it plowed/tilled and that I can add imrichments to the soil and start planting. It will be next spring before I can really do much, but for now I am planning and looking for plants to add to my new garden. I used to live in Kern County, Calif. The temperatures there ranged from frequent frost in the winter to 100+ degrees in the summer. I think we even hit 115 degrees for a few days last summer. And not alot of rain. I missed the rain, but am now getting it here. LOVE IT!!
Anyone with suggestions of plants for my garden please contact me.
Marti
nelsonbrody@yahoo.com

We don't have a whole lot of wiggle room here in North Texas (Zone 8) as far as heat goes - triple digits are guaranteed every summer. We've also had fairly mild winters the past few years and I've noticed several tender perennials and tropical plants will often come back with protection and a little microclimate assistance.

It's growing cool-loving plants that's the problem. But that still didn't stop me from spending $200 on some of the more heat-tolerant ladyslipper orchids. I hope they'll do okay in a moist, deeply shaded area of my front garden...wish me luck!

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." That seems to be my motto for Zone pushing. The USDA map shows the borderline of Zone 8b/9a running almost precisely through my backyard in NE Florida, so it is too warm for most spring bulbs but too cold for the tropical plants of south Florida. Only by trying plants not rated for my Zone have I been able to locate the warm microclimates in my garden -- some of which allow me to grow Zone 10 plants outdoors with little winter damage. It is always a gamble trying to decide if a plant will survive the freezes in winter or be burned up or wilted by the incessant heat and humidity of summer. If I really value a plant, I will divide it when I buy it and put half in the ground and keep half of it in a pot where I can better control its growing conditions. If it survives both winter and summer in the ground, I can then feel confident about using it as a landscape plant.

Jeremy

I do push SOME plants....but only if they werent that expensive.....and also only if they could be wintered inside--in case they couldnt stand my zone 7a. For example, my purple oxalis.....i have seen where some say that it couldnt make it here, where others say it will do fine. But thats ok, i keep mine as a potted house plant during winter! And then i let it go dormant a couple of months before setting it out in the spring warmth.