Changes to climate put flowers in peril

The Telegraph ^ | 12/19/07 | Lucy Cockcroft

[AndyTheBear]

The local climate change of Great Britain has almost nothing to do with any aggregate world climate change. Local climates are changing all the time. The “global warming” we are experiencing is just an average. Good Gravy, what idiocy!

[Hack]

God help us?

[norwaypinesavage]

When you can blame a “cold wet summer” on global warming, you can believe anything. I guess Pope Gore has declared it so.

[Vom Willemstad K-9]

ping

[Vom Willemstad K-9]

ping!

[two-edged-sword]

“Some varieties are blossoming six months ahead of time, leaving them exposed to serious winter frosts.”

Let’s see they are blossoming ahead of time because it’s too warm and that’s why the SERIOUS winter frosts are killing them. But if the SERIOUS winter frost is killing them then it’s still too cold, but the warm temperature is killing them by making the..... Error! Error! This does not compute! Warning Will Robinson, warning! warning!Illogical! Illogical! BFFFFFFFFFFFT!!!!

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

Hank

[killermosquito]

Why would a SCIENTIST be worried about this. The plants will simply evolve their way out of this mess.

[TNdandelion]

This happens every year where I live in TN. Last month, a spring flowering (only) rose had lots of buds and one opened rose, my peonies' buds were breaching the soil surface and my clematis vines were leafing out.

I'm not panicking. The plants are better prepared to deal with the weather than I am! LOL

[reformedliberal]

Every 5 years or so, it seems, my standard lilacs don’t bloom, but the hybrids bloom every year, no matter what. The same years that the lilacs fail to bloom, some of my hybrid iris also do not put out buds, while the common iris bloom no matter what.

While it may be due to those years being the ones without a real spring, where we go from 30-40 to 75 in a few days, the same plants flower wonderfully the following year. Also, in those years of no real spring, everything from common iris to peonies and lilies will bloom within the same 2-3 week period. I hate this, as I like my flowers to go through a progression of blooming, so there is always something in flower.

I just put up with it, having no other choice. I have been gardening on this same property for 34 years and the main standard lilac bush is over 100 years old. In speaking with other local gardeners, the hybrid irises seem to perform spottily for everyone. And, like your peonies, I will have peony plants and iris leaves green and growing as early as February, if it is warm enough. The iris leaves will remain green through even a few snows, if it is 40 or so.

I am in zone 4a...it is listed as 4b, but my land faces north and is low in a valley, so the microclimate is cooler/gets less sun than many surrounding farms.

Now, the weeds seem to flower and thrive no matter what the weather.

[steelyourfaith]

~~Anthropogenic Global Warming ™ ping~~