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shadowgarden Philo, OH(Zone 6a) Jul 10, 2007

I want to stretch a hardiness zone. That is I want to plant a zone 7 plant in zone 6. The land I have available is quite hilly and wooded with rock highwalls where it was strip mined about 75 years ago. My thought as to the warmest place would be on a Southern facing slope toward the bottom. Is this correct. Also there are numerous small bodies of water (strip sinks) and exposed rock faces, would it be warmer to plant near one of these? Thanks.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Jul 10, 2007

Not at the bottom, that could be a frost hollow where cold air drains down to. I'd say part way up a south-facing slope.

Resin

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jul 11, 2007

What zone are you really in? In your post you say zone 6, but underneath your name it says 5b. If you're 5b and you're trying to grow something from zone 7 that makes it even more challenging, unless you have a really sheltered area you will probably have trouble.

As far as location--Resin has a very good suggestion, the other thing I would suggest would be putting it somewhere that it's not going to catch the brunt of vicious winter winds, while an exposed rock face may absorb/reflect heat which would be helpful, if it's really open and exposed to the winds then that will outweigh any positive effect of the reflected heat. With the water, if the body of water is big enough then it might provide a little bit of help, but probably not enough to overcome wind exposure or being in a frost pocket at the bottom of a hill, so I'd prioritize being partway up a south facing slope, preferably with some protection from the wind, then if you have a choice of both those things AND it's next to the water, then go for it, that may add a little bit of protection.

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shadowgarden Philo, OH(Zone 6a) Jul 11, 2007

We live in 5B now but we are moving a ways South so will be in 6 where I want to plant this. The water is at the bottom of the hills so I guess that would not work so well. The sinks are usually from 15 to 25 feet wide from 40 to 100 feet long and from 5 to 20 feet deep. However I could well be able to find a protected corner as the hills curve around. Thanks for the advice.

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jul 11, 2007

How funny--I just noticed that you're in Dublin OH and I'm in Dublin CA. Now all we need is someone from the real Dublin in Ireland!

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