Admit it - who's a zone pusher?

HI, zone 6 here.
I have to admit it ... I am a zone pusher. I plant almost anything I like and don't look at the zone. I do plant native 90% of the time ... but not for my zone.

I'm a zone pusher too. All winter I'm in agony watching the snow cover advance and recede over the tender plants. In spring, I'm hovering over totally defoliated evergreens looking for the slightest hint of life. It's all worth it if just one of them defies the zone limit.

I keep hoping that my peony will flower .. so far no luck .. too warm here .. I also have a Cereus cactus that has survived 4 winters outside now and hope to see it bloom some day.

X

I have been known to use large blocks of ice to induce flowering of lily of the valley and similar......and use rubber tyres to keep certain things warm in Winter.A true gardener can't resist zone pushing the zones ....however I must say that I am in total awe of the people in these forums who must deal with huge extremes of weather and in some cases need to overwinter their beloved plants inside greenhouses and their homes etc .....I think they are amazing!

there is a word they have for plants that defy they're given zone, microclimate. i have a couple of those. one was here before i moved in and one i accidentally planted. once i get the plants that i like that are rated for my zone, i suppose i will try a few that are way out of my zone. I know the zone-rated hydrangeas don't grow here, maybe a cactus or a tropical plant would survive longer!lol

len, you slay me. :0)

so, only 4 of us are zone pushers. not bad out of 1/2 million subscribers!

Nah, the rest of us are still in the closet!

come out! come out!

I am a zone pusher....I will admit it. I have discovered agapanthus and loved it. I keep it in the greenhouse over the winter along with hibiscus and ferns and begonias.

Xeramtheum

How deep is your peony planted? Mine has bloomed but I ended up having to replant because I had planted too deep. I moved here from Utah and they have to plant deeper there. I hope it blooms for you! I love peony blooms.

This message was edited Oct 26, 2007 5:48 PM

Mine is not deep at all .. the crown is above ground. When I lived in England I learned not to plant peony too deep.

It's just too warm here I think. I don't even know if it survived the summer .. I'll go look for it tomorrow.

X

I have tried and failed as a zone pusher-- you take a chance, but eventually it gets too cold and you lose your prize plants, then you have no one to blame. I now try not to be.

OH, bummer soapwort. Keep at it, we'll support the addiction for you!

I didn't even know peonies had zones ... they just grow here without care.

I'll pipe in, I'd love to push more, but really haven't been too successful. I do have a maypop passionflower that does good here in my zone 5a garden, but it's also zoned for here. I didn't think the Chinese yam vine was hardy here, but it reseeds even. And my rumex, red veined dock hangs around also. I tried two of the hardy bananas, basjoo, i believe, one lived for two years, the other crocked the first winter. Mulched them also.

Way to go, 7oaks! I also add to my mulch pile - 4 roses earlier this spring. :)

Hi Everyone. My name is Ginny, and I'm a zone pusher in zone 5b :-)

My prize possessions are a few Freesia that I planted over three years ago. The first year I got a few leaves on one plant. The second year I got a few more leaves. In this their third year, I got one that actually bloomed! http://davesgarden.com/tools/blog/viewimage.php?did=32798

My latest experiment is Musa basjoo. The main trunk of the single plant I started with last year died back, but it sprouted a pup for me. We'll see if the pup survives winter this year.

I've also had Crocosmia 'Lucifer' for three years, and it gets bigger and better every year.

--Ginny

I confess, I have the worst case of zone pushing. Fortunately, I have the best little micro climate here and the unusually warm winters we have had for the last 3 years haven't hurt either. I have a few zone 10 plants that love it here but I am always mindful that one of these days I might get caught with my plants in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Now if I just had a greenhouse.......

Would some of you guy's like to come visit Scotland UK, we have to zone push or we would have nothing in the garden, I dont even know what zone I am in, we just go North, South, East, West, up down etc, but as gardeners, we have learned from the start of our garden, to look see where the plants originated from, what there natural light and shade is and soil, like acidic/neutral, other than that, we just learn to give protection by various means, heat by any other means and drainage as and when required, I can grow very tender plants against a wall and hardier plants in the more open so long as I give some mulches. but I have notices that all around the world, we are being allowed to grow some plants considered impossible only a few years ago, so I look at zones as for guidence only, plus, of late, I have had a hard time remembering what month I am in to really worry about my zones and temp, my nose and hands etc tell me the temp and the sky tells me if frost is likely, so over the years, you just go by your gut instincts dont you, it just takes practice, time and patience, best wishes to all you zone pushers, nothing lost is nothing gained. WeeNel.

Great info, WeeNel. I have been to Scotland and love it. You can grow tremendous golf courses over there! LOL.

Keep pushing everyone, as long as you don't start pushing up daisies. :)

What do you zone push pegdog?

6A. I am in an odd little climate area that really "should be" around 7a-b. But, I am in a valley and mountain area, near WV so it's like upper NY here, but we're even colder zone-wise than NJ.

Ooh, that's not very nice is it? What plants have you tried pushing - successes and failures?

A number of years ago when I was in zone 6a I tried for a Rosemary plant. It survived the first winter, but only because it was an exceptionally mild one I think. Despite all my best protections and crossed fingers it didn't make it the following winter. Never could keep one alive in the house either :-)

Good news for you, ginnylynn! Arp rosemary is cold hardy to zone 5!! I actually tried to push that plant into my zone for 3 years to grow in the yard ... and found through research Arp rosemary. :)

Usually, I push the zones on my roses, but have many perennials and water loving plants normally 7 or 8 in my yard.

Thanks for the heads up pegdog. I'll have to look into that rosemary too :-)

For those in odd zones, or maybe in between zones. Some people in Maine are using a cover called reemay. They usually protect against what is called an open winter, one without snow cover. It wouldn't work on trees, or large shrubs , but perhaps on some roses, covering the roots, or plants listed as half-hardy. The nasty winter of 2003-04, nothing worked. Here in eastern MA people lost rose bushes that they had grown for 30 yrs. Some winters are fine and then a spring freeze does in the plants. Experiences of other gardners in your area should be investegated.

Most everyone in Florida is a zone pusher. Its too tempting not to be. Our last freeze in south Florida was 27 years ago. One day it will happen again and we'll have to start all over with the Pritchardia pacifica! I carry my red ceiling wax inside every winter on cold nights and days. I've heard of communities rolling the dice on planting royal palms in Orlando.

I'm curious about this reemay. What exactly is it, and where can it be found?

I've gotten some lavenders to grow here in zone 3 that are zone 5 or 6. And Sage I grew for 5 years when it's rated zone 5 or 6. I consider a real gardener by the plants he/she has killed, not by the plants he/she has alive. LOL .. nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Carol

LOL!

Reemay is an artifical covvering used as a mulch. We don't have it so you would have to investigate in garden products in order to find where available.

According to ceeadsalaskazone3, I too must be a real gardener. Killed many plants here, trying to "modify" zone!!
Trouble is, I have lived in many parts of the world and States before I moved here. So you could understand my needs to be surrounded by plants that have kept me company during my nomadic period!
Alpinias don't bloom for me here....but I kept ordering! Stokes just love me! Then I tried peonies like the ones heaven-grown in Va., but I think it's the humidity that sent them to the mulch pile.
Guilty of "zone planticide"!

I break the zone speed limit wherever possible. I don't care what usda says, our past winters, arborday.org, & my in-town microclmate put me solidly in z6 out in the open. That where it starts. :) Then I add in a half zone or a full zone depending on siting.

From there I have rationalized the murder of my innocent little green victims, and the slaughter ensues. :)

What thrives:

jasminum x stephanense

four o'clock / mirabilis jalapa (not reseeding, comes back from roots.)

the common scourges of the south, mimosa / albizia julbrissin, and empress tree / pawlonia tomentosa.

cinnamon vine / dioscorea batatas

datura metel (reseeds freely)

yellow grove bamboo (phyllostachys aureosulcatus)

poncirus trifoliata / trifoliate orange

What holds on:

trachycarpus fortunei (dwindling away)

I have killed:

gardenia jasminoides "kleim's hardy" (survived the winter in a cold frame, but I disturbed the roots in the spring. Chuck Hayes will be tortured next falll.

musa basjoo, horrrible site/soil/light. Not even mulch could save it where I planted it. New planting is in great spot, great soil, lots of leaf mulch.

musa sikkimensis ditto re: site. Dug in fall, dehydrated in basement, RIP.

lagerstroemia indica / generic red variety -- clung to life for two seasons before last year's late blizzard, and too much shade croaked it.

On the current chopping block:

gelsemium sempervirens "Margarita" -- good location, rich soil, too much shade, but I didn't want to disturb it prior to winter. Had great 1st season growth.

rhaphidophyllum hystrix / needle palm -- good location, horrible soil, it didn't notice this season. Protected by fence and leaf mulch.

common elephant ear -- foundation planting. We shall see.

Next victims:

scrub palmetto -- from pdn, a palmetto with thriving pops. in Ks City, Mo.

Chuck Hayes

holly leafed olive, osmanthus

Possibly phyllostachys nigra, *with* a barrier.

a hardier variety dwarf crape myrtle.

-Joe

Good for you Joe gee, "scourges" are what Alaskans hone in on to try up here. If they are such hardy pests somewhere, maybe, just maybe we can grow them up here! LOL
We look for "invasive" "pest" "can't get it out of my garden"... things like that. That's what we try to grow up here, sometimes grow, never pests, always worth a try...
Carol

Ever tried Kudzus, Carol?

Heaven, no, but I'd try them, in pots of course, I'm not that isolated that I haven't heard of them.
Carol

I can't believe that stuff is still sold on the open market. Kudzu is everywhere around here and killing off native species by the truck loads!!

This is a good thread, I like all the chat ... most of my pushed zoners are closer to the house foundation, etc.

We got snow yesterday though, and I haven't mulched my zone 7 and 8 roses... uh-oh.

L)

Pegdog, roses are tougher than you think, just getting snowed on is normal for roses, they need cold for a dormancy. In Virginia I think a freeze thaw, freeze thaw would be the most dangerous for them. A complete dormancy down to their lowest rated temperature is the time to mulch, wrap with wire with leaves or straw for mulch after the coldest is the best practice because you want them to stay dormant until spring. None of that warmer weather waking them up and then getting blasted by cold again and killing the new growth! Keep them asleep until ready to go again next year. Most of us zone pushers are foundation users, protected from the North or wherever the cold winter wind is usually coming from by trees, sheds, fences, rock walls, slopes.... We're users...admit it!
Carol

I mulch mine lightly and make sure I have the area cleared around the grafting knot. I could post pics of my sticks, but they'll be much prettier in the spring.

okay zone pushers, Do you think (in spring) I could plant a few bamboo plants? Do I dare? Or will it freeze out on me? Come on, I need a little encouragment.

Soapwort,

Phyllostachys aureosulcata http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81044/ should do beautifully for you. It loves my climate here, and some winters it doesn't even defoliate. To assure its growth, plant it close to a foundation, and ideally, put in a barrier around it. This spring I'll be harvesting shoots too. I love 'em steamed. :P I see http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81047/ is another runner supposedly hardy to zone 5a. :) You can also try the dwarfs like http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81047/ . :)

Native American species include canebrake, arundinaria gigantea, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/93278/ , and switch cane, arundinaria gigantea subsp. tecta or arundaria tecta, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/93278/ .

Runners require some room, or a bamboo barrier.

I see a clumper, fargesia rufa http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/123934/ is listed as hardy. I think this is one of the varieties known as umbrella bamboos because of the way they kind of spread out and weep.

I love the foliage of bamboos, and I find them really useful for home-grown plant stakes.

-Joe

Actually...zone-pushers do not "fail".... We just keep on PUSHING.