A gardener must understand her land, her climate, and the "genius of her place." These facts that figure in this understanding cannot ever be overlooked.
Even if you try to escape the limitations of your gardening "place" by means of greenhouses, shade houses, and other man-made facilities, you must carefully consider the design of these man-made micoclimates with reference to your specific climate. A beautiful greenhouse for winter projects in my area is an deadly furnace in July.
I garden in the north Sacramento Valley, USDA Zone 9. We average 22 inches of rainfall each year, and enjoy mild winters and hot dry summers. The sunshine and wind can be intense at times - too intense for many plants; and, the winter months are much too cold for any
tropical plants and many semitropicals. Just these few facts dictate the kind of gardens I can create - dictate with an iron hand of unmerciful strictness. To ignore these facts is to subject expensive plants to disease and early death.
Then there is "time." How much time do you have to work in your garden? How long are you willing to wait? When do you need to act? How old are you? How long do particular plants take to mature? How much time do you have to work to earn money to purchase the plants you desire?
One nice thing about being an old gardener, for example, is that I never worry about a tree getting too big for the area in which it is planted. When it becomes a problem, I will be dead. It is getting easier to count my blessings.
"Consult the genius of the place in all."
- Alexander Pope
"Do the best that you can in the place
where you are, and be kind."
- Scott Nearing
USDA Zone Map
Earth - Quotes for Gardeners
2 Kill a Mouse Graphics
7:25:13 PM 
|
