How to Compare Horticulture Practices in Different Climates

Climate influences the things that grow in an area. Native vegetation will vary with changes in moisture, wind and temperature. Sensible gardeners know this and modify their own gardening practices according to the climate in which they live. Those who need to address growers in different areas, like mail order marketers or governments of large countries, have more of a problem.

Comparing the way plants are grown in different areas has implications not only for mass marketing and instruction, but also for individual gardeners seeking to extend the range of exotic plants by providing a favorable microclimate. To compare cultural practices under different climatic condition, you should consider differences in rainfall, temperature, day length and compare the ways in which local gardeners and farmers deal with them.

Concentrate on Behavior

In making the comparison, it is the practice that is more important rather than the characteristic. Consider, for instance, rainfall along the Gulf Coast. One might be tempted to start with the 54 inches annual rainfall in the Everglades, end with the 16 inches in Corpus Christie, TX and place a dividing line at about 34 inches, but this would be misleading. The significant figure is actually around 40 inches; east of that line, the land is worked much as in the rest of the American South, but in the drier lands to the west it is grazing land or outright desert.

Temperature as an Example

Temperature is one of the great limiters of plant growth, and one of the ones most frequently modified by cultural practice. Often, this is done by selection: growers choose the hardiest plants from which to breed and gradually develop a local variety tolerant of more heat or cold than its fellows. Plants may also be grown at the cooler ends of the season rather than the hottest part of midsummer and they may be mulched for shelter during the coldest months.

More Components of Climate

Other climatic factors that require study are variance of day length from uniformly even at the equator to season long dark and light at the poles, wind from constant on the Great Plains to almost still in the lee of some mountain ranges. The greater temperature range endured in inland areas as opposed to those moderated by large bodies of water.

How to Use Comparison Information

Using these comparisons would involve helping a plant to grow outside its normal range. An iris, for instance, is a shoreline plant that needs a lot of moisture. To help them grow in an area with somewhat less water available than optimal, one might adopt a tactic from the desert southwest and plant irises in a waffle garden.

This is a complex world and it is impossible for one person to learn all about it. Mankind as a whole, though, has been studying the planet for generations. By collating the conclusions of these practical researchers who have figured out how to grow plants almost anywhere, we can find ways to enrich the biodiversity of our farms and gardens and thus the secure farm incomes and our food supply against the possibility of climate change.