GardenSpotlight

There seems to be confusion at times among some gardeners as to the definition of perennials and annuals.   For those of you that this applies to, this posting is for you! J The definition of “perennial,” simply put, is a plant that continues to grow in your garden year after year.   The simple definition of an “annual,” is a plant that needs to be planted each year.    Perennial plants can be perennial in some areas and also annual in other areas.   To know if a plant will be perennial in your area, you need to know what hardiness zone you live in. The USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map helps us determine which zone we are in.   This hardiness map is based on winter temperatures and each zone has a span of ten degrees.   The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was first introduced in 1960 with the last revision in 1990.    This map divides the U.S. and Canada into eleven separate zones.    The temperatures for each zone are based on ...

OK. Today we will cover indoor temperatures, air circulation and humidity. It is important to keep in mind that indoor temperatures vary from season to season and that the temperature just inside a window may be quite different from that of the rest of the room. For example, during the winter, when the outside air is freezing, the temperature of the inside air near the window may also drop considerably, causing the plants that are kept there to suffer cold damage. Therefore, leave only hardy plants near the windows and move the others. Conversely, high window temperatures may also be a problem. South facing windows in summer and late afternoon sun in a westerly facing window, even in the winter, may cause excessively high temperatures. As for air circulation, drafts that occur due to the mixing of cold and warm air temperatures increase what is called transpiration , or the evaporation of water from the surface of the plant. Combined with chilling, this can be very detrimenta...