How to garden in a time of climate change?

How can you be successful with your plantings?

To some extent gardening has been based upon past assumptions. Throw those old rules and parameters away — all is changed! New seasons, new highs and lows. The American Public Gardens Association refers to this as “Plant blindness”, others call it “extreme gardening for climate extremes.” Perhaps it’s time to consider a more adaptive approach.

Changes in the timing of phases of the plant life cycle, known as phenophases, are directly affected by temperature, rainfall and day length. While these factors change through the year in places where there are distinct seasons, the first two – temperature and rainfall – are also changing in many regions because of Climate change. For example, if climate change causes warmer temperatures, warm weather may occur earlier in the spring and it may stay warm later into the fall than in years past. It will still get cold in the winter and warm in the summer, but the plant growing season will be longer and that can have big impacts on living things.

According to the New England Wildflower Society many of our native wildflowers are severely challenged, 22% are considered rare, endangered or in severe decline. photo ©ToddHaimanLandscapeDesign

Some environmentalists are reconsidering their native plant theories - does it make sense to remove turf and exotic species for native, regional plants when plant hardiness zones are shifting quickly?  When gardening in a changing climate the phenomenon of species movement is likely to become commonplace as climate change occurs.  Is it practical for a garden designer to select a plant that needs additional maintenance to survive successfully within a climate that creates wild fluctuations of temperature? 

In some respects a Manhattan terrace garden or roof garden design already has many of these challenges, existing as a manufactured garden, struggling with strong winds, microclimates and adaptive technologies.

Many native grasses have a wide range and are quite adaptive.  photo ©ToddHaimanLandscapeDesign

I used to think that tearing out turf and making room for native species like purple coneflower and switchgrass was the best thing I could do. But things aren’t that simple anymore. It doesn’t make sense to think in terms of native and nonnative when the local weather vacillates so abruptly. A resilient garden is a diverse garden. - James Barilla author of “My Backyard Jungle”

In an NPR podcast, managers of the stunningly beautiful Hillwood Estate public gardens in Washington, D.C. clearly state.. "don't expect flowers to bloom on time anymore."

We need to start thinking not just about what used to be, but what could be. - James Barilla author of “My Backyard Jungle”

In next blog post we offer solutions to gardening with climate change…