Global weirding

I wrote a piece ~ seven years ago about what North American gardeners (and botanists) thought about climate change for The Public Garden (at that time, the journal of the American Association of Public Gardens and Arboreta --AABGA, now APGA). It didn't end up being published, probably because it was too telling. 

American botanical gardens are in denial about what they need to do around conservation and promoting sustainable gardening practices to the public, etc.  This is true of American horticulture associations, too, I'm sorry to say, from Garden Writers Association to our network of Master Gardeners across the country.

At the time I wrote, we'd just emerged from a decade of severe drought in the Southeastern US, and there were significant floods in the west at that time, too.  It was telling to hear from knowledgeable folks (from a number of different scientific backgrounds) across North America what they thought about this topic.

Since then, we've just continued to experience what I was thinking about and posted about in 2010 -- global weirding. The link is to a post from Feb. 19, 2010.

Normal is just getting more extreme than ever, it seems to me.

We're going to experience record lows for February here in the Southeastern U.S over the next couple of days.  And record lows for the "high" temperatures, too, thanks to the strong polar air that's flowing down our way.

Hmm, isn't there something to learn about polar melting and a flood of cold air (aka polar vortex) down our way?

We've got a lot of adaptations to make as gardeners -- whether with native plants that support pollinators or in our vegetable gardens. 

Personally, I'm ready to plant cool-season vegetables this spring.  I've missed my winter kale and collards over the last two years, and I'd normally have started planted some early greens and peas by now.  Not this year.