Assessing climate impacts

Here in the Southeastern U.S., we've had a very usual year weather-wise.  Way more rain than normal last summer, then bone-chilling cold in the winter.

It's made for some interesting losses and die-backs.

So, it was a reminder about how extreme our variations were over the past year to read this piece in the NY Times about the impact that extreme cold has had on midwest gardens.  It's telling that some gardeners lost plants that had thrived for 30 years.

As gardeners, we always like to push the envelope, even those of us who are trying to be mindful of our regional conditions, but certainly these were exceptional variations, and maybe a portent of more fluctuations to come. 

I gravitated towards being a gardener (and garden educator) as it was hopeful -- restoring landscapes and encouraging people to connect with nature. It's a nurturing and forward-thinking practice (vs. worrying about habitat loss, conservation challenges, etc.) -- this sort of news just makes me realize more that we need to keep planting as restoration gardeners interested in stewardship, too.