It's Not Your Zone, But Your Site Conditions


Me and my pine lily

 
Pine lily in it's wetland pot

When I first moved here, October 2018, one of the first things I did was to create the two wetland areas that I now have. I wrote about their installation in the earliest days of this blog so I will not describe it again. Suffice to say, the pine lily (Lilium catesbaei) pictured above and which is now blooming was part of that pot when I moved it from my home in Seminole. This lily has bloomed each year since I placed it in this pot and it is purely because I've met its site requirements. It has nothing to do with the zone I live in.

Pine lilies are notoriously difficult to keep alive in the ground. I have tried several times and failed. This plant actually started out that way too. For 2-3 years, it would emerge in the spring with 1-2 leaves and then do nothing. It seemed destined to perish if I didn't do something else. I seized upon the idea of this pot. Pine lilies occur statewide in Florida, but they are listed as a threatened species because they only occur in the narrowest habitat conditions. For a great many years, I studied this species at Brooker Creek Preserve in north Pinellas County. What I saw was that they need a site where they are in nearly full sun. Once they start to get shaded by species such as saw palmettos (Serenoa repens) they start to decline and fail to flower. They also occur only in pine flatwoods that are seasonally hydric. They do not occur in the drier locations, but in areas where there often is a bit of standing water during the height of the rainy season. They do not tolerate extended flooding, but they also do not tolerate extended drought during their active growing season in summer and fall. They are "picky." In this pot arrangement, they get saturated soils when the plastic pool beneath the pot fills with water and the soils dry down as the water in the pool starts to evaporate.  It mimics nature and is driven entirely by natural rainfall. I water this pot very rarely.

There are a lot of native plants that have narrow site requirements. They are not necessarily difficult to keep in a landscape, but you must meet them on their terms. It is unrealistic to think that plants should meet ours. Too many gardeners simply purchase plants without any consideration of the plant's needs and stick it in the ground - like all a plant needs is a bit of dirt, water, and sunlight. Over the years, many of our most popular nonnative garden plants have been selected for their adaptability. That is not so necessarily with natives. Some, like native wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis) seem capable of growing nearly everywhere, but pine lilies are not that forgiving.  Many others are that way too.

I have added a great many wildflowers and woody plants in my new landscape that do not occur naturally in my "zone."  As I've written previously, I eschew the concept of zones. They are largely irrelevant to making planting decisions unless you live in a zone that freezes every winter and you are trying to add tropicals. Some of my new plants are experiments in gardening, truth be told, but most are species I've planted elsewhere in other landscapes.  They have done fine before and they are likely to do better here simply because I have more experience with them. I understand their site condition requirements better. I am not doing a habitat restoration here so only part of what I've needed to learn is based on seeing them in the wild. My plants are in landscapes where I have some control over the site I put them in. Therefore, I can manipulate the site to a limited extent.  I may still lose a few plants in the years ahead, but for the most part my north (and a few south) Florida plants are thriving. I've put them in the conditions they need.

Your first question should not be tied to what your zone is, but be related to the conditions your plant will require should you wish to add it to your landscape and then an honest consideration of whether you can or are willing to meet those requirements.  Plants are not inanimate objects any more than animals are. Before a person adds a pet to their household, most folks learn something about what that pet will need. Treat your plants similarly and your garden will fare much better and the diversity you will be able to achieve will expand.


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