A pack of seeds tells the story of our warming world

[Gabby Hayes]

Gardener and bird watcher diaries from all over the world have tracked Global Warming and resulting Climate Change for many years. Using the Hardiness Zone maps from average packages of seed, the Arbor Day Foundation has given us a time lapse view of how quickly we are warming.

http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[no_hypocrisy]

2. The harvest for strawberries in NJ was 6 to 8 weeks early this year.

[alfredo]

3. We have Armadillos in Kentucky.

There was a time you'd only see the carcasses on the roads in the southern tier states. Now those leprosy factories are in the Bluegrass state and biding their time before leaping the Ohio river.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Back in the 70's, we had never seen armadillos outside of TX and LA.

I lived a little west of Atlanta when they showed up there about 10 yrs ago. They seem to be spreading even faster since.

[alfredo]

12. They Coyotes rejoice.

[progressoid]

13. I just heard they are in Kansas City too.

Crazy.

[Care Acutely]

16. As a resident I can tell you armadillos have made it up to S. Nebraska

And now that the rivers are all barren and the land is drier than toast on the moon . . . They should feel right at home.

[NickB79]

18. I have a friend who swears she saw an opossum in Duluth, MN

They're all over the place in the Twin Cities, MN but that far north is freaking crazy!

[alfredo]

21. All that Lutefisk has caused brain damage to the point they can't tell the difference

between an Armadillo and a Raccoon.

[leftylauren]

4. Doesn't surprise me one bit

I have flower boxes that I put Impatiens in every year and they do great except this year only the boxes that get partial shade took. And those were the boxes that used to struggle. It was just too hot this year.

[Bette Noir]

5. Whoa. Half the country has gone up one hardiness zone.

Note: The difference between one hardiness zone and the next is 10 degrees Fahrenheit, of the minimum winter temperature. Not that half the country has gone up 10 degrees-- it can be the difference between a winter minimum of 18 degrees vs. 21 degrees. Point is, it affects what can grow where.

[chervilant]

6. A few observations:

I recently returned home to the Ozarks in northern Arkansas. I arrived on February 27, this year. Consequently, I was privileged to see 'Spring' arrive in these beautiful mountains. EVERYTHING bloomed at least a month early. These anomalies have continued through the summer. We had ripe blackberries at the beginning of June, rather than the beginning of July. The Queen Anne's Lace began blooming a month early. The chicory began blooming a month early...

Most of Arkansas is in extreme to exceptional drought conditions. Most grasses are burned to a crisp. Rather than rolling waves of wildflowers, puny and sparse clumps of chicory and Queen Anne's Lace dot the road sides. We had a week of temperatures over 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Photosynthesis stops at 104 degrees Fahrenheit...

I doubt that many of us have snapped to the fact that this global climate change will mean widespread drought (water shortages) and crop failures (food shortages), and it's starting now. I predict that--within five years--we will be unable to sustain the current population, and places beyond the Tropic of Chaos will see famine and food riots.

[jwirr]

8. I think you prediction is very valid. I live up here in 3 now 4 and we are having extremely varying

temps. Due to the fact that we have had a lot of rain our gardens are doing pretty good.

[The Wizard]

7. I've noticed that in extreme heat

the bees aren't active. Because of this many of the vegetables that need the bees to thrive are yielding less than usual. I have a six foot tomato plant with two tomatoes on it. The acorn squash yield is also short.
The dust bowl was a major factor in the Great Depression. Hey Monsanto, do the right thing and develop seeds that thrive under the looming environmental shift. Franken-produce is not the answer. It only serves to increase Monsanto's bottom line as their seeds do not produce the next generation of viable seeds.
I can grow peppers from the seeds of imported peppers; domestic peppers do not produce viable seeds.
There comes a time when the corporate bottom line is self defeating.

[NickB79]

19. My cherry tree was covered in blooms. Virtually no cherries

Very few bees here this year either. The spring came so early that they weren't prepared to take advantage of the early flowering.

[AllyCat]

9. Our green beans which usually produce all summer were burned up by mid-July.

I've planted new ones in August and they are starting to flower. Asparagus was almost a month early. Carrots are not growing. Lots of tomato greenery, but not many tomatoes.

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. We've gardened in NC for 20 years...and the timing has changed dramatically.

Here it is mid August and all of my 210 tomato plants are fried - harvest very concentrated, but the weeks of 105, high humidity, rampant disease....we are having to relearn how to grow things well.

[progressoid]

14. And that only goes to 2006.

It's just going to get worse.

[KoKo]

15. K&R...If you cook anything from scratch today....

you know what's been going on.

:kick:

[DonRedwood]

17. I have petunias, fuschias, pansies and geraniums from LAST year. Our winter didn't kill them

In ten years I've never had these plants survive the winter but this year I have survivors all over the yard. Last year my hydrangeas didn't bloom...this year my dogwood didn't.

I've seen a ton of changes.

[NickB79]

20. I have 3 pawpaw saplings planted in my yard, 20 miles south of St. Paul, MN

AKA Michigan Banana, Asimina triloba. I discussed this with master gardeners from the University of Minnesota's Landscape Arboretum and none of them have heard of pawpaws surviving this far north for more than a year or two. One just laughed at me and told me I might as well try bananas. So far my oldest one has weathered three winters very well. If I can get fruit in the next few years, I'll be guaranteed a blue ribbon at the MN State Fair because there will be no competition