When ordering plants and seeds, I pay attention to the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map. This far north, here on Beaver Island, we qualify as zone #3. Because the water that surrounds us moderates our temperature a little, we can sometimes edge into zone #4. And I’ve gotten away with pushing the zoning guidelines even further, by planting against the south side of my house. There are always exceptions, of course.
I had a Georgia Peach tree grow up right beside my kitchen door, from a pit I’d thoughtlessly dropped while pouring footings around my house. Uncle Henry identified it for me, and said, “It looks healthy, Cindy, I’d hold on to it.” So I did, though it grew up over my shingles and threatened to overtake the doorway. It produced wonderful peaches, too, juicy, sweet, and the size of a dessert plate, until I over-pruned it one year, before an exceptionally hard winter. I kept it around for a few years, giving it extra attention and lots of apologies, until I was satisfied that it was truly dead.
After a few years of digging gladiolus up every fall, and finding a place to store the bulbs, as they say one should do in zone #3, I took my chances with leaving them outside to overwinter in the ground. I mulched that areas heavily to give it some protection, and only removed the mulch when things had warmed up in the spring. I continued to get flowers every year for about ten years. When they quit coming, I wasn’t sure if the cold had finally gotten to them, or if the bulbs were just spent.
My house sits almost in the center of the island, far from the moderating waters of Lake Michigan. The land is a little lower here, sloping down toward Fox Lake, a couple miles to the south. Those of us that live in this area have noticed that we often get the first frost in the fall, and the last one in the spring. Aunt Katie, whose home was five miles to the north, used to say I lived in a totally different climate. So, I watch the weather forecast, too, and stand ready to cover seedlings if the temperature drops. Mostly, though, it’s safe to consult the planting zone map to determine what can be planted when.
When I have opportunity to travel south through Michigan this time of year, it’s possible to watch spring unfold, hour by hour. That trip in reverse is not nearly as enjoyable! Once, we moved to Beaver Island on the day after Easter. We left the thumb area, where tulips and daffodils were just starting to fade, lilacs were bursting into flower, and every shade of green was visible in grasses and trees and shrubs. We drove north, into a progressively gray and dismal landscape.
Beaver Island was the gloomiest I’d ever seen it…and I’d been here in early April before. Spring comes slowly to this island but, if you’ve been here all winter, you appreciate every change as a sign of hope. To arrive in spring is different. Then, it’s just sad. Everything is brown and gray…except for stubborn patches of snow still holding on in sheltered areas. The ground is mostly frozen. Where it has given up the frost, it has given into mud. And it’s cold! I think there is no winter day that can compete, for discomfort, with a cold, damp, bone-chilling day in the spring!
This year, on this last day of April, we’re past all that. Trees are greening up, ready to leaf out. Buds are visible on many flowering shrubs. After a few days of rain, my lawn is looking like it could use a trim. And, following along with the guidelines in the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, I’ve started planting seeds!