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Zoneworthy: You Dig It?
You might have guessed by now that we're a little crazy about "zoneworthy" plants around here. But what does zoneworthy mean, really?
In the course of nearly two decades gardening in Zones 4 and 5, I’ve grown to love where I’m planted, just as maybe you have wherever you garden. Sure, it’s easy to lust for warmer, easier winters and a gardening season that might last just a month or two longer. But despite an annual hindrance of snow, ice and bitter wind chills, I feel no less rewarded from my garden than if I had one anywhere else. Though the palette of plant options in the Midwest may number fewer when compared to milder regions like the Pacific Coast, it is just as fun, vested with a host of plants that would rather grow here in the mid-continent, winters and all, than anywhere else.
But the Zoneworthy concept works anywhere. It’s based on four simple ideas. First, garden with plants that thrive. Second, savor what’s great about where you live, enjoying that sense of place about your home and garden whether in southern California or northern Minnesota. Third, garden with passion, which usually isn’t hard to do, right? Fourth, keep the environment in mind.
Zoneworthy plants don’t come from any one region in particular. They’re a cosmopolitan group of natives and their cousins from afar that will bring rewards to your garden in spite of what Mother Nature throws your way. They’ll thrive with passionate care, which is sometimes just a kindly blessing muttered at planting and a firm pat of the ground around their root ball. Either way I hope it’s one step towards promoting a smarter, sounder way to cultivate beautiful spaces in the heartland of America.
So on that note, check out a few plants I profiled over on my blog--spring-blooming, noteworthy, and zoneworthy performers that love my garden, and hopefully yours too: http://kellydnorris.com/2010/06/besides-irises/