NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2003

Winter is the perfect time to think about global warming. Yearning for a little warming of our own, we can snuggle under the throw in the living room and ponder just how our lives in Chicagoland will change if the climatic prophesies of the scientific Jeremiahs prove true.

Over in England, they’re not saying “if” but “when.” A year ago, in preparation for a trip to the Chelsea Flower Show, I decided to join the Royal Horticultural Society since one of its perks is the opportunity to attend the show on the first two days that it’s open to the public. Another perk is its magazine, The Garden. In one of the first issues I received, the lead feature grabbed my attention—“Climate Change…Coming Soon to a Garden Near You?” As the writer detailed the likely scenarios in terms of pests, rainfall (or not), length of growing season, and erosion, I learned that the English gardening world, and also the English government, are taking global warming a lot more seriously than we are. The word to the wise over there is clearly “start planning” while we in the States stay mired in dithering, delay and denial.

That’s not the only thing I’ve learned this past year although, if our Associate Editor Michelle Byrne Walsh had interviewed me on the subject, this would have gone to the top of my list. Michelle reports in this, our 50th issue, on 50 things we have learned from our readers. The tips from you, our readers, are interesting—and fun to read. We hope you enjoy them and learn from them (page 38).

Michelle’s story prompted me to think further about my own garden and which lessons might be worth passing on. For example, this was the year I learned how beautiful and low maintenance succulents can be —hens and chicks in particular. Each individual plant suggests a miniature sculpture and looks ever so elegant in a terra cotta pot or peeking its head out of the hollow of a strawberry jar. A definite top pick for the globally warmed garden.

Also learned this year:
• To have a garden in which fragrance truly wafts out to greet the passer-by, you must grow Oriental lilies. (The early-blooming Asiatics are not fragrant.) ‘Stargazer’ is an Oriental type, but it’s far from being the only good one out there.
• ‘Hot Cocoa’ is a new rose that shows every promise of living up to its hype. The color is unique —sometimes a smoky orange with suede-like petals, sometimes a brighter, more conventional hue (the color seems to vary with the weather). It keeps blooming through the summer, not quite as steadily as ‘Knock Out’ but good enough. No disease so far (in this its second year).
• The most beautiful dahlia in the world is an old-timer— the 1928 ‘Bishop of Llandaff’. Its medium-sized flowers are a vibrant red that looks stunning against the plant’s nearly black foliage. This one is worth the extra work required of dahlias—i.e., digging up and storing the tubers over winter.
• Finally, even if you plant a large container with dwarf gladiolus bulbs, they’re still going to start listing like the Titanic when bloom-time approaches. Such, at least, was my experience with the very lovely ‘Flevo Junior’. (I’ve put plant supports on my what-I-want-for-Christmas list.)

And so it goes. Lessons from my garden. Lessons from yours. Above all, the possibility—probability—of global warming coming to change everything. Plenty to think about when we settle down for those long winter’s naps.