Thank you for your post. Regarding the Gulf Coast, and Houston in particular, here is my response:

I am not a meteorologist, but I have the view that one can generalize—carefully—from a set of closely regarded particulars. The summers in Houston are extremely different from those in Western Washington. Kingston’s generally dry and last year reached only the mid 90s for any extended period of time. However, the southern tip of Delaware is both very much warmer and wetter in the summer. It is only an hour from DC, which is a close rival to Houston for high heat and humidity, during the spring, summer and fall. So, I believe, we have extreme summers “pegged”, if you will, for Heronswood cultivar screening. Western and Eastern PA are mild and only moderately wet, in comparison to these other climates. However, winter hardiness was the aim of the second part of the post.

In the case of winter hardiness, Houston and the Seattle area are far more similar than they are different, and some might even call them alike. I worked briefly in Houston, staying for a couple of weeks one winter, and was amazed at how overcast, damp and cold it was. This, of course, epitomizes the Pacific Northwest, except for a longer period of time. Am I right, Sally?

Therefore, for zone hardiness, both Houston and Seattle are somewhat alike, and with Southern Delaware included in our plant screening process mix, Seattle and Southern Delaware can be used to approximate a cultivar evaluation for Houston.

I do wish I had a Texas site for “reality” testing, but I don’t. So, there it is. Maybe you should e-mail the folks at Sunset magazine, Southern Living or Texas Monthly for more precise cultivar selections.

By the way, are you a gardener in Houston, southeast Texas or central Texas? Or, maybe, you’re an angel hovering over the entire Lone Star State?

Thanks again. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello, again! Thank you for the information and thoughtful post. I do wish I was able to see your garden. I’m sure, with your great spirit behind it, it will be OK.

Hope your are well. Your witty metaphor is, with all due respect, a bit off, but I think I understand the area you are probing. Here is the information:

When I use “crossing lines” I refer mainly to selections of plants, either collected from the wild or found in markets, that we cross— or interbreed— that are different from each other. One population might be unusually short and basal branching with an ordinary color, while another might be taller, looser-branching, but with larger flowers of a brighter tone. These are found in nature, because plants “cross” all the time. A breeder selects the two “lines”—or groups—and hand crosses them, or uses bees in little cages, or many other methods. We speed up or, if you will, enhance nature’s rate of variation. We’re actually helping nature along, rather than “playing God”, as some believe. Also, it should be noted that humans have been doing this for years. An “heirloom” is, in fact, almost always a result of a cross.

Here’s a test. Walk in the woods or meadows next year and look for a group of plants—large or small—that are ostensibly “the same”. Observe them closely. If you see significant variation in height, size, or “habit” (as form is called), or number of flowers, those are natural hybrids. They have naturally crossed. It’s happening all the time. Nature does not “cross the line” and neither do we. You are probably referring to GMOs and our position has always been clear: we neither conduct transgenic research, nor sell plants produced by “GMO” type methods.

Thank you for the interesting question.