North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

My obervation is that many nurseries are wildly optimistic about
hardiness. In some cases, this is because they just want to sell and may
not offer a guarantee anyway. In other cases it's because their attitude
is "Why not experiment. Maybe your site is more favourable than you
think. If you don't take a chance, you'll never know whether your
can grow this wonderful (nursery opinion) cultivar."

A lot of nurseries tend to be fairly responsible but somewhat optimistic
because their opinion is based on a few winters which do not include a
test winter.

Not many seem to base their opinions on test winters even when the 
cultivar has been out long enough to have been tested directly.

With rigourous ratings it's probably as well to remind the customer that 
if they don't mind losing the plant to a test winter they may be able to 
grow it for a decade or two. Much depends on just how good it is, and 
that again depends a lot on how well the cultivar fits the customer's 
site. A lot of nurseries seem a bit shaky on the cultivar's general 
merits let alone its local adaptations.

I tend to get a feeling for a nursery's style based on its ratings of 
cultivars I know something about. Buyers who are new to fruit gardening
may be susceptible to the seller's hype, later to become even more 
cynical than they should be.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario



Jim Fruth wrote:
> Ernest Plutko said, "I don't know what to believe of hardiness zones listed 
> for plants by sellers?  They seem
> to push plant hardiness as more hardy than they really are."
>
>
> Ernest,
>     I have found the opposite to be true and that makes alot of sense.  If a 
> nursery claims a plant to be less hardy than it really is, they are less 
> likely to have to replace plants that don't survive.
>
> Jim Fruth
> Brambleberry Farm
> Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
> For jams, jellies & syrups:
> www.bberryfarm.com
> (877)265-6856 [Store]
> (218)831-7018 [My Cell]