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["S & E Hills" <ehills7408@wowway.com>]

I was going to chime in (in fact I think I will) that IMHO climate change/global warming is not a problem without benefits.  I am growing a Kaki Persimmon (in Michigan) that has survived 3 winters now (or is it 4?).  I don’t think I’ll soon be growing grapefruit in my yard (don’t have the room or inclination to be honest) but being able to expand what I can overwinter is a plus to me.  

 

I have a copy of a graph sent out last year by Arrowhead Alpines in one of their mailings which proported to show the changes in mean temperatures over geological ages for the Earth.  On its curve we are currently located at a lower point than the average for the Earth over its history.  In fact the warmer periods (according to this US Department of something or another) outnumbered the colder periods in both duration and in frequency.  So who knows, I might have to take out all of my currants and gooseberries in time (as they don’t like warmer temperatures or so I’ve been led to believe) and might have space for those grapefruit (or maybe I’ll just exchange my poncirus trifoliate for a real mandarin orange).  Either way, I like my passionflowers and calla-lilies and the comments passer-by’s make when they see them.  Heck I’d like to add some of the more colorful Alstroemeria and between climate change and improved cultivars I just might get them.

 

Scott Hills

Zone 6b Michigan