Hardiness

Design and InstallationGarden Caregarden TriviaPlant Health CareUncategorized
Written By Peter Morris

Salt and Ice

 When you add salt to ice it melts. Why? The melting occurs because the salt molecules sneak in between the water molecules and this increases the distance between the water molecules. By making them farther apart than it would at that temperature they now behave as a liquid. Sugar has a similar effect. 

Salt added to ice melts it by separating water molecules

  

Ice Crystals

 Ice kills cells because it forms crystals that take on a spiky shape with sharp points (think snowflake) piercing the cell wall and emptying its contents.  Some plants evolved to concentrate salt and sugar in their cells as a protection from ice forming inside cells during winter. Salt and sugar do not permit the ice to form from 32*F (freezing) to about 24*F. 

Pointed ice crystals

 

Anti Freeze

 Plants also produce a natural anti freeze molecule made of oxalic acid.  This crystal has a fine needle shape which we call raphide. The oxalic acid has a dual purpose.  It interrupts the ice forming capacity of water - but is also part of the plants defense system.  It will cause burning and blistering if ingested. 

Needle shape oxalic acid crystals - raphides

 

Round Crystals

 In colder temperatures, below 24*F, the salt and sugar combination can no longer prevent ice formation.  However it does affect the shape of the ice crystal – making it grows in a spherical or round shape. If ice now forms, when it presses against the cell wall it does not pierce it and the cell is not killed. 

Rounded ice crystal inside cells

 

Round crystal inside cell

 

Dehydration

 At extreme subfreezing temperatures, like in the arctic, most plants evolved to dehydrate almost totally. They become papery and void of most moisture. This enables them to survive until warmer temperatures prevail again. Plant Specialists Design Team will many times use alpine plants for terraces on high floors of a skyscraper!In addition, because  the cells have no free water (unbound to salt or sugar) ice forms only outside the cell.  The ice, if any, forms only in the spaces between the cells - not inside them. It is rare that any of this ice will damage the plant. 

Hardiness Zones

 This adaptation to winter divides plants in to two big groups. We know them as either "temperate" or "tropical". It also segregates them further into what we call zones. The more sugar and salt a plant cell can concentrate inside it cells, the hardier it is, and the lower the zone we can plant it in.Did you know ?– we at Plant Specialists discovered many years ago that every 50 floors up a tall skyscraper is about a drop in hardiness zone !!! 

Hardiness zones of the world

 

If you want tough plants for your garden - Call Plant Specialists TODAY !

Our experts that can install some that are hardy enough!

Don't delay – the sooner the better !

 

GREENING NEW YORK FOR OVER 51 YEARS !

   Article written by our Staff Horticulturist, Peter B Morris, BSc, MSc, MBAAll photographs used with permission @SHUTTERSTOCK    

Peter Morris

Peter was born and raised on a beautiful green island in the midst of a tropical rainforest. He was introduced into the world of plants at the age of six when his grandmother, an avid Spanish gardener herself, asked him to help her grow seeds for her pepper garden. He was hooked! By the time he was a teen, he had his own rose and orchid collection numbering in the hundreds. Botany was in his blood, and that is what he set out to study.

His passion brought him to NY in the late seventies to further his education. His tenacity allowed him to work full time at Plant Specialists while he completed a MS in Plant Biology. As a manager at the time he felt unsatisfied with his knowledge of business and business processes. Peter felt compelled to learn, so he then pursued and completed an MBA in Quality Management within a few short years.

Peter’s other passion is teaching. His natural ability is quickly consumed by our staff in all subjects in Botany, Horticulture, and Landscaping. He created an immense reference library of more than 3,500 plants providing an invaluable resource for our staff.

Peter’s breadth of knowledge and wisdom allows him to effectively diagnose the needs of plants. Sometimes just by walking into a garden he can create a prescription that fixes even the hardest issue. He is our Staff Botanist, Diagnostician, and all around Mentor. Recently, he has put his immense knowledge and skills into developing a new department that focuses on Plant Healthcare. As he puts it, “Magic through Science”. The PHC staff that surround him have avidly consumed his teachings. Substantially developing their own plant wisdom, many have taken on difficult plant health issues with spectacular results.

Plant Healthcare has been an instant success with customers! The proper treatment of insects and diseases including Organic methods has made pest control a necessity for every plant. Correcting hormonal imbalances caused by planting in containers or refurbishing soils leached of nutrients by irrigation systems are big challenges PHC has become quite comfortable addressing. The scientific approach to the complex demands of keeping plants healthy in our harsh city environment has made many a customer say WOW!

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