A view from here- Alta's Web site in Canada

[ideasguy]

Do you find yourself Zone pushing? This lady has to be the expert.
Ive communicated with Alta on other forums, and I can tell you, some of her accounts about gardening in cold conditions can make you shiver!

Only 70 frost free days per year, starting on June 10th
Gardening books dont even cover her region - Zone 0 b (yip ZERO!!)

I was very interested in her latest project - to try different perennial plants, and study what overwinters in her garden (and the local Zoo- Alta also looks after the plants in that garden)

Great photos by a great gardener! Enjoy

http://www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~fedar/index.html

[ideasguy]

I managed to make contact with Alta again. She visited and posted on my last forum, so for anyone who knows her the news is she is moving to warmer climes.
Dont know where yet, but she mentioned in her email that she will have to learn all about her new environment.
I'd say it will be a lot easier that the frost and snow in her current Zone. Brrr!

[alta]

Such kind words, George.    It's possible my ego may expand overmuch.  Could be dangerous.   

The frost and snow in the (true) far north eventually yield to the long long days of the short summer.  Plants grow like crazy mad while they can.   The growth there amazing.   

As you know, the website doesn't exist anymore.  Building it was a grand adventure of its own.  I had a lot of fun, learned a bit, and met some interesting people along the way.   If anyone out there is thinking maaaaaaaaaaaybe they would like to build their own, then my advice is just do it.  One page at a time, isomething good will grow.

[ideasguy]

Hello and welcome Alta - I'm delighted to see you here! I hope we can make you feel right at home.

I'm really disappointed to note that your web site is down.
It was a flagship web site Alta, a very valuable resource to all who live in the colder regions of Canada, and USA.
I know from our correspondence that in Zone 0 many plants are bought each year from suppliers who raise them in heated greenhouses.
However, your experiments with plants to determine which were hardy enough to survive the winter was of great interest to me (in building my Master database) and to many others.

You also mentioned on your web site that there were no books to cover Zone 0. 
From my surfing, one might easily conclude that theres not a great range of perennial plants for anything below Zone 4, let alone Zone 0   
Your documented results would show this to be untrue. Books tend to err on the safe side when it comes to stating plant hardiness. Your results would be a great source of information, and the plants you used would give a good starting point to the ever optimistic zone pushers (I love their spirit).

Theres another point in your message which deserves a Topic on its own:
The frost and snow in the (true) far north eventually yield to the long long days of the short summer.  Plants grow like crazy mad while they can.   The growth there amazing.   
Thats something Ive noticed from my forum friends on my ideasforgardens Delphi forum.
One week they are lamenting about the heavy snow. A few weeks later they are publishing photos of plant in bloom!
Its your high spring and summer temperatures, of course.
In the cooler UK, its a steady growth, and the time to flowering takes longer.
That subject is not evident in books, as they tend to be more localised by country.
The www has made me very aware of the vast differences in growing conditions.

If you do decide to re-publish "A view for here" - well, I'll be delighted.

I sensed from your email that you were a little bit homesick?
Has the Zoo gardens been left in capable hands in your absence? Do you have still have contact with them?

I'd love to hear about those new gardening challenges in your new region (in your email) Alta.