A reader sent me a question that got me thinking beyond the realm of the question, as good questions do. He began by mentioning that he enjoys my column “for the entertainment,” and seemed somewhat surprised that he had a question to ask me.
In this digital age, we just “Google it.”
I was initiated into this habit the hard way, of course, while working on a book called “Midwest Top Ten,” published by California-based Sunset. At the time, Sunset was expanding its empire beyond its home state. It needed not only books to sell nationwide, but “natives” like me with regional expertise to write them.
My task was to select the best plants in 12 categories from trees to herbs for the entire central portion of the U.S. from Minnesota to Missouri.
I began with perennials and soldiered on from there. After turning in a chapter, I would receive a call from my editor. Though not a gardener herself, nor a Midwesterner, she seemed to have access to information far more current than mine.
She was NOT poring over paper plant guides (as I was) but cruising the internet. That so much printed information was outdated upon publication is not surprising, given the speed with which the garden industry sends new and improved plants to market. She was doing what everyone in the Bay Area did as easily as breathing even before Google became a global conglomerate, much less a verb.
She was Googling it.
Remember, I was using a dial-up modem at the time. What saved me was hands-on experience. I could, with some authority, suggest plant combinations and other subjective matters, such as what belongs in the “top 10.” I could use language to convince readers that I was right.
The photos of course did the lion’s share of that work. It was a handsome book and sold well.
The other trouble was that Sunset had previously published only for Californians and none of its editors was familiar with USDA Zones because Sunset had devised its own hardiness zones. California has 20 hardiness precincts, while the USDA divides America into just 13 unless you factor in the alphabetical subdivisions. USDA numbers begin with the coldest, with 1a being the colder portion of, say, Antarctica, and 1b the warmer. In southern Minnesota, Zone 4b is warmer than 4a. (Northern Minnesota is Zone 3a or 3b.)
Some of us insist that climate change has pushed the Twin Cities, a heat island, into Zone 5. Our critics call this wishful thinking.
Each zone claims a swath on the Fahrenheit thermometer measuring roughly 3 degrees.
Speaking of Fahrenheit, did you know that the Celsius (or Centigrade) scale is used by the rest of the world, along with meters and kilograms and the like?
Of course you did. Bet you didn’t know this: Celsius temperatures are numerically lower (1 degree C. is 33.3 degrees F.) and the unit of measurement itself is a bit bigger. A 1 degree Celsius change is a change of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, while a 1 Fahrenheit change translates to a change of 0.55 Celsius. This is one of the easiest ways to convert from one scale to the other, if you know that 0°C = 32°F.
Yup, no kidding. I Googled it.
This begs the question, what is the point of consulting a human for gardening advice?
I would argue that the reader I mentioned at the top got more than he bargained for, and not in the way computers take us to unexpected places, which they most definitely do. For instance, as I was Googling “Fahrenheit,” I was told how to fix my sagging jowls. There was even a photo. Thankfully, it wasn’t me.
Google may not be 100 percent certain that the lamentable condition of my jowls is keeping me up at night, but the odds are better than 50-50 given everything else Google knows about me, based on what I’ve told it. Google knows I’m no longer worried about the quality of my eggs should I decide to have a baby, for example. My babies are having their own babies.
It knows that I am a gardener, as the many unsolicited suggestions (not-so-thinly veiled infomercials) I receive on that topic remind me should I chance to forget.
So, getting back to my reader’s question, he attached a photo of a lovely plant growing in his garden that I did not recognize.
Coprosma, he wrote, apparently isn’t hardy in Minnesota. Is that true, and if so, what could he do to save it?
My Google search confirmed his hunch. It is hardy only to Zone 9. It does well in New Zealand.
He could have learned that on his own. On to his options (he presented three). Covering the plant with mulch or potting it up and putting in the garage, I told him, would not work.
I urged him to bring it indoors for the winter, as I do dozens of my plants, including some that are 10 feet tall and weigh 100 pounds.
His Coprosma probably weighs 3 pounds plus the pot. Go for it, I said. What have you got to lose besides a plant?
Best he learns by doing, I thought. Hold the hard stuff. He’ll find out about spider mites soon enough, and then he can Google remedies.
My final suggestion he had not mentioned: Why not find a cold-hardy substitute?
Coprosma, commonly called Mirror Plant or Mirror Bush, has small, dainty and very shiny, oval-shaped leaves, slight variegation, sturdy stems and a shrub-like habit. I suggested he replace it with a plant I regard as underrated based on how often (almost never) I see it in other people’s gardens. How about Euonymous?
Not just any Euonymous, I hastened to add. This is a very large genus. So again, reaching into my custom-made cache of experienced-based wisdom, I recommended a cultivar called “Golden Prince” that I ought to recommend more often.
But first, allow me to explain that a cultivar is manmade through cross-breeding (also called hybridization) of desirable traits. The cultivar appears last in a plant’s name, which begins with the genus and species (these are not manmade). The species subdivides the genus and is often named for one of its members’ traits, such as alba (white) when the plant has white flowers or contorta (contorted) when it has corkscrew-like stems and branches.
Euonymous fortunei “Golden Prince” is the full name of the plant I recommended to replace Coprosma. I can only guess that the species name (fortunei) has something to do with the plant’s opportunism. In Latin, “fortunei” is a noun meaning someone who improves their lot through marriage.
The ground-hugging version of the species is called E. fortunei radicans, the latter referring to its creepiness. It literally does creep. This Euonymous resembles Vinca minor (no relation) more than it does its cousin “Golden Prince.” It has dark green leaves, whereas “Golden Prince” looks … sort of golden as new leaves emerge, turning deep green (with creamy white edges) as they mature. The stems snake along the soil, rooting as they go, and allow it to grow sideways but also upwards (it even twines around trees). It is also evergreen, which is why E. fortunei’s common name is wintercreeper, and why it benefits from winter mulching and/or a heavy snow cover.
“Golden Prince” is hardy to Zone 4 and extremely low-maintenance. It resembles my reader’s Coprosma in the shape, color and shine of its leaves, but lacks a significant feature — Coprosma’s eye-catching flowers. My correspondent said he liked the plant’s leaves and habit even more than its flowers, but if flowers come first for you, I would suggest the aforementioned periwinkle (Vinca minor). Its powder-blue cups bloom profusely in spring and sporadically in summer.
Such flowers as Euonymous makes are more for utility than looks. “Golden Prince” does have pink fall fruits, called capsules, that look pretty against the leaves. But by the time they appear, another sort of leaf will have covered them up, the ones that must be raked. Dread thought.
Please DO use a rake this fall, and not a gas-powered leaf blower. I am tired of having to put on ear protectors to garden in the din mostly created not by gardeners but lawn services. They would use rakes if you asked them. You’re the customer, after all.
I don’t mean to offend but I’m afraid I can’t help myself. This, too, is an exclusively human trait. Like it or not, we all have opinions.
How do I know? I Googled it.
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September 13, 2020 at 05:19AM
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Bonnie Blodgett: Winter here is too much for Mirror Bush, but not for Golden Prince, in case you were wondering - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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