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microclimates?
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Posted by novice_2009 zone 6b (My Page) on Sat, Nov 7, 09 at 11:45
Could some of you wise, experienced gardeners explain something to me?
What exactly are microclimates, and how do they exist in a garden area? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: microclimates?
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Sat, Nov 7, 09 at 13:23
| Micro-climates can be as small as a bushel basket or larger than a county. I live on the shore of Lake Huron. It's moderating effect puts me in a small area of zone 6 in a sea of zone 5. You may have an area in a courtyard with dark stones that absorb the sun's heat and the surrounding walls blocks the winter wind, which might allow you to grow zone 7b or 8a plants. There might be a spot under a dripping air conditioner on the north side of the house that is just perfect for a small moss garden. With the foundation of the house keeping the soil warm, you might be able to grow a particular species of moss that doesn't normally occur in your area. I have a 'flower box' on the south side of my home. The soil is warmed because the box is against an interior wall, and the white siding behind it reflects extra sunlight onto the soil, also helping to warm it. Even though I'm zone 6, I can grow zone 7 plants in this area, but not in my garden. Additional heat from highly urban areas can produce enough additional heat that mean temperatures are a few degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas. Cold air sinks to valley floors, making them several degrees cooler than surrounding flatlands .......... Get the idea now? Al |
RE: microclimates?
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| thanks Al, I do. It's complicated! However, just your few examples have helped me to understand the dynamics. Thank you. |
RE: microclimates?
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| Generally, though, micro-climate is referencing a scale of miles rather than feet. It has much to do with 'frost-pockets' and the dynamics of cold air and bodies of water. It will always be warmer on the fringes of land around ponds, lakes, rivers and ocean than land areas farther away. I live on an island at sea and so experience this dynamic very extremely. The center of the island, being the center of the land-mass, cools off the most at night and this colder air sits on flat areas and drains into any pockets and is the coldest of all. These are the frost-pockets and are several zones colder than the warmest areas in the sheltered valleys and harbors next to the water. The trees in the frost-pockets are stunted, leaf out 5 or 6 weeks later than the warmest areas and drop leaves 3 or 4 weeks earlier. These coldest to warmest micro-climes are on average 5 miles apart. |
RE: microclimates?
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| Sorry, I'm going to disagree :-) ALL gardens have microclimates, very much as Al described. Just siting plants on different sides of a structure where they might experience colder winds or reflected heat can extend or reduce growing conditions. Fences or other enclosures or the nook inside the 'L' of a building create a more protective environment than an open, flat, exposed area. Rocks, stone walls and paving will absorb heat during the day and reflect it back during the nights. The difference may not be huge - maybe ony a few degrees higher during the coldest days - but it is often enough to protect frost tender plants or extend a hardiness zone. Even a grouping of plants together can create a microclimate, offering protection or shelter for smaller and perhaps more tender species. Investigating and researching microclimates for each garden is a common procedure for landscape designers when conducting a site analysis - it often determines the appropriate sitings for various plant choices. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell's explanation of microclimates
RE: microclimates?
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Sun, Nov 8, 09 at 9:59
| I didn't look anything up before I responded, but it does look like I pretty much parallel the Cornell link provided. I was going to disagree with pnb, but there's probably no need since Pam has graciously done the heavy lifting. (thank you) ;o) Anyway - the most important aspect of the thread is that the OP now understands that there are many factors that can work singularly or in concert to create many types of micro-climes. Al |
RE: microclimates?
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| Microclimates are small areas that have different physical properties than the area, or even your yard. A south-facing wall will be warmer than the rest of the yard, a north-facing wall will be cooler. Also cooler is the low spot in your yard. Shade creates a microclimate, a windbreak, etc. I make my own with mounds for the south-facing slope, with rocks to absorb and retain heat, with shrubs for shade and wind relief, etc. Dan |
RE: microclimates?
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| I guess there needs to be better terminology, then. What some of you are talking about are not only super-micro but largely and intentionally man-made. Not that those variations aren't important, they are. IME, though, such variations on the scale of a garden (discounting such obvious things as the south vs the north side of a wall) or yard are much less than what I described earlier. And much less intriguing. |
RE: microclimates?
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| If I may, the terminology is fine. The two texts I had at hand that defined microclimate are in line with the defs above. Gardeners take advantage of extant microclimates and make their own all the time, esp places of a little more warmth and windbreaks. Good rock gardeners are especially keen to this. Dan |
RE: microclimates?
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Sun, Nov 8, 09 at 20:44
| Who decides we need to parse words or that there needs to be better terminology? Van, mini-van, micro-van, microscopic van ..... all vans - different sizes. See the pattern? By Jiminy, I think it's much more intriguing to discover you have a micro-climate in the zone 5 courtyard that allows you to grow palms hardy to only zone 8, than it is to discover to your bedazzlement that because you live on the shore of a large body of water you can grow 6a plants in 5b. Al |
RE: microclimates?
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| I spoke at an urban heat island conference recently, and I'd say half of the papers were about creating suitable and sustainable microclimates to ameliorate the effects of the urban heat island - white roofs, green roofs, optimal tree placement, vegetation management, building placement and design, etc. Including mine, altho I didn't think about it in those terms until now. But Al reminds me: Babylon. I forgot to mention Babylon and some of the first widespread purposeful microclimates. [/geeky] ;o) Dan |
RE: microclimates?
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Mon, Nov 9, 09 at 10:32
| But it's FUN to babble on. ;o) Al |
RE: microclimates?
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| ba da BUM! Al will be here all week, folks. Dan |
RE: microclimates?
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| But Al, I love to be bedazzled by natural phenomena! So what's the new micro-climate? Your greenhouse? Your patio? Your white roof? Yeah, I often start my veggies in my micro-climate and then grow them out in my other micro-climates. That's clear, isn't it? |
RE: microclimates?
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Tue, Nov 10, 09 at 15:39
| pnb - I just wanted you to know that the play on words (babble on) above was not directed at you - it was simply a bit of levity ..... just in case your last post was prompted by ire over how you took it. I made my to my satisfaction, and I really didn't understand your last offering anyway, so I'm content to let it go to the jury. ;o) Fare well. Al
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RE: microclimates?
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| No ire, Al. I'm trying to point out that many things - perhaps most things - in the immediate environment are 'micro-climates'. A glass-house, a dwelling-house, underneath of a rock or a log, inside an acorn. I guess I'm way of base here, but I don't think of such things as micro-climates. I would call such things 'sheltered' or 'protected'. Sheltered on the south side of a wall - a fine 'aspect', as they used to say. Protected by the mass of a decorative pond. Much more useful descriptions than to mention glibly and fashionably about micro-climates. IMO, a micro-climate is an area within a much larger climate region which consistently experiences significantly different average temperature (usually it is temperature that is at issue) from the average of the larger region. |
RE: microclimates?
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Tue, Nov 10, 09 at 22:01
| Ah well - different opinions keep things interesting. Al |
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