Lessons From A Transplanted Gardener
Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to gardening. Knowing how nature "works" gives us gardeners the power and the ability to work in concert with her to produce beautiful flowers and vegetables and create healthy gardens. And we've all heard a million times how important it is to know your gardening region and understand what practices work and don't work there successfully. However, I think a lot of us give that principle lip service to a certain degree. Having just recently transplanted myself from the northern coast of California to the northeastern coast of Florida, the importance of adapting my gardening knowledge to my new region and acquiring local insights has taken on a whole new meaning.
In the past ten years or so, I've developed this adventuresome (or restless!) spirit and a wanderlust that keeps me from staying in one place very long. The last time I made a trans-country move (from Toronto to San Diego), I didn't have a garden to get misty-eyed about leaving. In fact, I was thrilled about the prospect of a 12-month growing season to kick start my gardening efforts. But this time, I had an extensive container garden of some 80+ beauties. I bemoaned the loss of all my California plants that I had nurtured and fussed over. I even looked into wrapping them securely in bubble wrap and bringing them with me until I was told that it was against moving company regulations to carry plants interstate ... information imparted in a tone that left no room for negotiation. But then, there was a part of me that was already anticipating how much fun it would be to start my garden all over again.
LESSON #1 When planning a move, don't underestimate the emotional attachment you have to your garden and plants. If you have container plants, start early looking for new homes for them. I put all my plants up for adoption and was lucky to find good caretakers in my neighbors and friends, who were thrilled to add to their own collections. Other alternatives would be schools and retirement/assisted living facilities which often have teaching gardens.
Given that northern coastal California and northern coastal Florida are both zone 9, one might think that you could grow roughly the same plants in each place. Think again. Even though both areas have mild winters and year-round growing climates, the winter weather patterns are reversed. Once winter comes in Florida, the daily downpours of summer cease, whereas winter in California brings heavy rains which offer relief from the arid spring and summer seasons. So my first surprise was that you actually don't have to worry too much about irrigation here in Florida in the summer; rather you have to worry about floods. My second surprise was that there's regularly frost here in the winter, something I didn't get along the coast in California. We moved in May and when I first heard about frost in my initial visits to nurseries, in the heat and humidity of July and August, I was sure they were crazy. IN FLORIDA??? But they were right.
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