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Thanks to PalmBob for a very informative article, and one that seems to help explain why my Chaemerops excelsa succumbed to the winter here despite being locally "rated" to withstand -15 C. Yes, we do have equivalent "zones" here in Europe, and one can locate maps that use the USDA "zones", although they are not so "detailed" as equivalent maps of the US. Does PalmBob answer palm questions?
Thank you, palmbob, for once again providing an informative and informed article. And thank you for allowing me to be a pedant once again.
I concur that hardiness and tolerance, when applied to plants, are very similar terms. But, the horticultural tradition has, for many decades, been that the word hardiness applies only to the species' limitations in terms of the extreme of cold that it can tolerate. (Please note, those who can put up with me, that hardiness and heartiness, which I've heard confused too many times, are not the same.)
While I agree that many growing conditions, including cold more moderate than the extreme limit signified by a plant's expressed hardiness, are often as significant as hardiness in it's health - if not more so, I still favor the word being restricted to its traditional meaning, tolerance to cold. "Hardiness" is one of the few instances where there has been uniform understanding of the meaning of that one word among experienced horticulturists. If we apply the word to other factors, we diffuse its meaning and then require there be a modifier used along with it. Hardiness no longer has a specific meaning and we would have to use "cold hardiness" to convey the idea. Tolerance works for the other factors, requiring a modifier, of course, and I see no need to make tolerance and hardiness synonyms.
I was just hoping for some simple (non-pedantic) gardening advice.
I thought that was why we were here.
I did not anticipate initiating a semantic debate.
