Asian HIgh Alpine Hardiness?

[Lori S.]

lori, have you tried any of the high alpines, himalayan or not--those that have a problem with lowland summers?..

Well, I guess I should look up the provenance of what I do have and what I have failed with. 

my ground water is very cold, even in summer--when i am watering my vegetable garden, potted flowers etc, i try to put the water in pails to warm first, or let the hose sit in the sun to warm up..

I wouldn't bother, Cohan.  No one warms the rain water and it's cold too.  It frequently falls to 10 C when it rains here, and we have frequent hail too.  Most of the precip is in solid form some years.    (I'm actually serious about that last point!)  Also, in the mountains, it can snow or freeze at any time, so these plants really don't need coddling.  Water coming out of a hose is cold too.  Anyway, IMO, warming the water would be a pointless effort for outdoor plants.

Calgary is not actually in the foothills either... it's marginally closer than Rocky Mountain House is though.  The "foothills" are defined by the beginning of thrust faulting, which starts to be visible at surface ~30 km west of Calgary along the #1 highway.   (The hills and dales in and around Calgary -that are causing so much trouble for traffic lately - are glacially and erosionally formed.)   

[cohan]

lori, have you tried any of the high alpines, himalayan or not--those that have a problem with lowland summers?..

Well, I guess I should look up the provenance of what I do have and what I have failed with. 

my ground water is very cold, even in summer--when i am watering my vegetable garden, potted flowers etc, i try to put the water in pails to warm first, or let the hose sit in the sun to warm up..

I wouldn't bother, Cohan.  No one warms the rain water and it's cold too.  It frequently falls to 10 C when it rains here, and we have frequent hail too.  Most of the precip is in solid form some years.    (I'm actually serious about that last point!)  Also, in the mountains, it can snow or freeze at any time, so these plants really don't need coddling.  Water coming out of a hose is cold too.  Anyway, IMO, warming the water would be a pointless effort for outdoor plants.

Calgary is not actually in the foothills either... it's marginally closer than Rocky Mountain House is though.  The "foothills" are defined by the beginning of thrust faulting, which starts to be visible at surface ~30 km west of Calgary along the #1 highway.   (The hills and dales in and around Calgary -that are causing so much trouble for traffic lately - are glacially and erosionally formed.)   

i wouldnt warm the water for native plants--but then, i rarely water them only things rooting in pots etc; my ground water is cold enough to hurt your hand, even in summer, so while i might not worry about peas or cabbage, i cant believe that tropical plants like tomatoes appreciate such cold water--as it is they hardly grew this year it was so cold all summer

rocky is not physically in the foothills, but it is just at the edge of the foothills biome, different already from where i am, 30km farther east..

i can well imagine those hills in calgary (quite steep) would be a real problem in this recent snow and slippery weather! thank goodness my drive to work is basically flat-lots of ups and downs, but not enough to affect driving...but we took yesterday and today off so as not to have to deal with the drifted back roads..

[Lori S.]

To get any ripe tomatoes before the end of summer, at least in this part of the city (on the cooler, higher elevation edge), one needs a greenhouse (which we have).

[cohan]

To get any ripe tomatoes before the end of summer, at least in this part of the city (on the cooler, higher elevation edge), one needs a greenhouse (which we have).

very much a matter of luck with the summer, here, but a greenhouse sure helps!..hopefully in the near future... of course  its not unusual to have a cheap seasonal use greenhouse just for tomatoes etc in this area, heating all winter is much rarer..
i was just happy that the spot i chose was sheltered enough that they didnt freeze from late may despite frequent frosts in the area, and again in late summer they survived a long time--of course the mid-summer was so cool that nothing ripened until i brought the tomatoes (not the plants) in...lol

[Olga Bondareva]

cohan,  Lori,
Forgive me my inattention! Of course 1000m elevation at your latitude gives a hope to himalayan plants.

Lori,
Yes Moscow is situated at a large low plain. My garden is higher – at 240m. This place is named mountains because of hills. But there are no any stone, cliffs, etc..

[Olga Bondareva]

To get any ripe tomatoes before the end of summer... one needs a greenhouse (which we have).

The same here.

[cohan]

cohan,  Lori,
Forgive me my inattention! Of course 1000m elevation at your latitude gives a hope to himalayan plants.

Lori,
Yes Moscow is situated at a large low plain. My garden is higher – at 240m. This place is named mountains because of hills. But there are no any stone, cliffs, etc..

unfortunately no open stone here, either, just rolling low hills left from glaciation, but we have this altitude while more or less flat..
if i get some seed to try of those species, i will certainly report my successes--or failures..
of course for now, any failure is likely to be my fault and not climate...lol

[cohan]

while trying to learn more about these climates (still not terribly successfully! the tourist info generally available is not too interested in how cold the high places get in winter...lol; or sometimes available is the yearly average or mean temperature, a piece of information i have never found to have any value whatsoever!)

along the way, looking at india, i found some info on an area (not the high area i'm interested in) that is one of the most/the most rainy on earth, now i've already forgotten the figures--avg 10,000mm annually?? with a period of 2years on record with daily rain!
yikes....

[Sinchets]

Areyou sure it isn't Manchester, England? 

[cohan]

Areyou sure it isn't Manchester, England? 

i think david was telling us he'd had a couple of months of it, nearly, that was bad enough....lol..there are places on canada's west coast with, i think, over 300 days of rain a year.. beautiful places, though..

[Sinchets]

Mmm temperate rainforest- certainly not much of that left standing in the British Isles 

[cohan]

Mmm temperate rainforest- certainly not much of that left standing in the British Isles 

its a struggle in canada to protect it as well, but there are still some nice areas;
i've heard recently of a plan(project/program?) by native peoples on the queen charlotte islands (off british columbia, one of the wettest areas) to preserve not only the land but to include the surrounding sea and all the life in it-to see the ecosystem as extending from mountain top to ocean floor; completely logical, and all too rare!
luckily there are glimmers of hope like this here and there..