October 29, 2009
By: Garden Dictionary
Category: Garden Dictionary
- Also called cold-hardiness. A plant’s ability to withstand cold winter weather. Hardiness is commonly specified as the minimum temperature to which a particular plant can be exposed and still be able to resume growth. Thus a plant may be said to be hardy to, for example, 32 degrees, 10 degrees, or 0 degrees F. Often different parts of a plant are more or less hardy, and sometimes these are rated separately. For instance, growers of rhododendrons, fruit trees, and other specialties may note one temperature that kills the flower buds, a colder temperature that kills the leaves and the tips of the stems, and an even colder temperature that kills the whole plant, roots and all. Most gardeners are content with simpler systems that assign plants to hardiness zones.See also hardiness zone.
- A term sometimes used to refer to a plant’s endurance of environmental conditions other than cold, such as summer heat or drought.
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