global warming in the garden !

It is October, I'm forty miles north of Inverness - WHY are there still greenfly on my roses and midges chewing my skin as the sun goes down ? Not being a gardener of long standing, has anyone else noticed if they can grow plants that maybe they couldn't five or six years ago - or anything else unusual about the flora and fauna in their gardens.
On another point, I understand that there is a standard scale for rating the hardiness of plants - why isn't it adopted across the gardening press and publishers ??

Rat

 

I'm convinced that there is an element of global warming here. I am comfortably growing plants that my Father in Falmouth struggled to establish 20 years ago.... but another factor is that new and hardier varieties of nearly everything are coming on the market. Of course the down side is longer insect seasons and overwintering of species which would be killed by hard frosts.
I agree about the hardiness scale- and catalogues are really annoying as I don't think their 'star' ratings are all the same, and no info. is given about soil conditions.

 

Climate change or an indian summer take your pick. Tis not unusual for October even in scotland to have its mild spells, the sun is still high enough to give some warmth - depends where the weather comes from. Don't wish it away, pests and all, winter is soon enough coming - every bit of late summer/autumn we get is worth its weight in gold.

 

sewer rat, what is this hardyness scale, I've not come across it, at least I dont think so.
At the moment I think that the winters are becoming milder, but it only takes one hard winter to wipe out 20yrs or so of growth, and if that were to happen I think we would all change our minds pretty quick, I know I would.
The met office are forecasting a colder than average winter this year, lets hope as usual they are wrong.

 

First came across this hardiness scale when speaking to the Head Gardener at Dalcross Castle near Inverness, then subsequently saw it in a catalogue for a nursery called "Tournaig" near Poolewe on the west coast of Scotland - not far from Inverewe Gardens. It is based on a system of numbers, 1 - 7 if I recall, with each number relating to the minimum temperature that a plant could happily cope with. I.E if you could expect a minimum winter temperature of -12 in your part of the world, you could safely use plants in all the numerical groups that related to temps above that.
On the subject of warmer climate, all I want is one small night of frost to kill the buggies that are still trying their best to annoy me - according to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 last week, the Highlands will be covered in vineyards in 50 years - al I can say to that is vive la difference !
Rat

 

I think the scale is very much used in the states

 

Yeah they have zones in the US but it doesn't really transfer well to the UK I find, they have such extremes of tempreture, You could probably fit most of the UK into about three of their zones.
Not seen the one sewer rat is referring to it sounds a bit more realistic for us though.

 

There is a european hardiness zone map as the USA one - but I don't find it useful in the UK. The gulf stream and our island status affects our climate too much - and the microclimate of particular areas can be very different.

Just hope the gulf stream stays where it is and doesn't move - I do not want another ice age in my life time thank you very much