Adapting to Change

Plants in this Pacific Northwest garden are successfully adapting to temperature and precipitation changes. Photo: Deborah Phare

[sidebar]Xera Plants specializes in growing climate-adapted plants for gardeners in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to a retail nursery in Portland, Xera wholesales plants to independent garden centers in Northwest Portland and the Seattle area.[/sidebar]

There is no shortage of alarming news about our planet’s changing climate. As gardeners, we feel these changes. After all, we work in the trenches. Here in the Pacific Northwest, changing precipitation patterns are of immediate consequence.

The University of Washington Climate Impact Group, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Forest Service collaborated on studies that are cited in an article on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife website. The article, titled “Climate Change in the Pacific Region” outlines the impact of temperature and precipitation changes, and predicts how future changes will affect wildlife, forests, and coastal and marine environments.

From my own unscientific observations, I have seen an increase in...