Cold Hardy
Species capable of surviving extended sub-freezing temperatures without serious injury. They often enter dormancy, produce antifreeze compounds, or develop insulating bark. Tagging a plant “cold-hardy” signals suitability for high-latitude or high-altitude gardens where winter lows are severe.
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Cercidiphyllum japonicum: The Katsura at Dumbarton Oaks
The katsura tree at Dumbarton Oaks, with its sweeping branches and ancient roots, has stood since before the estate was purchased in 1920. This story traces the species’ long history—from prehistoric times to its poetic and horticultural significance in Japan and North America—revealing how it came to grace this Washington, D.C. garden.
tree, ornamental, temperate, cold-hardy -
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Salvation and Suffering: Potato
The potato (Solanum tuberosum), domesticated in the Andes around 10,000 years ago, has shaped histories of empire, famine, migration, and survival. Celebrated for its resilience yet feared for its vulnerabilities, it has been viewed as both sustenance and threat. In Europe, it fueled debates about class, culture, and nutrition, while in Ireland it became a symbol of tragedy during the Great Famine. Across contexts—from Incan mythology to French Enlightenment science, from satirical caricatures to Japanese American incarceration camps—the potato embodies both comedy and suffering, resilience and fragility. Today, global research seeks to preserve its genetic diversity and protect it from blight, continuing its story as an archive of both survival and resistance.
cold-hardy, high-altitude, root, staple, temperate, vegetable -
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What We Know Now: Tracing the Tamarack
The Tamarack tree, or Larix laricina, holds deep cultural and ecological significance, especially in Ojibwe traditions where it symbolizes humility and reciprocity. This story explores the tree’s seasonal rhythms, its role in Indigenous storytelling and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and its potential as a symbol for conservation and interconnectedness with the natural world.
tree, conifer, wetland, cold-hardy
