Do you "hitch hike" your greening effort onto the Greater Richmond Area's (GRA) natural planting cycle? In prior columns, I encouraged you to participate in "green" educational events and, hopefully, through these activities became aware of environmental factors that influence GRA's living green.

Recently, our local newspaper reported the GRA to experience little relief from drought conditions. Winter rain has not replenished the area and present forecasts are pessimistic. So, what can we, as a community, do to lessen the impact of these conditions?

Through hands-on landscape garden experience, I've learned it is not only better to plant the right plant in the right place, but plant it at the right time of year, during nature's natural planting cycle. Planting cycles occur when an area's seasonal temperature and peak waterfall occurs.

Presently, there are two forms of seasonal measurement. There's cold-zone – the average and range of cold hardiness – and heat-zone – the average and range of heat hardiness. For example, related to cold-zone measurement, Virginia's mountain range is zone 6, Central Virginia is zone 7 and the coastal area is zone 8. Each zone has its unique seasonal climate: the prevailing weather conditions, heat and waterfall. For zone 7 (the GRA), the cold hardiness range is 0 to 10 degrees. Annually, it is characterized with 60 to 90 days that exceed a temperature of 86 degrees. Still, it is difficult to predict because of the fluctuation of climatic factors.

One reason is Central Virginia experiences what is termed "dog days": a hot, humid environment with temperatures that exceed 95 to 100 degrees. Because such varied climatic changes occur, I've discovered plants that tolerate multiple zones – specifically for zone 7 – are a better choice.

During drought-like conditions, choosing the right plant for the right place is certainly a requirement, but a more significant requirement is to install the plant at the right time of year. For the GRA, the right time to install non-annual plants such as trees, shrubs or perennials is either when existing plants emerge from (early to late March) or into (late September to mid-November) dormancy. Not only does this time of year allow a plant to focus on root adjustment, it also coincides with peak seasonal natural rain. Ecosystems tend to maximize when a plant is matched to its respective high to low water requirement.

Drought conditions are identified through the analysis of soil, drainage, natural waterfall and plant requirement. High demand water zones, grass and other shallow root plants should be limited and located near an available water source. Moderate demand water zones are controlled through developing an awareness of the area's exposure to wind and providing protective shelter. Low water zones, trees or native plant areas are improved with the addition of mulch or ground cover plantings.