Breeding of Cold Hardy Woody Landscape Plants

Abstract

Cold winters, hot summers, drought, insects, and diseases take their toll on landscape plants, especially those growing in difficult urban situations. Due to widespread concern about global warming and its hazardous effects on the environment, many efforts are underway to encourage planting of trees and other landscape plants to help alleviate the greenhouse effect. For these planting efforts to be most successful, we have a pressing need for a much broader choice of well adapted cultivars. Many of our native plants and currently available introduced plants are not well adapted to the harsh conditions we’ve created in our cities. Compacted soil, poor fertility, pollution, and heat plus drought from the acres of concrete and asphalt are very different than the conditions under which these plants evolved. As a result, many trees and shrubs planted in the cities fail to survive to produce the desired effects. If we are to keep our cities green, tougher plants which can survive this man-made environment must be developed.