I'm not much of a gardener or plant guy. When Lynn discusses plants, she often says a given plant is shade friendly or sun friendly. Long before we moved to Wisconsin, I had a geography lesson about this area and it was said to have "long cold winters and short hot summers". I remember thinking at the time, why would anyone want to live there?
I have now spent ⅔ of my life here and I like it. Of course, living experience cannot really be condensed down to a short phrase. I feel that the seasons are more distinct here and pleasantly so. The first year we were here, the winter temperatures reached -40 degrees several times but these days we feel that -20 degrees is ok for a winter temperature.
We aren't used to heat much above 90 degrees. Anytime we get in that range, we feel that it is hot. One thing we have is more daylight. So, sun is common and that is one factor that makes Wisconsin an agricultural state. If a plant does well in sunlight, we have it. I was surprised to see a photo the other day labeled from "Wisconsin Shade Garden". I didn't know there was such a place.
When I look out on our back yard, I see pine trees, oaks and a few other trees. There is underbrush and it is thick. In winter, we can see into the neighbors' back yard but in summer, when the plants and bushes have leaved-out, we can't see a thing. I am impressed at how dark plants can make shade using leaves. You can see that this was taken in bright sunlight but the dark parts are quite dark.
