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It feels like I'm in a completely different place now. When I returned to Western Massachusetts a few days ago, it looked like the leaves had come out all at once. The lush forest cover together with some flowers in my mind improves the look of the place and somewhat improves my mood. Stark, bare landscapes do have their own beauty, but after a while I find them dull and get sick of them. The simplest and most relevant way, in my mind, to divide the weather of a temperate location, is the time of the year with full or close to full vegetation and the dormant time of the year. It seems like this view is not shared amongst many of the posters here. For example, in this post:
Quote:
This morning's low was 30 F.
Freezing temperatures obviously delay or damage current plant growth. I certainly don't want my vegetation to look like this (I think this frost damage?). It provides little benefit to a cold lover at a big expense in plant health this late in the growing season as the freezing temperatures are fleeting. (I care less to get say a 36°F night but am very disturbed to see a 30°F night at this time of year. I object to freezing nights more than unusually cool daytime highs) The photos I took of Ithaca with snow seemed to get more of a response than the photos I took the day before without snow and lots of greenery. Perhaps because snow at this time of year is unusual, but it seemed like there was more to it. While I do with snow interesting, seeing greenery is much more important to me (and this is regardless of temperature). I find it hard to understand how snow can be so much more exciting. And some of the posters that prefer warmer temperature focus little on plant growth or greenery.
So do some cold lovers look forward to greenery as a change of pace after a long winter? Or is unimportant to them? Do some warm climate lovers care little about greenery and mostly about getting hot temperatures? Does have vegetation out affect your mood at all.
I've noticed on this forum, that people to focus and have as their ideal summer or winter weather rather than in between. For the purpose of this poll, if your ideal weather is typically temperatures that support greenery (Going by Trewatha, mean of 10°C / 50°F though day to day variation makes things more complicated). So, someone like SophieLL would fall under the "warm" category. If you are a warm climate lover and choose you care about temperatures more, you might prefer a climate with lots of warm days in the shoulder season at the expense of higher variability, with numerous freezing nights. Reverse if you care about vegetation more.
Here are some photos I took of my area with and without vegetation out:
Temperatures and weather conditions are more important, and have absolute priority over greenery. However, I will say that my two favorite vegetation types coincide with my two favorite climate types. My tied favorites are the taiga scene and the hemiboreal forest like what's encountered in Winnipeg. I prefer subarctic climates most often, with some Dfb climates entering the mix. So my vegetation preferences match up pretty well with my climatic preferences, which are very winter-dominated. My motto when it comes to plant life is "adapt or die"; if a plant or tree is not strong enough to survive in my ideal climate, then so be it. A plant that can't take a freeze is a plant I can do without. If need be I can grow it indoors or in a greenhouse. Two or three months above 50F is more than enough time for plants to grow. The taiga scene makes the most of this period and is very hardy to cold winters, making it a good environment for me. Besides, there is nothing more wintry than a grove of boreal-type trees, with powder blowing by them into the ice fog.
Needless to say I am very far removed from your poll's warm category. Great climates to me feature 9 to 10 months of temperatures too cold for plant growth.
In response to your other question, although greenery is unimportant to me, it's part of the package of the interlude between winters. For one season, namely summer, I would appreciate it. Of course since the trees of the taiga retain their green leaves year-round, I suppose I'm sort of cheating, since I can have both cold and "greenery" simultaneously. This naturally doesn't apply to grass or other plants, so I'm only having my cake and eating a few slices too .
Of your pictures I like the third the best, followed by the second one, with the first one being the least liked. At first I thought you said the third picture was taken in June - only in my dreams... (in this interglacial anyway)
As for desert scenery I can certainly think of worse vegetation types. Some of the Mongolian deserts aren't too bad; certainly I'd prefer them over the jungle scene.
I look forward to the spring bloom and fall foliage, so vegetation is important to me. It's not as important as climate preferences as I don't mind climates with a dry but cool summer, but I do pay some attention to the transitional seasons.
I voted "I prefer warm weather and temperatures matter to me more than plant growth" but actually I do care about greenery -- it's just that my preferences in comfort and what feels good for me being outside matter more, so I felt like I couldn't vote the option that said I cared a lot about vegetation.
Vegetation does matter to me in the aesthetics of a place, and it brightens my mood, but the feeling that "it's good weather outside" is the main thing for me.
I definitely enjoy green, though I guess things wouldn't really start going until May or June in my dream climate. Weather is more important to me in general, but my preferences would coincide with a good green season during the summer.
There was an explosion of green during those warm days we had mid-month. The rain storm last weekend and showery weather this week has also helped. Looks very nice, though I don't think a few more freezes would cause very much damage.
Last edited by ilovemycomputer90; 04-26-2012 at 09:44 PM..
We have an opposite scenario where all the grass goes brown in summer and green in winter, everything looks so much more alive in winter/spring, lakes fill up and many bird species return...it's nice.
I really like the lush tropical rainforest vegetation you get in SE Asia but not really a fan of the year-round warmth. Provided it's not an arid climate my temperature preferences will usually trump the surrounding greenery.
I love snow as much as I love plants. We have long, exuberantly snowy winters and cool summers, and some of the lushest, greenest forest I've ever seen. That's what I like. The two halves of our year are like different planets, but they're both really great. I have a bittersweet response to the change of seasons here, but there's a tipping point where I start looking forward to it. I think I passed that a couple of weeks ago when the first spring shoots started emerging.
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