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You just said you don't care whether the summer is cool or warm:
What I mean, is if the winter doesn't stay sufficiently warm , then a place won't have a subtropical environment regardless of how hot the summer is -like Toronto
Quote:
The only criteria you seem to have for subtropical is if there is plant growth and insect activity in the cooler months. Your criteria do not seem to incorporate what happens the rest of the year.
What happens during the winter, determines what the environment is.
It's not my assertion that Lake Charles isn't subtropical, or that deciduous vegetation doesn't equal subtropical environments -loads of deciduous trees around here, but they thrive alongside other trees that are actively growing/flowering/producing fruit, during winter.
Nice bird photos.
This is Natchez MS, quite a bit cooler than Lake Charles, but once you get in the hills above the Mississippi River floodplain, deciduous trees no longer dominate.
Very cool Civil War era historic town. I saw some old friendly southern folks doing a garden tour, and told them how pretty I thought their town was, and the older gentleman in a very thick southern accent said to me: "Well your General Grant thought the town pretty enough to be spared from the Union Army". Rather awkward moment as "my General Grant" was a clear reference to my Philly background. The Civil War is never mentioned in the north, but down there it sure is. They don't forget lol. For the record, General Grant was a US Army General trying to put down a treasonous rebellion.
I saw many insects flying around on this nice day of Feb 10 2017.
You can be subtropical without a hot summer (San Francisco, parts of New Zealand,coastal Morocco and Portugal, highland tropics, etc.) You can’t be subtropical with a very cold winter with no plant growth.
You can be subtropical without a hot summer (San Francisco, parts of New Zealand,coastal Morocco and Portugal, highland tropics, etc.) You can’t be subtropical with a very cold winter with no plant growth.
That is why I don't view Washington DC as subtropical.
In general, many evergreens of wet climates are adapted for low pH soils, and end up developing chlorosis when grown in soil with a pH that is too alkaline (which prevents nutrient uptake through the roots). Alkaline soil is responsible for the deciduousness in places like OKC and Louisiana's river valleys compared to areas farther east, which have more acidic soil derived from the Appalachians.
As far as Lake Charles, the top soil has decent acidity, the issue is that underneath there is heavy claypan that makes it tough for trees to grow in. So many spots there end up as grassland, despite the climate being warm and wet enough to support evergreen subtropical forest. Same goes for parts of SE Texas.
This is Natchez MS, quite a bit cooler than Lake Charles, but once you get in the hills above the Mississippi River floodplain, deciduous trees no longer dominate.
Very cool Civil War era historic town. I saw some old friendly southern folks doing a garden tour, and told them how pretty I thought their town was, and the older gentleman in a very thick southern accent said to me: "Well your General Grant thought the town pretty enough to be spared from the Union Army". Rather awkward moment as "my General Grant" was a clear reference to my Philly background. The Civil War is never mentioned in the north, but down there it sure is. They don't forget lol. For the record, General Grant was a US Army General trying to put down a treasonous rebellion.
I saw many insects flying around on this nice day of Feb 10 2017.
Is this alive enough for you lol?
Nice photos. Yep, that's what I'd call alive, although with the manicured look, it's hard to get a sense of how rampant growth is there - different grasses here will grow several feet of winter for example.
Insects are also part of it, and in what I'd regard as a subtropical environment, many would be both visible and audible during the colder months.
Generals Grant and Lee were both familiar figures during my schooling and childhood -not sure why they are more well known than the leaders of the NZ wars, of the same era.
Quote:
Originally Posted by unobtainium
You can be subtropical without a hot summer (San Francisco, parts of New Zealand,coastal Morocco and Portugal, highland tropics, etc.) You can’t be subtropical with a very cold winter with no plant growth.
That's it in a nutshell - how cold a place gets is more fundamental in shaping an environment, than how hot it gets.
Generals Grant and Lee were both familiar figures during my schooling and childhood -not sure why they are more well known than the leaders of the NZ wars, of the same era.
Did NZ have a war of rebellion at the same time of our civil war? I didn't know that.
Did NZ have a war of rebellion at the same time of our civil war? I didn't know that.
Yep -the NZ Wars (more commonly known as the Maori or Land Wars) was a series of campaigns mostly in the 1860s and 1870s, between the colonial government and Maori. It was started by settlers moving into Maori territory. Terrain and vegetation dictated the style of fighting, with a lot of guerilla type skirmishes.
Technically I guess it was a rebellion, as (most) tribes had ceded sovereignty about 30 years earlier.
That's it in a nutshell - how cold a place gets is more fundamental in shaping an environment, than how hot it gets.
Edinburgh of the Seven Seas.
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