Is this a seaside zone 4, a desert zone 4 or a mountain zone 4? I will say that I saw a ton of beautiful bloomers in Anchorage Alaska this summer. The cold there wouldn't bother me but the dark winters would.

This is a mountain at the very top near New York. Very cold long winters. Help!!!

I've never lived up there, but have visited upstate NY in the Adirondacks and it's beautiful! The winters will be long, but the summers are lovely. Don't know much about growing stuff up there, but the gardens I saw were beautiful! You can forget your cannas and gingers unless you want to dig them up. On the upside, hostas seem to love it up north and you will be able to grow Delphiniums (which I lust after). Glad you won't be leaving too soon! I'll have to find a new garden-pal :( -Ais.

Speaking of Cannas, one of my red cannas just started blooming again, today! :)

I feel for ya, Elizabeth, moving to the FROZEN NORTH, where you'll see -30 in the winter... Brrrrrrrrrr!!!

You should make that your SUMMER HOME and still live down here in the winter :)

Oughta be really NICE there in the summers, I bet!

Ais yes Delphiniums sound great to me! That is what I am looking for things I haven't thought of.

Jeff we have considered keeping a home here but we are currently not that wealthy we are hoping to be one day.

I loved it here so much but I just need to do it for my family. I was reading through the PA boards and wondering if they could be half as great as you all. Eliz33

The ferns, oh the wonderful ferns I saw in upstate New York. In the summertime the sun comes up at like 5am and sets at 11pm - long lazy days.

Aisgecko - this past spring I grew wonderful full sized Delph's. I bought some seedlings at Thanksgiving while in Charleston SC (they are popular winter growers there) and babied them all through the winter under row covers. Lost a few to rot but most pulled through. I also bought some seedlings in March from Logan's downtown Raleigh ($1.39 a 4 pak! and they were cold treated). Both of these clusters bloomed massively tall, full-sized spires of purple blue flowers. At that price I don't need them to be perennial.

Blue Poppies! See last issue(not new one) of Horticulture. (Or email me your address and I'll mail you a copy of the article!)

Hi Eliz, my family and I live at about 4200 feet elevation at the top of a mountain which is known for the highest recorded windspeeds in the U.S., so the windchill factor here during the winter is brutal. I often joke to my husband that we really live in Canada! Anyway, though I officially list my growing zone as 5a, I've chosen lots of plants, including roses and perennials, that can survive Z4. I've got them listed on my member page if you're interested. I'm also experimenting with overwintering cannas--we'll see if that works. But never fear, you can still garden in upstate New York :-)
Janice

You'll be able to grow any sort of peony that you want. Common lilacs and oriental poppies too.

For anyone interested in growing delphiniums here, this link that be useful in addition to what TJ wrote above: Roses and delphiniums, a thread from the Antique Roses forum.

Lupines!

I also want to add Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla), which is a beautiful foliage plant with charteuse flowers. If Karen Strohbeen's program on PBS was any indication, gas plant (Dictamnus) does very well up north.

I'll have to check out Logans next spring then! I wouldn't mind growing it as an annual as long as it flowers. I did get some seeds of both Delphiniums and Lupines in a last ditch effort to get them to grow. I got a few different varieties and of each pack I am going to direct sow half and winter sow the rest in containers. It's not really getting them to germinate that has me worried, it's keeping them alive long enough for them to bloom. So I guess the head start from the ones at Logan's would help.
Alicia, thanks for the link. I didn't get that variety of delphinium they were talking about so if these don't make it I will have to look for it and maybe have one more go of it. -Ais.

"...moving to the FROZEN NORTH, where you'll see -30 in the winter..."
I hate to say, but... I'm from the Catskill Mountains in NY and you'll definitely see temperatures considerably colder than 30!!
But gardening will be wonderful - delphiniums, poppies, roses without black spot. And most of what we grow here- coneflowers, foxglove, peonies, hollyhocks... As for your tropicals, you'll need to dig them up, take them inside.
Beautiful country in NY - I'm envious. I'd love to go back.

I'm with Brenda..lupines are what I miss most from my Ct. garden. And lilacs and any other thing that requires a cold dormant period in order to bloom right.