Wow, that'll be some zone shock, LOL.

I imagine they'll be loving the fact that in their new zone, peonies and delphiniums grow with so little effort.

Any of the Lois Holes books are good - there's one for perennials, annuals, trees & shrubs, and vegetables, but the books have rather basic and limited information. If your friends are experienced gardeners, they might find the books rather ho-hum.

I think there's a magazine called Manitoba Gardener, and another called Gardener for the Prairies that is an excellent publication which covers everything from bugs and birds to vegetables, fruit trees and ornamentals. It's one of those magazines that actually has useful information in it. A subscription to their new address would be a great gift!

Be sure to let your friends know that the Gardenweb Far North forum is ready to welcome them with open arms and will help with their questions as much as possible. There's some gardeners on this forum who live in the Brandon area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardener for the Prairies

I know there's a couple of good books by Albert Parsons and also by Hugh Skinner who live in the area. Sorry I can't remember the titles of them, but maybe if you google their names they'll come up.

I'm also from the Brandon area, and belong to the Westman Gardeners club. We get in a lot of speakers, and of course, they talk about what we grow up here. There's a real mix of new gardeners and more experienced gardeners in the club, so no one should feel intimidated. Some of the experienced gardeners have been asked to go to some homes and offer suggestions on plantings. All the people who have had this mentoring done, have said it was very helpful. Also, members get 10% off purchases at local greenhouses, so for anyone starting up a new garden, this can be very helpful.;0)

Like Pudge said, this forum also has a ton of information for cold zone gardening, and we love answering questions!

Laurie

Jennifer,

I am also a member of the Westman Gardeners and from the Brandon area. One perk of being a friend of a member or being a member of the gardening club is the tours we go on in the summer. This summer we toured the same yards in May and June, and will be seeing them again in July and August. Please let them know that they can contact Laurie or I to get more information.

Books that I really recommend that are published here on the prairies and written by people who live here also. These all are easy to read and navigate through. The color pictures are great as well as the descriptions of the plants.

Perennials for the Prairies by Edgar W. Toop and Sara Williams and published by the University of Alberta and University of Saskatchewan, 1991.

Creating the Prairie Xeriscape by Sara Williams, published by the University Exension Press and the University of Saskatchewan, 1997.

Annuals for the Prairies by Edgar W. Toop, published by the U of Alberta and U of Saskatchewan and Lone Pine Publishing, 1993.

Woody Ornamentals for the Prairies by Hugh Knowles, published by the University of Alberta, 1989.

Rose Gardening on the Prairies by George Shewchuk, published by the University of Alberta, 1988. This one could be updated with lots of the new roses on the market today. But once again, the book is well laid out just like the others above, with charts, color pictures and great descriptions.

There will definitely be a temperature adjustment for your friends when they move to Brandon from Arizona. Wow, going from a zone 13 to a zone 2b-3!!

And yes, just like was mentioned before...peonies, delphiniums and rhubarb are all perennial plants that grow with no problem here. They will have to learn to lift their glads, dahlias, cannas, callas, begonias and geraniums in the fall and bring them into a cold storage area for winter, starting them indoors early in the spring.

We are gladly here to help answer any questions your friends may have on gardening here or any other information about Brandon. Just ask.

Brenda

Last year I purchased "Perennials for Saskatchewan and Manitoba" written by Patricia Hanbidge and Laura Peters. It is set up alot like the Lois Holes books, but more up to date. There are others in the series as well.

Shelley