'Chaos' tell story of climate change in Missouri

Chaos tells a story about climate change in Missouri.

Chaos is the name lifelong gardener Sandy Parrill has given to her acre of garden, and she can tick off the changes she has seen in her decades working the site.

She used to have upward of 500 hostas, but they are struggling to survive.

“The summer has gotten so hot and dry they have disappeared,” she said.

“One of the biggest changes in the garden is that we have three months of heat,” she added. “The things that need the moisture in the middle of summer aren’t getting it.”

“Some ferns don’t like it here anymore,” she added. “I’ve lost several ferns. They like a humusy-woodsy soil that retains moisture.”

“There are some shrubs, like pussy willow, they need moisture. … They just can’t get it here anymore.”

Parrill is a master gardener and longtime gardening columnist for The Joplin Globe. Her husband, Jim Parrill, is a former garden center owner and landscaper.

They have been gardening at Chaos for nearly 40 years, but the garden is actually older, going back to the 1950s under a previous owner.

Others plants, she said, are now blooming earlier, such as columbine, and that is playing havoc with species that evolved in tandem with it, such as hummingbirds.

“The plants and birds and insects that co-exist together are no longer in sync,” she said. “Columbines bloom before the (migrating) hummingbirds arrive, so they don’t get the nectar they would get. If the columbine blooms early, that is a food source that is lost. … Fortunately columbines bloom for quite a while. That is probably one of the most noticed things. … I always look for the columbines, and I always look for the hummingbirds.”

Her observations about changes are born out in U.S. Department of Agriculture data used to determine plant hardiness zones, which helps gardeners determine which plants will grow where at the right time of year. The country is divided into 13 zones, and then further divided into sub-zones.

Southwest Missouri used to be a “solid 6” when Parrill said she started gardening at Chaos.

About a decade ago, that shifted to 6B. In 2023, Southwest Missouri shifted into zone 7A.

University of Missouri Extension climatologist Zack Leasor said he gets questions about zones a lot.

They are based on a 30-year average of the coldest temperatures of the year. In Zone 7, it’s between zero and 5 degrees; Zone 6 is minus 5 degrees to zero, Leasor said, so the shift in zones is a reflection of warming temperatures.

“I get asked about these maps pretty often,” he said. “It is definitely a symptom of climate change and its impact in Missouri.”

“We have been seeing warmer temperatures, but that doesn’t look the same throughout the year.”

Overnight lows are not as cold, he said; neither are winter temperatures as cold.

February 2024 was the warmest February on record for Joplin, almost 10 degrees warmer than average. The previous record was set in 2017, also nearly 10 degrees above average.

Snowfall also has decreased, both Leasor and Parrill noted.

Leasor also says that across Missouri the average date of the last spring freeze is occurring earlier, while the average date of the earliest fall freeze is occurring later.

“An average of 10 days has been added to the growing season — five days on either side,” he said.

Both Leasor and Parrill say the best explanation for the changes they are seeing is climate change.

“Climate change has changed the way that I garden,” Parrill said, explaining that she has shifted to more native species. “I’m letting a good share of the garden go native.”