Heat Zone

I was just looking through my new plant encyclopedia and it says I am in heat zone 7 with 60-90 days of temps above 86°F. Ok, so now what? How do I use that information. I am in hardiness zone 5. I can see the importance of both. I just have no clue how to use the info. I am pretty new to gardening. I have dabbled but this year I am actually planning a landscape and want to do the best I can. Anyone out there that can help me?

Angel

Angel I'm not quite sure what you mean really. I haven't been in the States all that long but I just go by my zone and nothing else. I too am in zone 7 and I grow things compatible with this region.

Angel, the heat zone thing is a little new. It is good info. But I've yet to see any seed/plant catalogs recommend heat zones yet. The heat zone is good for folks like myself in zone 9, because I am in zone 9 doesn't mean all zone 9 plants are good for me. Some of CA is zone 9, but they don't have the humidity we have---110% year round, LOL! I don't know..am I making any sense??? I think I better go to bed! Lisa

Not being in the US, I'm not much into this zone thing, as it's not something we're bothered about over here. But I should think the most important thing is your hardiness zone, as plants that need much higher winter temperatures than you have won't survive, full stop.

Presumably this heat zone is an attempt to define the different summer temperatures you can have in a zone, as the hardiness zones are, I think, based only on winter minimum.

We over here in Ireland are laughingly defined as equivalent to about your zone 8. Our weather is nothing like the weather in your Zone 8, mainly because our summers are nowhere near as hot as in your Zone 8 - if we had weather like Texas or Florida or California, why would we bother to go there for a holiday? That would be where your heat zone information would be useful.

Although our winters only go down to 20F, our summers don't go much above 85F, and they wouldn't be happy with that in your Zone 8, would they? Being nearer the equator, your Zone 8s would have much brighter light for a longer period than up here at the top of the world, and they wouldn't get many blasts from the arctic, either. Nor as much rain distributed evenly throughout the year. So, on its own, the winter temperature zone system had some faults, and places with very different weather patterns were all lumped together.

So the heat zone information would give you some idea of the length of your growing season, I should think. And perhaps more idea of the weather throughout the year, rather than just the worst you'd be likely to get in the winter, which would have as much influence on what would grow in your particular area.

How you relate the hardiness zone to the temperature zone, which is probably what you basically want to know, I haven't a clue.

This message was edited Saturday, Mar 3rd 6:41 PM

Yes, I think both are important. I'm sure most true gardeners use a method of heat zone determining even if they don't think about it that way. The heat zone map is somewhat new to us but I beleive if we knew how to use the two together it would paint a much clearer picture of what works in one area over another. Personally I have trouble trying to sort out hardiness, heat tolerancy, soil type, water and drought tolerancy .... etc. Like you said about Ireland and Texas being both being in zone 8, on a scale of 1-12 Ireland is in a heat zone of 1-2 and Texas in is a heat zone of 8-12.

This obviously makes a big difference. Gee, if only someone would impliment a world wide system that went by a number, letter, color and water-can symbol to indicate hardiness, heat tolerancy, soil type and amount of water needed then we would be in good shape I think. What do you think Dave? Can you get that done for us? :-)

Mary, so please tell me why fuschias grow in abundance in Ireland and yet do not survive here in the 'hot zones'. It has to be the humidity, not the cold surely!