Proposed new USDA plant hardiness zone map

I found the new plant hardiness zone map interesting. It put many of us in a warmer zone than previously reported. See what you think. The map file is large and may take a while to come up - - but it shows the zones with what looks like county lines, which makes it easier to determine where you are if you are on a line between two zones. Nathttp://ahs.org/publications/usda_hardiness_zone_map.htm

woohoo - I'm gonna be back in sevennnnn, I'm gonna be back in sevennnnnn.....(can you hear my annoying sing-song?)

I was sooooo bummed to find I had dropped from 7a to 6b by moving from Oklahoma to here. Why this matters so deeply to my psyche, I'll never know. But it doesn't matter, cuz I'm gonna be back in sevennnnnnn.....

Seriously, thanks Nathalyn. I had heard this was coming out, but hadn't found a copy of it yet.

I'm an 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeehaw!

I'm supposedly now a 6! Interesting! I thought we were warmer... ha! I was right!

Overall, I'd say we're a pretty "hot" group

:>)

Waaahh!! I can't get it to loasd!

I am in 7 now!!! Hooray!!

Melody -- I tried to print it but the file is sooooo big that it locked up my printer. Ky is a mix of 6 & 7. I try to figure out where your county is and look up your zone. Nat

Durn, how long is long--over 5 minutes--or not working?

Hey tiG, happen to know where I am?

looks like 9/10ths of GA is an 8 now. I'm not certain where Barnesville is, that link in the first post doesn't take too long to load. I didn't try to print it though. No more a and b in the zones. I changed my zone in my preferences, just a mind thing:)

Well, it appears I am now in zone 9. Sure wish my plants had known that this winter!

i knew i was going to be a 6 with the new map. but the verbena that was a 6 didn't make it through the winter here but it was right next to the driveway tar and i'm not surprised. but i'll definately have to buy a few 6 plants to see how they overwinter. hmmmmm now what new plants do i want....?????? :-)

I've tried a few times but I just don't get a map :(

My one concern with the new map is that plants that have been "creeping up" the zones (e.g., plants that Plant Delights notes are hardy to "at least zone 7, maybe 6") may not be hardy in the "new" zone 7 or 6, since historically each zone has proven itself to be capable of getting colder than the new zones reflect. And not to pick on Plant Delights, as they're not the only sources that have gradually expanded the hardiness zones over time.

It could take several years to shake out some of the problems if the hardiness ranges need to be readjusted. Which is another good reason to add your ZIP to the plants that do well for you, once the PDB is back up and online. Over time, it may prove to be a wealth of knowledge AND more reliable for hardiness info than the zone demarcations.

Ooops - edited to add that for those who are having problems loading the page, it's a .pdf and those take FOREVER for me, too. I've found the best thing to do is not fidget (almost impossible for me.) But don't have anything else "running" (no animated stuff - from popups or cute screen thingies - running around the screen) and when you click on it, just walk away from your computer and let it load or time out, depending on its mood. The more I open up new windows and "play" while I'm waiting, the more likely those big ole files will crash. (I have no idea why anybody even creates .pdf files anymore...)

This message was edited Monday, May 12th 7:34 AM

I agree with Terry. When you look at how much area that each zone is made up of - - - a zone may not be consistent between a northern and a southern boundary, or an extreme east or west area. I think that these zones can be used as rough guidelines. But if we will all add our zipcodes in the plantdata base, we will have information that is far more relevant than the zone maps.

I read a hugely informative book last week. 'Palms Won't Grow Here and Other Myths' by David Francko, PhD. He spends a lot of time discussing the USDA plant hardiness zone issue.

Most of the discussion centers around the fact that the zonal classifications are done using only one piece of information about a plant's "hardiness" -- that is, the minimum winter temperature that it can sustain at a given point in the plant's lifetime. The hardiness of plants depends on so many factors, that it is impossible to predict how hardy a plant will be in a specific place. There are several other hardiness classifications for the USA, most notably for the places that the USDA map is strictly nonsense: the western and southeastern portions of the United States.

If anyone is interested in a better knowledge of the whole classification system, I strongly urge everyone to get hold of this book and read it! It really helps shed more light on the hardiness issue.

well, I guess I'm too old and blind to read the map. I *think* I found my county but too blind to read the zone thing on the right... Guess I'll have to wait till its publised in braile.

MossRose