USDA zone change - heard about it?

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Dinu Mysore, India(Zone 10a) Jul 14, 2003

Sure many of you might have heard about a change but still I thought I should link the mail I got just now for your information.
http://www.ahs.org/pdfs/USDA_Map_3.03.pdf
http://gardening.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.ahs.org/publications/usda%5Fhardiness%5Fzone%5Fmap.htm

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OlgaN Miami, FL(Zone 10b) Jul 14, 2003

Thanks for the links Dinu. I checked out the new map and found that my area has actually been changed from zone 10 to 11...

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langbr Lenexa, KS(Zone 6a) Jul 14, 2003

I changed to Zone 6!! Whooeeee....more plants available!!

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darius So.App.Mtns., United States(Zone 5b) Jul 14, 2003

Just remember, this new map is under review and not approved yet.

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Badseed Hillsboro, OH(Zone 6a) Jul 14, 2003

Hmmmm, a friend told me we would soon be a seven but that map still looks like we are a six.

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sundry Franklin, LA(Zone 9a) Jul 14, 2003

So, I guess they are doing away with a and b zones. I'll just be Zone 9.
Rather, I'll be Hardiness zone 9, Heat zone 8.
The heat zone finder -> http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_finder.htm
I haven't seen any heat zone rating on plants, yet. Have ya'll?

Cheri'

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langbr Lenexa, KS(Zone 6a) Jul 14, 2003

I rarely see heat zone ratings, Sundry....usually in catalogs if I do.

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Terry Murfreesboro, TN(Zone 7a) Jul 14, 2003

My concern with the new map is that plants whose zones have been "creeping" because gardeners in colder areas reported them hardy (for example, something has been expanded from 8a to 6b) now might be hardy only to the newly-defined Zone 8. But it'll take a looooooong time for the information to trickle back in, and in the meantime, a lot of commercial sources might be dealing with a sudden increase in winter-killed plants and unhappy customers.

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langbr Lenexa, KS(Zone 6a) Jul 14, 2003

Terry---good point! I know I've found zone 6 plants that I can grow with no problems in my now 5b zone. I guess it depends on how the growers label specific plants (do they go strictly by a specific temperature rating and cross that to the current Zone charts or do they set the zone rating based upon actual grower results in test gardens. The latter I would tend to think. Does anyone know specifically how that works? Is that a good question for Master Gardeners? Brenda

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Terry Murfreesboro, TN(Zone 7a) Jul 15, 2003

The commercial growers can probably tell you more about how they designate plant hardiness than could the Master Gardeners. If I had to guess, either nursery center personnel or wholesale sources determine - most likely on anecdotal information - how hardy most plants really are. (There might be more scientific tests for some plants - I honestly don't know.)

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