In which zone am I located

As you can tell from the subject, I am definitely a NEW gardener! I live in Cape Coral, FL - can anyone tell me which gardening zone I am in?? Since it seems everything is done by gardening zone this is a pretty important fact to know. Thanks for all the help!!!

Try this site: http://garden.org/zipzone/
That should answer your question and has a lot of other very helpful informaton on it.

Now that zone puts me in 5a

go figure,,,,,LOL

JMR

Well it puts me in 7b, and I usually use 8 as a guideline, though this area is in a little "hollow" area, so we don't get the same type of weather as some of the surrounding area. We normally have very mild winters so I can get away with mulching a lot of bulbs, you guys usually have to dig up. It's a mixed bag.
Always interesting to talk to other gardeners in other areas, though.

You might try looking at the map on this site instead http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
I don't know if I trust the zip code tool on that other site--it tells me that I'm in 8b even though when you look at their own map, I'm very clearly in 9b. So I'd look at the map instead.

Neither of these maps list my zone properly. Southcentral Alaska zones have always been a can of worms, listed as 6 or 7, but in reality, a 3 leaning to 4. Here's a little article on the USDA zone map, as revised in 2003: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_seasonal_zones/article/0,1785,HGTV_3631_2389569,00.html Here is a chart, rather than a map: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-ne1.html The new revisions list me as a Z3.

They all say the same zone for me. 5b but close to the 6a line. Since I live in a brick house in large city, I can push the limits to a 6b on the south side of the house (sometimes).

The zones do look confusing for Alaska! I'm guessing there is a lot of trials and guesses?

Well according to both of the sites it says Cape Coral is in 9b. But - it shows 10a for Naples and I am only 39 miles north of Naples. Also, if I go by the minimum temperature it should be at least a 10a which is 30-35 degrees. I'm not sure I have seen it reach 30 degrees here. I've been here 4 years and the lowest temperature I've seen has been 40 degrees. So guess I'm really confused now. What do I use the minimum temperature or the location?

If you'd been there for 10-15 years and never seen anything below 40 then you might be OK deciding that you're in a higher zone, but since you've only been there for 4 years it's definitely possible that you might get a winter once every 5 or 10 years where you're going to get colder than that. I think those minimum temperatures that are listed for the zones are a somewhat conservative guess on what's the coldest temperature you could expect. Seems like most parts of the country the winters have been getting milder, so chances are you can get away with planting things that aren't hardy to those lowest temperatures and in most years they'll be fine, but all it takes is that one winter where you do see those low temperatures to kill them. So it's really about how much risk you're willing to take. Definitely anything that's hardy to 9b you should be able to plant with no problem, and a lot of things for zone 10 may do fine too at least in the majority of your winters, but make sure you have a backup plan for how to bring them inside or cover them up if there's a cold snap in the forecast.

The zones are more or less guidelines. Also keep in mind the plants don't know what zone they need. :o)

Call you County Extension office, they should be able to help you.