Contemplating Plant Zones with Hardiness and Heat zone maps

ecrane3, without reading the entire thread following poodlelady's Post #5761973 at 12:53 this evening, I went back out to the Better Homes/Gardens and the Arboretum sites to once again try to figure out which zone Fresno is in, using my zip 93705. Then I googled temp history (which got me nowhere at The Weather Channel and other similar sites) trying to find historical temp ranges as compared to average seasonal ranges.

So I googled plant zones and came up with HGTV's plant zones, which provided an interesting note about how each zone represents a 10 degree temp range, with the designation "a" or "b" highlighting a 5 degree distinction within that 10 degree range. Like, duh, and while that should be relatively obvious to the casual observer, not all zones are highlighted as "a" or "b" so I never gave those letters much thought. Except that . . . it is making me CRAZY, those letters! ! !

So here I sat, confused as usual, still not certain what zone to look toward. So, OK, I go look at my Sunset book as you suggested and learn that indeed it is not unusual for us to range from 24-18 degrees apparently. Oh phooey! More typical, however, is above 30 degrees, me-thinks. The Sunset Garden Book makes a good case for zone 9, tho, so I'll wriggle around 9a to 9b [chuckling] and keep my denial, eh?

And, Nanbernier . . . heat zone map? Aaaaahh, yes, a heat zone map will hopefully be coming one of these days. With such a map we desert-ers oughta' be able to work out our plant zones for plants year 'round, finally. With luck.

Linda
(pic added to make this garden-related: look at that 5ft tall miniature rose tree throw out 3+ feet of late season branch, silly tree)

edited for misspelling, as usual



This message was edited Nov 9, 2008 12:19 AM

The Better Homes map shows Fresno as 9b, although it's surrounded on 3 sides by 9a so depending on exactly where you are or the microclimates in your yard you may be closer to 9a. So if you want to be safe, buy things that will make it in 9a. And here's the heat zone map--looks like you're in zone 9 there as well. They don't have a's and b's, and unfortunately most plant tags don't contain the heat zone info yet so it's not as useful as it could be. http://www.ahs.org/pdfs/05_heat_map.pdf

Honestly though if you're having trouble figuring out what plants will work for you or not the Sunset zones are much more useful--there are a number of plants I've tried that are hardy in 9a (or even colder) and would do fine in my AHS heat zone but don't do well here anyway because of the other climate factors. And sure enough, when I look them up in the Sunset book, they are never listed for my zone. The Sunset book has really never led me astray--I have had a few things that aren't supposed to work in my zone do fine (at least in the short term), but I've never had them say something will work here and then had it die for reasons related to climate (over/under watering kills in any zone! LOL) As long as you're growing relatively common plants, most of them should be listed in the book so that is really your best bet. And many nurseries have a copy of the book on hand, so if you're shopping and see something you love, look it up first to see if it'll do well for you.

[chuckling] ecrane . . . yes, the Sunset Garden Book straightens me out whenever I think to refer to it, as nanbernier encouraged in the earlier thread. I have two copies; one well-weathered in a concrete sense of the term, the other pristine and awaiting study in those moments inside the home rather than the garden. I dragged out the well-weathered one last night! Go figure. LOL Linda

Speaking of selecting plants (for the proper zone, heat or or hardiness), I took a look at the Agapanthus today, potentially substituting for the Society Garlic I was contemplating earlier. I gave up on the SG due to a reputation for being difficult to divide and control beyond early life.

I am concerned also with any plant which becomes self-propagating by seeds flitting about in the breeze. I've had to pay to have too many fan palms dug out of my rose beds, including two remaining in place and scheduled for removal this spring when the bushes are pruned. Those two managed to find their way into the space right next to the rose root junction. They appear, for all intents and purposes, to be a part of the rose bush. Squirrels or birds, no doubt, dragged these about. I don't need the wind to help transplant unwanted specimens.

So I watch the DG plant files for those plants with a reputation for such behavior and hope to avoid them like the plague. There is sure more to gardening than simply laying plants out and about, isn't there?

Hardiness and heat zones, invasiveness, manageability, water, soil, fertilizers, color, height and width. I mean, ecrane3, the list just goes on forever and forever. It makes me want to return to the naivety with which I surrounded my home prior to joining my DG friends. But that wish is fleeting and I continue to study my books and your ideas and wisdom, all of you DG folks.

Thanks for the reminder, ecrane3. It helps keep me moving up the road. LOL

Linda

Anyone have a zone map with letters for europe?

This is one map...it doesn't show the a/b letters, but you can look at how close you are to the boundary of the next zone up or down to figure that out. If you're in zone 7 but you're closer to zone 6 than you are to zone 8 then it's a reasonable bet that you're in 7a. Or if you're closer to zone 8 than to zone 6, then you're more likely 7b. http://www.tropenland.at/trp/cont/exotenKlima/usda-zone/usda-zonen-db-karte.asp?title=USDA-Zone-Karte%20für%20Bulgarien&id=4