USDA Unveils New Plant Hardiness Zone Map

YEAH! We made it to 7a!!!!!!!!!

Hey, cool! Thanks for the news. I've been updated from 5a to 5b!

littlesapphire wrote:Hey, cool! Thanks for the news. I've been updated from 5a to 5b!

I've been updated too! From 4A to 4B!

GG

Hmmm....

From 10a to 10b. I, and many other area residents, have noticed that recent winters have been COLDER than usual. Not to mention the summers!

Ok I am 9a .. What does this really mean?? lol

newstart wrote:Ok I am 9a .. What does this really mean?? lol

Hey, the hardiness zones are useful in planting things like shrubs and trees and other plants that overwinter. You can read about it here.

But more importantly to gardeners are the Growing Degree Days, you can read about that and other garden/weather related information at the link below.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t5433-us-last-frost-date-and-other-related-handy-links

Wow. We moved from 6b to 7a!

newstart wrote:Ok I am 9a .. What does this really mean?? lol

I'm glad you asked that question! *starts ducking tomatoes* You can go your entire life successfully growing vegetables and not even have a clue what a USDA zone is. USDA zones are about average winter time low temperatures. That's it.

The zones provide data for folks planting ornamental plants so they know how hardy a plant is, and if it could survive the winter temperatures where it was planted. Veggie gardeners don't do much winter gardening. The exception is biannual/perennial veggies, but there aren't many of them. Ornamentals can run hundreds of dollars, so one would want good odds of survival before planting. Veggies/seeds are cheap to grow; if we experiment trying to over-winter them, and they die, it's not a big financial loss.

Example of USDA zone irrelevance to veggie gardening:

Furbalsmom is on Oregon's coast, and her zone was 8B/9A (it's probably 9A or B with the update). She doesn't get enough hot weather in the summer to grow corn, tomatoes, peppers, or eggplants without a lot of fooling around with heated beds and greenhouses.

Ha-v-v is in southern Mississippi, in the same zone as Furbalsmom, and she has to be careful what she grows in summer because it gets too hot.

Same zones; totally different summer weather every year.

Camprn is right: GDDs will tell you about summer weather.

Boffer, that was a really useful example of how useless zones are to veggie gardeners, lol. Thanks for the tip!

The only reason I even consider the USDA Hardiness Zones in SFG is if I am planning for perennials (that will overwinter in the garden) such as Artichoke, Asparagus and Strawberries, because some varieties are more cold weather tolerant than others.

Otherwise, as Boffer says, trying to compare spring and summer gardening by zone is not helpful.

Wow, I went from 6a to 6a! GOTCHA! No change for me but 6b is knocking on my door.

Here in Indy we went from 5b to a 6a. We're so excited here that we're planning a big party all this coming week and well into the weekend...

Still 8b here in the Willamette Valley. Guess that means I won't have to go tell my trees they're doomed.

wouldn't that have been horrible, Noie?

It really would have been since several of them just finally started fruiting!

Thank you for posting that.
I live in the 'am I 8a or 8b?' area in north central Texas. Now I have an answer.
Thanks
WB