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Gary350
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What zone is this?

Everyone always posts messages saying they are in a certain zone. Zone means nothing to me, I don't even know what zone I am in. There must be a place online that tells you what zone your in. I am at Latitude: 35.86676, Longitude: -86.374121, Elevation: 619 feet, seems like this would be more useful than zone.

What ZONE is the South Pole?

DoubleDogFarm
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What ZONE is the South Pole
Twilght Zone.


https://www.garden.org/zipzone/ Type in your zip code. They have me at 7B now. I was 8

Eric

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Gary350
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DoubleDogFarm wrote:
What ZONE is the South Pole
Twilght Zone.
https://www.garden.org/zipzone/ Type in your zip code. They have me at 7B now. I was 8 Eric
I am in Zone 6B......what ever that means.

It says, there are 11 Zones in North America.

Zone 1 is WHITE the ice zone far north above tree line.

Zone 11 is northern Mexico near Brownsville TX.

I assume China, Japan, Equator, Australia have NO Zones.

OK, I know I am in zone 6b, So What?

I know $2 seed packages have zone info on the back I assume that is for people that never pay attention to what the weather is doing in their area. They have lived in the same place for years but don't know when the first or last frost is.

I am trying to understand what is the purpose of knowing what zone your in?

I figure if I move to a new geographical location 1000 miles away then I might need to know what zone I am in before I plant my garden. I will need to know the length of the growing season. I will need to know high and low and rain fall for the growing season.

Lets assume I move to a different zone, I don't see any information that says what weather conditions are like for any of these zones. Suppose I move to Flagstaff AZ elevation 5000 ft map says I may be in zone 7a or 7b. That zone number is telling me nothing about the growing season???

I still don't get it. What is the purpose of zone numbers?

DoubleDogFarm
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You need to ask Cynthia_h her bible seems to be the Western Garden or Sunset something or another. I agree, zones don't really mean anything to me either. Rain fall, heat units, old timers :) , personal evaluations of years of gardening. If you move, talk to your neighbors, farmers, farmers market, etc.
I assume China, Japan, Equator, Australia have NO Zones
They all have zones and some you don't want to cross. :wink:

Eric

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rainbowgardener
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The zones are USDA cold hardiness zones. They tell you NOTHING except how cold you can expect the lowest temps to get down to in an average winter where you are.

For growing annuals, including veggies, this has zero relevance, since you are not going to grow them through the winter.

What they are good for is figuring out whether a given perennial/ tree/ shrub will survive the winter in your area, which is nice to know if you are growing perennials/ trees/ shrubs. It is of course only a general guideline, because there are micro-climates, but at least it gives you a starting point.

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TheWaterbug
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Gary350 wrote:I still don't get it. What is the purpose of zone numbers?
I think you've forgotten what it's like to be a complete and utter beginner :)

For someone like me it's nice to have at least some frame of reference for asking questions and exploring options. The USDA maps are too coarse, but the Sunset zones in the book mentioned above ($6 used on amazon) are pretty granular, and that same Sunset book has detailed listings of what probably will grow in each zone.

Of course having the zone number isn't nearly as good as having 10 years of experience growing stuff where you live, but having the zone number is better than not having it.

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Gary350 wrote:I am at Latitude: 35.86676, Longitude: -86.374121, Elevation: 619 feet
Ah. I just found this [url=https://www.daftlogic.com/sandbox-google-maps-find-altitude.htm]website that returns lat/long/elevation[/url] by address. Very cool.

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Gary350
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In the past any time I moved to a different geographical location the TV weather man always tells when the last frost is expected each Spring and when the first frost is expected each Fall. In the past I could call the TV station and they would give me detailed information, average temperature, average rain for each month of the year. Last time I moved to a different geographical location and I needed to called the TV station was 32 years ago. I bet this information is online someplace now.

32 years ago last frost was considered to be April 21 now 32 years later last frost is April 14. Channel 5 TV man said we had 300 days of rain last year, 6 weeks of 100 degree weather in the summer and 2 weeks of 17 degree weather.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sat Jul 16, 2011 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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stella1751
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I can remember back when I first started gardening, Gurneys had a big color-coded zone map in the middle of each catalog. Each product then had a colored dot or square (I can't remember which) next to it. It might still do this; I haven't looked at a Gurneys catalog in years. Anyway, if you thought you might want to buy the item, you checked the color against the map. I really relied on that color coding!

Now, I live in an area where zone doesn't mean a hill of beans. Casper has a mountain. While the city is getting rain, 10 miles away it can be snowing. The closer you are to the mountain, the lower your zone. Up here, we can be anything from zone 4B to 3A, depending on where you live. I'm guessing, based upon my proximity to the mountain, that I am zone 4A.

I agree that the zone map is especially handy for trees and shrubs. Many a fruit tree won't over-winter up here. The last time I purchased apple trees, there were only three or four varieties recommended for this area.

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rainbowgardener
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the cold hardiness zone doesn't tell you anything about your first and last frost dates etc. On the other hand knowing your first and last frost date does not tell you whether the rosemary plant you are looking at will survive the winter in your garden or has to be brought in. Knowing your zone gives you guidance about that kind of thing.

TZ -OH6
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Zones reflect growing season pretty well for most of the country even though they are not designed for that, so I find it helpful if people indicate their zone. They do get screwed up in some areas. I used to live in zone 11 (coastal Southern California) and the temps never got above 80-85 on a hot day. It was vastly different than wet subtropical Florida zone 10-11.

It would be better if we went by gardening zones instead of hardiness zones.

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!potatoes!
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I think specifying that we're talking about hardiness zones is important. it's based on average lowest temperature in an area, so it's more important for trees/shrubs/perennials, where winter-hardiness is something you worry about. it's not an issue for annual crops (whereas first frost is, in many cases).

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The Sunset National Garden Book (orig. published in 1997 and sadly no updated edition yet released) map for Tennessee shows the region where I know M'boro to be as part of Zone 33, "North Texas and Southern Oklahoma to Northern Alabama and Central Tennessee." *sigh* A sad lack of poetry in that there zone title. :(

The growing season is shown as definite from mid-April to the last week of October, with "shoulder" seasons beginning as early as the first week of March and ending as late as mid-November. Sunset also says, "Rainfall, like winter chill, is inconsistent. In a normal year, annual averages range from 22 to 523 inches. In drought years, though, some parts of Zone 33 may record only half to two-thirds the normal rainfall."

Again, this was based on 20 years of data through and including 1996....things may be changing/may have changed, but I thought I'd throw in Sunset's two bits' worth. :wink:

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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TheWaterbug
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TheWaterbug wrote:Of course having the zone number isn't nearly as good as having 10 years of experience growing stuff where you live, but having the zone number is better than not having it.
For example, I just found this handy [url=https://www.digitalseed.com/gardener/schedule/vegetable.html]vegetable calendar for Southern California[/url], based primarily on Sunset zones 23-24. It may not be 100% accurate, but it's a good "starter" reference for me, since nearly everything I'm doing I'm doing for the first time.



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