Plant Hardiness Zones
You may notice some changes to your zone designation. The site is much clearer, you can do a zip code look-up that's USDA official and all you need to do is click on your state to get an up-close view
.Steve
New USDA Hardiness Zone Map
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New USDA Hardiness Zone Map
After using the same one for over 20 years, the USDA has unveiled their new map. Instead of data from 1974 to 1986, this includes winter weather temperatures from 1976 to 2005:
Plant Hardiness Zones
You may notice some changes to your zone designation. The site is much clearer, you can do a zip code look-up that's USDA official and all you need to do is click on your state to get an up-close view .
Steve
Plant Hardiness Zones
You may notice some changes to your zone designation. The site is much clearer, you can do a zip code look-up that's USDA official and all you need to do is click on your state to get an up-close view
.Steve
The way the world works these days is unbelievable. ~ W. McGlashan
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digitS' - Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 3333
- Joined: Sep 26 '10
- Location: ID/Wa! border
Thanks for the update. looks like most of Ohio is now zone 5a except our county which is half zone 5b
looks like most of Ohio is now zone 5a except our county which is half zone 5b- lily51
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 735
- Joined: Aug 2 '10
- Location: Ohio, Zone 5
Dang, I couldn't be more split on 7a and 7b. I guess it doesn't matter much, I know what the weather is like. I think this is probably more accurate. I always wondered why they said my avg last frost date was May 1st but I knew it was earlier than that. I'll associate myself more with 7b. 
Jeff
USDA Zone 7a, Sunset Zone 32.
Failure is only a fact when you give up.
USDA Zone 7a, Sunset Zone 32.
Failure is only a fact when you give up.
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GardenRN - Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1105
- Joined: Jan 12 '11
- Location: Chesterfield, Va
I went from 5a to 6b.
I'm screwed, I have no idea what to do now. I may just not plant this year, I just don't know where to begin now.
I'm screwed, I have no idea what to do now. I may just not plant this year, I just don't know where to begin now.
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gixxerific - Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 5892
- Joined: Jun 26 '09
- Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B
gixxerific wrote:I went from 5a to 6b.
I'm screwed, I have no idea what to do now. I may just not plant this year, I just don't know where to begin now.
You Funny, you funny man! Ha ha!
Eric
- DoubleDogFarm
- Super Green Thumb
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I am 10a. One site said I was 8b but disagreed. Another site said I was 9b.
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PunkRotten - Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1991
- Joined: Apr 17 '11
- Location: Monterey, CA.
According to, I have went up in the zoning map from 5a to 5b. I wonder what the climate controll areas will be perhaps 6b or 7a. This may be a good time to do some plant testing just to be on "Know the Answer" side. Interesting.
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shadylane - Green Thumb
- Posts: 456
- Joined: Jun 21 '11
- Location: North Central Illinois
Does anyone know why the decided to do this?
Daylight Saving Change = Zone Change
Climate Change = Zone Change
Just wondering?
Daylight Saving Change = Zone Change
Climate Change = Zone Change
Just wondering?
Western edge of the Great Basin
on the eastside of the Sierra Nevada
in central California
at 5000 ft.
Zone 8
on the eastside of the Sierra Nevada
in central California
at 5000 ft.
Zone 8
- Skian
- Full Member
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- Location: Bishop, CA
Made this a sticky
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applestar - Mod
- Posts: 26239
- Joined: May 1 '08
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M
WOOOHOOOOO! I am in zone 5 now!!!!!! So exciting for me as I can plant a lot more things now!
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
-Gandhi
-Gandhi
- Dixana
- Greener Thumb
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- Joined: Apr 1 '10
- Location: zone 4
This is great! I was always between zone 5 and 6 but this new map is very clear that we're zone 6a!
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skiingjeff - Green Thumb
- Posts: 383
- Joined: Apr 1 '12
- Location: Western Massachusetts Zone 6a
Dixana wrote:WOOOHOOOOO! I am in zone 5 now!!!!!! So exciting for me as I can plant a lot more things now!
Ditto! I'm going to ignore what it's really like out there. No more zone 4 gardening and planning for me. I'm a zone fiver now!
Er, um, does this mean I can grow orange trees?
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -- Albert Einstein
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stella1751 - Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1495
- Joined: Jul 13 '09
- Location: Wyoming
Have held off, but am feeling so awful today that I think the USDA Hardiness Zone Map is gonna get it. 
First of all, the Hardiness Zones only tell us what will survive the winter. Many people do not garden in the winter, so the Hardiness Zone plays little part in selecting veggies to grow. More to the point are data like length of growing season, dates of first/last average frost, annual precipitation, and so on.
A climate zone system, to be of practical use to gardeners, needs to account for these factors, as well as latitude, prevailing wind (makes a real diff. in humidity), elevation, etc. Which is why I always talk about the Sunset climate zone system.
Although for some reason the USDA has assigned my zip code to a different zone than traditionally it's been assigned to (and I had to do a Captcha code to get this precious nugget of information!
), my own experience gardening in this zip and in a zip 6 miles due south over the past two decades--the span of time the new map is based on--directly contravenes the winter minimum temperatures listed for my new zone.
The new zone says my winter minima are between 30 and 35 deg. F. Bullfeathers. Ha! My own memory, as well as newspaper stories, agricultural disasters, and other third-party sources, provide these proofs of different minima within the relevant 20-year time frame:
1991--late December; hard freeze (20-25 deg) for several consecutive days. Many well-established plants die throughout northern California; the Central Valley citrus crop is destroyed.
1998--A short hard freeze (25-28 deg); my normally outdoor cymbidiums, hardy down to 28 deg, are brought into the house for four days.
2002--January; even the snails stayed hidden wherever they hide, and there were a lot of killed rose canes to be cut off in the spring. Approx. 25 deg.
2008--January; more crop damage, and my jade plants suffered some damage. Approx. 25 deg., had to run supplemental electrical heater downstairs.
My Sunset zone hasn't changed at all: "In a 20-year period, the lowest winter temperatures in Zone 17 ranged from 36 to 23 deg F (12 to -5 deg C). The lowest temperatures on record range from 30 to 20 deg F (-1 to -7 deg C)" (Sunset Western Garden Book, 2001 7th ed., p. 48).
And this is a comparison of the hallmark "hardiness" temps of my "new" USDA zone vs. those of my Sunset zone! Poor application of research; the USDA map strikes out, folks.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9 (first, last, and always, it seems like
)
First of all, the Hardiness Zones only tell us what will survive the winter. Many people do not garden in the winter, so the Hardiness Zone plays little part in selecting veggies to grow. More to the point are data like length of growing season, dates of first/last average frost, annual precipitation, and so on.
A climate zone system, to be of practical use to gardeners, needs to account for these factors, as well as latitude, prevailing wind (makes a real diff. in humidity), elevation, etc. Which is why I always talk about the Sunset climate zone system.
Although for some reason the USDA has assigned my zip code to a different zone than traditionally it's been assigned to (and I had to do a Captcha code to get this precious nugget of information!
), my own experience gardening in this zip and in a zip 6 miles due south over the past two decades--the span of time the new map is based on--directly contravenes the winter minimum temperatures listed for my new zone.The new zone says my winter minima are between 30 and 35 deg. F. Bullfeathers. Ha! My own memory, as well as newspaper stories, agricultural disasters, and other third-party sources, provide these proofs of different minima within the relevant 20-year time frame:
1991--late December; hard freeze (20-25 deg) for several consecutive days. Many well-established plants die throughout northern California; the Central Valley citrus crop is destroyed.
1998--A short hard freeze (25-28 deg); my normally outdoor cymbidiums, hardy down to 28 deg, are brought into the house for four days.
2002--January; even the snails stayed hidden wherever they hide, and there were a lot of killed rose canes to be cut off in the spring. Approx. 25 deg.
2008--January; more crop damage, and my jade plants suffered some damage. Approx. 25 deg., had to run supplemental electrical heater downstairs.
My Sunset zone hasn't changed at all: "In a 20-year period, the lowest winter temperatures in Zone 17 ranged from 36 to 23 deg F (12 to -5 deg C). The lowest temperatures on record range from 30 to 20 deg F (-1 to -7 deg C)" (Sunset Western Garden Book, 2001 7th ed., p. 48).
And this is a comparison of the hallmark "hardiness" temps of my "new" USDA zone vs. those of my Sunset zone! Poor application of research; the USDA map strikes out, folks.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9 (first, last, and always, it seems like
)- cynthia_h
- Super Green Thumb
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- Location: El Cerrito, CA
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