I had heard that a revision was in the works, and it has been eagerly awaited by gardeners.
The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones.The embed above is a static image, but if you go to this USDA page, you can access an interactive map with detailed state maps.
Most locations in the US are now in warmer zones; we've gone from 4b to 5a in just the last ten years.
That's fantastic! Much more detailed than before. Trying to garden for the first time in 2011 in Reno, NV was a huge challenge based off of the old maps.
ReplyDeleteDon't put out your tomatoes (or petunias, or cukes, or beans, or etc) until the snow is off Peavine. Wait... that was last week. Or next week. I get so confused.
DeleteRemember, we have only 90 days of guaranteed frost-free summer to grow & ripen those tomatoes. Of course, betting on which 90 is the kicker.
And oh yeh, we have 7" annual average of fallen water (snow, sleet, rain, pogonip and frost chipped from my windshield) to garden with. Calculated from 50-year average.
Are you gardening in the NW mudstone? downtown loam? Sparks clay? Mogul boulders? North valleys alkali sand?
Umm, maybe it wasn't the USDA planting zones map that was the problem, Funder. Reno gardening is always a crapshoot.
Very interesting. Is there a way to compare the old maps with the new ones. I'd love to see how the ratings changed. Did you just know that you were 4b in the past or is that info available? We're 8b here in western WA, but I'd love to see what we were previously.
ReplyDeleteSince the new one has just come out, there are a lot of gardening sites on the web that still have the old ones posted. I found several of them with no trouble.
DeleteTry using the Google thingy...
I'm just kind of enjoying the visualization of warm vs. FREEZING in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteFigs in Boston!
ReplyDeleteI suppose this means that our Socialist government is trying to force belief in global climate change on those who know it's false.
ReplyDeleteThis bodes ill for Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteanon and minnesotastan: Just coincidentally, a few day ago I came across a map that documented the change from 1990 to 2006. Most interesting. Hopefully the url will be linked in my name above.
ReplyDeleteBridget: Vegas may be a might go the other way. A very few places in the SW actually got a bit colder.
When I click on the "jk," I get a "bad request" message.
DeleteBummer. It worked on preview. I just found a less complicated url with a bit more explanation. It's the 1990 USDA map mashed up to an arbor day dot org 2006 independently produced climate zone map. fingers crossed, hope this works.
DeleteThat one works fine. Thanks.
Delete*Vegas might go the other way.
ReplyDeletesheesh
Only on random La Nina years. NV (north and south) can go either way at any time.
DeleteThat was a nice map comparison at that url. Thanks. (But 16 years make no never mind for Nevada.)