What is the USDA hardiness zone map and why is it important in landscape design?
The 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.
What are the hardiness zones in the US?
The average low temperatures for zone 1 are -60 to -50, for zone 2 are -50 to -40, for zone 3 are -40 to -30, for zone 4 are -30 to -20, for zone 5 are -20 to -10, for zone 6 are -10 to 0, for zone 7 are 0 to 10, for zone 8 are 10 to 20, for zone 9 are 20 to 30, for zone 10 are 30 to 40, for zone 11 are 40 to 50, for ...
What growing zone is KCMO?
zone 6In both maps, the Kansas City area is firmly located in zone 6, (zero to -10 degrees). But for many area gardeners the question still remains, "What zone does the majority of Kansas City fall into, zone 5 or 6?" Kansas City has been zone 6 for some time.
Where is zone 8 in the US?
In North America, Zone 8 is one of the warmest zones, containing much of the southern quarter of the United States, including much of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, California, and coastal Oregon and Washington.
Where is Zone 7 in the United States?
USDA Zone 7 The zone includes Long Island, coastal New Jersey, eastern Maryland, most of Virginia and North Carolina, western South Carolina, southern Tennessee, the northern halves of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and much of Arkansas.
Where is Zone 5 in the United States?
Where Is USDA Zone 5? Zone 5 starts in the Northeastern United States (including parts of New England, like Maine and New Hampshire, and mid-Atlantic states like New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia). It extends across the northern part of the Central US (including Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin).
What zone is Missouri in for growing plants?
Missouri is in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-7.
What zone is Kansas for gardening?
Kansas is in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-7.
What is the difference between zone 6a and 6b?
Zone 6 has two subzones: 6a and 6b. Zone 6a has an average minimum temperature of negative five to negative ten degrees Fahrenheit. Zone 6b experiences minimum temperatures of zero to negative five degrees Fahrenheit.
Where is zone 9 in the United States?
The Zone 9 map includes the following states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. Every USDA Hardiness Zone is divided into two subsets.
Where is zone 10 in the US?
Zone 10 of the map includes equatorial parts of North America, including southern California, southern Florida, and Hawaii. There are two subsets of Zone 10: 10a and 10b.
Where is Zone 4 in the United States?
Zone 4: -30 to -20°F Zone 4 plants can withstand minimum chilled temps from -30 to -20°F. You can find this zone in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Eastern states such as Northern New York, New Hampshire, and Maine.
What are Zones 10 and 11 in the United States?
Zones 9, 10 and 11 encompass the deep southern half of the country and the western coastal margins. The middle zones 6, 7, and 8 cover the middle portion of the mainland, and the colder zones 2-5 include the northern part of the central interior. The coldest zone of all, zone 1, occurs in the northern part of Alaska.
Where is Zone 4 in the United States?
Zone 4: -30 to -20°F Zone 4 plants can withstand minimum chilled temps from -30 to -20°F. You can find this zone in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Eastern states such as Northern New York, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Where is Zone 3 in the United States?
Copied! There are 13 hardiness zones in the United States....Zone 3 States.AlaskaColoradoIdahoMaineMinnesotaMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkNorth DakotaSouth DakotaVermontWisconsinWyoming
Where is zone 6 in the US?
Where Is USDA Zone 6? Zone 6 starts in the Mid-Atlantic United States (including parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia) and extends slightly down the Atlantic Coast to include North Carolina, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
What is the hardiness zone map?
This map divides North America into 11 separate zones. Each zone is 10°F warmer (or colder) in an average winter than the adjacent zone. (In some versions of the map, each zone is further divided into "a" and "b" regions.)
When was the USDA Zone Map released?
The latest version of the USDA Zone Map was jointly developed by USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Oregon State University's (OSU) PRISM Climate Group, and released in January of 2012.
What is the USDA map?
The USDA map does a fine job of delineating the garden climates of the eastern half of North America. That area is comparatively flat, so mapping is mostly a matter of drawing lines approximately parallel to the Gulf Coast every 120 miles or so as you move north. The lines tilt northeast as they approach the Eastern Seaboard. They also demarcate the special climates formed by the Great Lakes and by the Appalachian mountain ranges.
How many zones are there in North America?
The USDA Hardiness Zone Map divides North America into 11 separate planting zones; each growing zone is 10°F warmer (or colder) in an average winter than the adjacent zone. If you see a hardiness zone in a gardening catalog or plant description, chances are it refers to this USDA map. To find your USDA Hardiness Zone, enter your zip code or use the map below. Click here for more information about hardiness maps.
What are the factors that determine the climate of the western world?
Many factors beside winter lows, such as elevation and precipitation, determine western growing climates in the West. Weather comes in from the Pacific Ocean and gradually becomes less marine (humid) and more continental (drier) as it moves over and around mountain range after mountain range. While cities in similar zones in the East can have similar climates and grow similar plants, in the West it varies greatly. For example, the weather and plants in low elevation, coastal Seattle are much different than in high elevation, inland Tucson, Arizona, even though they're in the same zone USDA zone 8.
Why do we need a climate map?
That's why climate zone maps were created. Zone maps are tools that show where various permanent landscape plants can adapt. If you want a shrub, perennial , or tree to survive and grow year after year, the plant must tolerate year-round conditions in your area, such as the lowest and highest temperatures and the amount and distribution of rainfall.
How cold is each zone in the winter?
Each zone is 10°F warmer (or colder) in an average winter than the adjacent zone. (In some versions of the map, each zone is further divided into "a" and "b" regions.) Click on your region for an enlarged view. Color Chart Reference.
How many people use the USDA hardiness zone map?
While about 80 million American gardeners, as well as those who grow and breed plants, are the largest users of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, many others need this hardiness zone information. For example, the USDA Risk Management Agency uses the USDA plant hardiness zone designations to set some crop insurance standards. Scientists use the plant hardiness zones as a data layer in many research models such as modeling the spread of exotic weeds and insects.
What does a plant hardiness zone mean?
Plant hardiness zone designations represent the average annual extreme minimum temperatures at a given location during a particular time period. They do not reflect the coldest it has ever been or ever will be at a specific location, but simply the average lowest winter temperature for the location over a specified time.
What is PHZM in USDA?
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released the new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM), updating a useful tool for gardeners and researchers for the first time since 1990 with greater accuracy and detail.
What did USDA and OSU request to help develop the new map?
To help develop the new map, USDA and OSU requested that horticultural and climatic experts review the zones in their geographic area, and trial versions of the new map were revised based on their expert input.
What are the changes in weather zones?
However, some of the changes in the zones are a result of new, more sophisticated methods for mapping zones between weather stations. These include algorithms that considered for the first time such factors as changes in elevation, nearness to large bodies of water, and position on the terrain, such as valley bottoms and ridge tops. Also, the new map used temperature data from many more stations than did the 1990 map. These advances greatly improved the accuracy and detail of the map, especially in mountainous regions of the western United States. In some cases, they resulted in changes to cooler, rather than warmer, zones.
What is the new map?
For the first time, the new map offers a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based interactive format and is specifically designed to be Internet-friendly. The map website also incorporates a "find your zone by ZIP code" function. Static images of national, regional and state maps also have been included to ensure the map is readily accessible to those who lack broadband Internet access.
Is the 1990 US map warmer than the 1990 map?
Compared to the 1990 version, zone boundaries in this edition of the map have shifted in many areas. The new map is generally one 5-degree Fahrenheit half-zone warmer than the previous map throughout much of the United States. This is mostly a result of using temperature data from a longer and more recent time period; the new map uses data measured at weather stations during the 30-year period 1976-2005. In contrast, the 1990 map was based on temperature data from only a 13-year period of 1974-1986.
When was the first USDA planting zone map published?
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map details plant hardiness zones across the country. The USDA published the first map of USDA planting zones in 1960 under the American Horticultural Society’s sponsorship and the US National Arboretum.
What is a growing zone?
These zones, often called growing zones or planting zones, allow gardeners to make informed decisions regarding which plants to grow per their climate.
What are the factors that determine the type of plant you want to plant?
Gardeners must consider several factors before deciding which plants they want to plant. Perhaps the most crucial of these factors is the area’s climate and if it is one in which the plant can thrive.
What are the factors that affect the growth of a plant?
These include winter lows, summer highs, wind, humidity, how much rainfall the zone receives and when, and how long each zone’s growing season is.
What is the snow zone in Florida?
Hawaii and Puerto Rico are in zones 12 and 13. Some zones never get snow, while others always do.
What is the lowest temperature a plant can survive in Zone 5?
For instance, plants described as being “ hardy to zone 5 ” can survive the lowest annual temperature in that zone, which is – 20 degrees F.
How many zones are there in the US?
The map details 13 zones across the US and Canada, with each zone having a winter temperature 10 degrees warmer or colder than the next.
How to read USDA zone maps?
To read each map, just click on the picture or header to see the full-size map . Look for the color-coded legend of zones, and match up the correct color and zone to where you live. You can then choose plants that are suggested for that USDA zone. 1
How to find your USDA zone?
You can find your USDA zone with state maps that are based on extreme minimum temperatures. However, it's important to note they do not account for maximum temperatures, so some plants may struggle. But using these maps is an excellent guide for picking flowers, shrubs, trees, and herbs that will be able to thrive without much maintenance.
What USDA zone is New Hampshire?
USDA Zones 3b through 6a are represented in New Hampshire.
