GardenWeb's Zone by Zip Code finder

Arborday.org hardiness zone.

Ok, GW tells me I'm in zone 7. Arborday tells me zone 8. I'm no help.

I know why now. Some sites use a new map. Some use the 1990 map. In 2006, the USDA map was shifted due to climate changes.

Animation of zone shifts.

Funny you should ask....

I spent some time this afternoon determining whether our home was located in Zone 5b or 6. For years, I've always considered our home to be in Zone 5b, but the USDA Hardiness Map now says Zone 6. Has the map been revised due to global warming?

Since we are right on the cusp, I'll use Zone 6 for the Winter Sowing Container Count", but sow/plant conservatively as if I was in Zone 5b.

Take a look at http://www.backyardgardener.com/zone/index.html. It asks for your zipcode to determine your zone.

Hmmm...both say I am in zone 8. One teeny tiny part of VA in color and that is my part.I like the fact it asks for your zip code. I would think that would help with accuracy. Zone 8. And all this time I thought it was 7. Who knew???

Might have to change my Winter Sowing Container Counts to zone 8,too.

Token28001,

Thanks for providing the link to the animation of zone shifts. How interesting! It is good news for us northerners who hate the cold, but also very alarming at the change in climate over the past 16 years.

Nancy
Dancing in the Garden

I'm in zone 7. I have been in zone 7 and will remain. But if the temperature drops below 10, I'm gonna die.

... but your seeds will love that 10°!

When I first started gardening on a serious level, I was VERY frustrated about the whole zone thing. I was ordering perennials for our new home, and it seemed like every site I went to listed us as something different. For example, on the two sites that Token provided links for, one has me listed as a zone 4, and the other as a zone 6. That's a pretty big difference there!

Anyway, now that we have lived here for a couple of years, I have been keeping track of the lows, and we get down somewhere between - 10 to - 20 each winter, so according to the zone chart, that would make me a zone 5.

I definitely think as gardeners we should be in tune with what the weather is at our exact location. There can be big differences in temps and precipitation, within our town, depending on if you are in a valley, or up on a mountain.

If you are new to gardening, I would err on the side of making sure the plants you select are hardy to the coldest zone you are listed as. Then, as you get more familiar with your own weather patterns, or if you are just willing to accept the losses, you can try pushing the zone limit a bit, and planting things labeled as hardy to a warmer zone. Keep in mind that plants can't read!!! Just because the tag says zone 6, doesn't mean that it is guaranteed to fail for everyone in zone 5. You can increase your success rate by planting questionable plants in a protected area, away from wind, and mulching well in the winter too.

Besides, with wintersowing, we are spending so much less on plants by starting from seed, that you can take more chances without spending a ton of money.

Bonnie

I am not comfortable with using the Arbor Day map and will stick with what I have been using which is based on many years of data, not 16. I grew up in zone 7, and I now live in zone 6. Looking at the Arbor Day map, it would be zone 7 now. I promise you, this is not the same type weather I grew up with in zone 7.

I know this is an easy way to start a fight, but when I see them remove "political science" from real science, then I will start to be concerned. Until then, I will remain right where I am.

I believe the earth changes over time and most anywhere you travel you can see evidence of those changes and I am sure we are doing things that are not good for our climate or our world. As gardeners we can do our part to protect our world and to beautify it and I think most of us are trying to do that.

As I look around the world, and listen to the news each night, I am much more concerned about the deterioration we are allowing to happen in our society than I am the changes we are "causing" in our environment.

Until then....plant a garden...love your soil...and enjoy the earth's bounty. I personally will not be investing a lot of money in those plants that are a zone higher than mine, because I doubt they have been listening to much info or global warming and I think they will still die when the cold winter comes and stays for days or weeks, like it still continues to do.

I personally will not be investing a lot of money in those plants that are a zone higher than mine, because I doubt they have been listening to much info or global warming and I think they will still die when the cold winter comes and stays for days or weeks, like it still continues to do.

That was my thought too. The plants don't read the NYTimes or listen to the UN climatologists. They probably don't read any papers except the ones their roots push through to get to the soil below.

I am comfortable as a zone 7 gardener. And the temperatures here sometimes do dip below 10, but not often. I'm a 7.

Think it's confusing for Americans? Try being a Canadian.

Our zone maps are different from yours in that our Federal Agriculture brains in Ottawa (our capital) have decided to list them differently from yours by one. Hence the reason I list mine as z5_6_can. So I'm a USDA 5, but a Canadian 6 - Actually a Canadian 6a...

Most of the plant tags used by our garden centers are from 'the states', so guess what? They have the USDA hardiness zones on them but it doesn't specifically say USDA. It just says the zone.

And if you ask garden center personel where the tags were made and if they are specific to Canadian or American zones, well, they just don't know.

Just another viable reason to winter sow. :O)

I wanna be a 10!

Zonal differances can also vary micro-climatic. I am up on a ridge, where as the town is in the valley, we are 1 week behind the valley here on the hill.
I looked at my 1936 Practial Encyclopedia of Gardening and, there it states Zone 3. Today's USDA states Zone 6, but I know it is more like Zone 5 here.
Global warming, sometimes I wonder, having -2 degrees this week, looking at last years notes, had the woodburner on May 18 and 19, lost to frost, zinnias and some maters.
August 9th we were so cold around the pool, I brought out sweaters and blankets, we made a fire and I served hot chocolate.
I know the sun is stronger, but the air temp sure isn't here

Hey, Token, the weatherguy just said our low tomorrow (Tuesday) morning is going to be - are you ready? - -15F°. Now he's rambling on about blizzard-like conditions with total whiteouts all day tomorrow and temps Tuesday night as low as -35F° with the windchill.

There now, don't you feel warmer? ;-D

I might be a zone 6 now? And it's likely that residents in the center of town ARE a true zone 6. But since I live on the outskirts of town, in a semi-rural area, AND I live across the street from farmland which results in harsh winter winds that come whipping across the fields, I plant for zone 5. There are sheltered parts of the yard where a zone 6 or maybe even 7 plant would survive fine.

I learned the hard way after spending $60 on 2 lovely Miscanthus 'Adagio' plants, hardy zone 6-9, and they were dead as a doornail the next Spring. :(

Tosser, just be sure to shut the door. I don't want that cold air coming down here. The lowest for us is supposed to be 17 and windy Thursday night. I'll have two fires going that night.

Arbor Day cant even make up its mind, it tells me Im in Zone 5-6.

Do they base it on averages? We get such fluctuations, Im sure I have days that qualify for zone 4.

I couldn't figure out the zone I'm supposed to be in at all! There is a big curve between Dallas and Ft.Worth...right over my yard, I think. A native plant nursery owner told me his best guess for my yard is 7b/8a (whatever that means) so that's what I list here on GW. I know that when they give the predicted low temp, it is always colder here because the low is estimated for DFW airport and I think the miles of concrete runway or the jet exhaust must warm it up! Debby

I'm in zone 6 but still plant a few things that are rated to zone 7 knowing that they may only be around for a few years until we have a bad winter ... IF it's something inexpensive, if I can grow it from seed, or if I can get it in a trade. I wouldn't plant a tree that's pushing my zone but I don't mind the risk if it's just flowers that can easily be replaced. I think the reason you're finding different zones is because it depends on how far back they go to collect the averages. You may have a winter where it drops down to minus 20 but hopefully it doesn't do that every year.
It helps to do some searching on forums to see if you can find other people in your zone/area growing a particular plant.

USDA has not updated its map since 1990. Anything seen or claiming to be a new USDA zone map (other than the digital scan of the 1990 map done in 2001 is a fake.

I know because I am part of the team that is nearing the finish of doing the new USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

There was a draft done by the American Horticultural Society and submitted to USDA in 2006, but it was done in the same technology as the 1990 map, was not suitable to be viewed on the web, and was not GPS compatible, so it was rejected.

Please keep in mind that all Plant Hardiness Zone Maps are based on AVERAGE lowest temperature, not the lowest in any winter. When you select plants that push your zone limit, use your knowledge about microclimates and the sheltered areas in your garden to give the tenderer plants the best chance to survive.

Thanks kimka. I didn't realize that wasn't an official USDA map by arborday.org.