New Hardiness Zones from your Government

[AlFulchino]

Read the article below and then my comments below that

New Planting Map Reflects Warmer Winters

By Rick Ganley

(maplink - click to view NH's new Hardiness map)
http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/nhpr/files/201202/NH_Growing_Map.jpg

The USDA recently released a new growing zone map for the entire country. The Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the guide gardeners use to determine what plants and flowers will most likely thrive in their location. This is the first significant update in more than 20 years. The new online interactive map takes advantage of much more detailed data analysis, and it’s making news because it shows that warmer winters are sustaining plants that previously would have died off in colder climates.

Cathy Neal is a specialist in nursery and landscape horticulture with the UNH Cooperative Extension. She says the new map hasn’t changed all that much for New Hampshire- but it does offer a few surprises- and much more detail.

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Comment
by this map i have gone to zone 5B...how exciting! the trouble is that in four of the last five years I have recorded temps that place me in zone 5A and in on of those yrs I was 4B

be careful of what you choose to plant...if you are able then get a hi-lo thermometer and place on your prospective vineyard

i know the gov't means well but............

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

i know the gov't means well but............

But its the 'Goverment'

 

[AlFulchino]

i hear you we all better trust what we know

the airport a few ,miles from me has recorded -15 three times in the last decade and it sits in a small city that is notably different because of its asphalt.....and that same airport hit -26 in the 90's

these temps prove that we should be very wary of the hardiness zones being published

 

[ibglowin]

The weather has been absolutely crazy the last two Winters. Last year we hit -22 in February. Yesterday mornings low was 39........ Normal low temps for us this time of year are usually in the 5-15 degree range depending on if a front has just pulled through or not.

I would not believe any upgrades in your hardiness zone for a LONG time to come.

On the other hand we now have a sizable healthy population of White Wing Dove in Northern NM! This population was in serious trouble when I was a teenager growing up in South Texas. The fact that these giant birds (they are the size of pigeons) are now flourishing way up here at 7000ft elev with long cold Winters (normally) sure means something has certainly changed since the early 70's.....

 

[AlFulchino]

i contacted the extension agent who was spoken of in the article and she relayed to me that the impromptu interview was edited down and that theINFERENCE of climate change was led by the interviewer and not the interviewee!!!!

my concern is that when you go into a nursery for almost anything ( and i was at a growers exhibition yesterday and saw this in play over and over again), they always point to the hardiness zone on the tags of all that they sell...obviously a zone tag encourages people to view it as a *truth in labelling* tool

nothing could be further from the truth.....in my view these maps should all be altered to say what the coldest temp could be...not the average coldest temp....this is a big difference because you could spend five years having success growing something and one winter evening of 5 to10 hours of cold temps that are not historically unreasonable can do in your vineyard....your hedge separating you from a street or neighbor and so on....fruit trees! think about what it takes to raise fruit trees

so while the zone map is one issue its another to have NPR taking info and misreading the information and leading the average reader to be talked into something that doesnt exist

and to top it all off in the last two weeks i have read articles mentioning the same thing that i saw in my Weekly Reader in grade school.....that the earth's climate is now getting cooler again

 

[milbrosa]

Here is the USDA site with the complete map. You can look up your hardiness zone by state or by zip code.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map