USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map***new 2012***

[paul_in_mn]

Well, my area now only gets to an average annual minimum winter temperature of -25 instead of -30 (now 4b instead of 4a) -- time to plant some cactus...lol.

"Still too cold for Japanese maples and flowering dogwoods..." according to the local paper.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

[ogrefcf]

That thing can't be right. It's says I'm 6b.

[kHT]

Thank Paul!! It's 50 degrees at noon today and I'm out in just my sweater and a t-shirt. Lots of stuff are popping up already!! 8B, not to sure and Sunset states 6? Is this due to climate change??

[Chris_W]

That's a great resource, thanks for sharing it!

The hardiness zones are based on averages, and as the averages change, so do the zones. But as we've seen even in recent years, and as you might guess from an "average", there will always be some winters colder than what your zone is listed as, along with others that are warmer. Back in the winter of 1997/1998 we got down to -32 degrees actual temperature, two nights in a row, which made it a zone 3b winter here. That really tested the hardiness of a lot of plants. Holly were decimated, so were a lot of Japanese maples and anemones, and groundcover plumbago, to name a few. Other plants that truly were zone 5 plants bit the dust that winter, but other plants came through fine and we actually started to rewrite the hardiness of plants that survived without a hitch, like Magnolias and hardy hibiscus.

Mine says zone 5b, which sounds about right for most of my gardening experience here. This winter we've barely dipped below zero, though, so I certainly can't use this season as a hardiness test for any new plants...

[Buckeye]

There is still time for a winter to happen.

[GrannyNanny]

Our newspaper said a few days ago that if we didn't get colder weather soon, the chance for it would be past. We've been in the mid 30's every day for the past week, and sometimes up to 40, which is unheard of in a Minnesota February. Ground is still pretty frozen, but if it keeps on the way it's going, we'll have daffodils up and doing here by the beginning of March, and that usually doesn't happen here until April 1 or thereabouts. A crazy, crazy winter, to be sure. Phyllis

[viktoria]

The lawn is still green! This is our 27th winter here and until now the lawn has always been white in February.

Come spring I can take a survey of which plants do not require snow for mulch.

I have noticed that my nice Snuffleupagus Tree did not like the wet summer and is on it's way out. What to do when a (weeping white pine) tree dies? Plant a clematis next to it! When a plant dies, regard it as an opportunity to plant something else.

Viktoria

[thy]

With a mild winther I am sure your plants will be fine without the snow... you are just so used to snowcover

Then the bad side of the story... if you remember back in forum time, my hostas normally show their noses way before Reldons( and others) but his unfurled before mine. You do notget more sunpower than normal, but mild temps will help, specially the night temps are important