What Plant Hardiness Zones DON’T Tell You…
Hardiness zones are helpful, but for beginner gardeners, they can often confuse you more than they clarify. They’re based on the average annual minimum temperature, which gives you SOME info but not ALL the info you need to know what to plant and when to plant it in your garden.
Click here to find your zone: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/
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Bruh Idc what anyone says but Global Warming really slapping us in the face rn. Coming from the NE in VT we haven't had a MAJOR snow storm since like 2010 and NYC flat out has seen at most two inches in the past four years. That might might need another updating ASAP
It would be nice to grow a big mango tree in the desert climate of las vegas
Meteorologist and plant nerd wannabe here. There is another rather large weakness of the hardiness zones. As you mentioned, it is based off the typical coldest temperature of the season. This temperature is based off a 30 year average. Take the the coldest temperature of each year over the last 30 years, add them together, and divide by 30. Nice simple math. Problem, it doesn't take into account the year to year variability. In San Diego, your annual minimum likely doesn't vary as much as it does in some other places. For most places east of the Rockies, the annual minimum typically varies quite a bit from year to year. I live in southeastern Houston. I'm simultaneously close to the urban heat core and the bay. My zone is 9B which equates to an annual minimum of 25-29F. The airport nearby averages an annual low of 28F. But in the 8 winters I have lived here 2 never froze, 3 never dipped below 30F, one dropped to 23F, and two dropped into the teens. Our annual minimum over 8 years has ranged from 15F to 36F. Another way to put it is we have had 5 winters in zone 10, 1 in zone 9, and two in zone 8. Where my mom lives in the North Carolina foothills is really similar. Her annual low average in the lower teens. But in the last decade, they have been as low as 1F while also having a winter that didn't dip below 25F.
Using Florida as an opposing example really makes me skeptical of any and all advice you have to give, 'microzones' sounds nice in a temperate zone, try talking to a Midwesterner where even in shade temps are 100+ most of the growing season, don't buy this book
Unfortunately, with permanent plants like trees, shrubs and perennials, that "average" cold would possibly mean that every so often, when you have a not so "average" cold blast, you may lose some plants that may be the "bones" of your garden/landscape.
I've also been wondering, if you have some tender plants in a greenhouse, and the low temp you might get a few hours comes a few degrees below what a plant or 2 can deal with outdoors, exposed to wind or rain, would that plant be able to handle that few degrees below the recommended lowest temperature?
It would be above freezing though. To be specific, a zone 10b hardy plant being in a greenhouse 42f.
My greenhouse is now 42f, and I am leery of going out to put on my backup heater because it's in the teens outside, and it's gonna be icy and I don't want to fall and bust my butt going to the GH.
I live in zone 5 and it says average -5. Last winter we hit -15° which was -30° with the wind chill. We easily hit below -5 almost every winter because I live like 10 miles from Lake Erie and the storms cause huge cold fronts to come in frequently.
I think it’s a good estimate to start with but it’s now where near as helpful as I was hoping.
So, I live in Cape Town, South Africa and from now on will consider myself as living in zone 11. Spring is just mixed up a bit and summers get really hot and winters wet. Summer is November,December and January.
I live in zone 5b and was looking to get a cold hardy bamboo plant for outside. It says online it is for zones 5-9, hardy to -10°F. What happens if it gets below that temp? I have lived here my whole life and I know it can happen and it usually lasts for a couple days. When it is specified that a plant is hardy to a certain temperature, does that mean it can withstand that temperature for extended periods of time?
Would you say your videos cater to zone 10b