"As climate changes, garden zone map does too"

[bloom]

I was wondering about this when I was planting this year

As climate changes, garden zone map does too
James Willhite
Columbia News Service
May. 18, 2006 12:00 AM

NEW YORK -- With their yellow flowers marooned in the February ice, the daffodils of Manhattan's Morningside Park looked out of sync with their frosty surroundings. But as peculiar as it was to see flowers poking through snow, they were only doing what they always do: responding to warmer soil by springing to life.

In early February, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the average U.S. temperature for January had been the highest ever. And the daffodils weren't the only ones to notice. In March, The New York Times reported that because of the warm January the maple trees in New York state that produce syrup began growing too early, which could slash this year's syrup output by 40 percent.

Against the backdrop of these shifts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now in the process of redrawing the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, a tool used by gardeners to determine what trees, flowers and food crops will survive in what zone. The map, created in 1960 by Henry T. Skinner (then director of the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington) codes the country into 11 regions, determined by the duration of cold weather and lowest winter temperatures in each zone...

And so, as gardeners across the country wait for the newest official USDA zone map, the National Arbor Day Foundation has published its own revised version, based on the same data used by the abandoned AHS map--data that shows in some parts of the Northeast an increase of as much as 8 degrees in winter temperatures."

http://www.azcentral.com/home/garden/articles/0518gardenzone0518.html


check out "See a comparison of changes between 1990 and 2004.):

http://www.arborday.org/media/zones.cfm

[CatWoman]

1. I left a houseplant out all winter

didn't bring it in; decided to just let it die.

Imagine my surprise to see it coming back to life!!!

I'm in Atlanta.

We had a very mild winter.

I guess the cold didn't completely kill it.

[leftchick]

2. This makes so much sense

I have had tropicals I had treated as annuals come back like they were in a zone 9 when I live in a zone 7! We are so fucked! :(

[bigtree]

3. I wonder though

In my area outside of DC the temperature shfts from year to year according to subtle fluctuations of the jet stream. There does seem to be a warming element in evidence with the regular tornado warnings in the past couple. But, I wonder how predictable it could be with things in such an accelerated decline?

[bloom]

4. The next part of the article...

"The map has been adjusted twice before: once in 1965, to add temperature data that had been missing from the original; and again in 1990, to include climate information for Canada and Mexico and to reflect what the USDA Web site officially describes as "changes in the weather."

The USDA's most recent plans for revision were initially undertaken by the American Horticultural Society with a grant from the USDA. The AHS published its findings in its own in-house magazine, The American Gardener, in 2003. Across much of the country, it showed climate zones bleeding to the north--reflecting a general warming trend and a changing habitat for plants.

The USDA, however, called the map inadequate and insisted that the AHS withdraw it.

David Ellis, the AHS director of communications and editor of The American Gardener, said it was never clearly explained why the 2003 map was jettisoned."

----

...about the USDA redrawing the map and then not publishing it. It certainly seems a lot better to redraw it periodically than to not - or to not have a map at all.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. I'm in No FL

and I haven't had a real freeze in four years. I've got tropical plants in the ground that normal die back that are getting huge. I love it. (At least until the next serious drought)



This pics from last year. This plant has about doubled in size since then. Be careful, don't eat the seeds. ;)

[Nicole]

11. I'm jealous

I have to over winter my brugs in the garage so they take a while before blooming each year.

[stop the bleeding]

13. DYEW

I walk past AT's almost every day here in Tampa, it is good to live that is until the next drought or dare I say Hurricane.

[kineneb]

6. interesting stuff out in the Far West

if one looks at the differences map, the Far West has spots that are cooler in 2004...I know the rain pattern has been different...47"??!!

Next year, hip waders...

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. I already put plants out here in Maine. Usually I don't do that til the

end of May.

[Odin2005]

8. Holy Shit, zone 3 realy retreated northward

My Mom knew the old map was off, she always said we (MN lake country) had become zone 4, looks like she was right.

This is not good for the North Woods, south of zone 3 the winters are warm enough for the trees of the eastern hardwood forests to compete against conifers. :(

[NorthernSpy]

9. my peach trees are thriving and blossoming here in Maine

And they all said it was too far north!

Not any more, I guess...


:think:

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Dammit, they ALWAYS leave out Alaska.

:mad: Are those average low temperatures in Centigrade? There's no way we're a zone 8 up here. (Average winter low temperature 14 degrees F.)

[bloom]

14. I was wondering about Alaska

At least near the coast - lots of yellows and greens - 6 and 7s.

[Nicole]

12. My zone hasn't changed

I see the northern part of the state has though.

[lpbk2713]

15. I'm in Central Florida, Zone 9, close to Zone 10.

And Zone 10 is also Death Valley in Kullyfoornia.



Now that's a comforting thought. :eyes: