What are gardening zones? How do they affect you?
Even if you are only an amateur gardener, you may have heard the term "gardening zone" before. Gardening zones are geographically defined areas which were first developed by the United States Department of Agriculture. Now these garden zones have also been adopted elsewhere. These garden zones are divided by temperature to help gardeners know what plants are well suited for certain geographic areas. Sometimes you may hear garden zones also referred to as "hardiness zones."
In order to read a gardening gone, you will need to look at the mean of the lowest temperature that is recorded in the winter for each area. This mean is recorded as the "average annual minimum temperature." Then, depending on this temperature range, the area will be categorized in one of the 20 gardening zones that are possible.
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The lower the number of the hardiness zone or gardening zone, the colder the area is. For example, Zone 1 has an average minimum temperature range of below -50 degrees Fahrenheit. This zone includes Fairbanks, Alaska and the Northwest Territories of Canada. Zone 4a is a little bit warmer than that, with the average minimum temperature range at -30 to -25 degrees Fahrenheit. Cities that are located in zone 4a include Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota, and Lewistown, Montana. The warmest gardening zone, Zone 11, is for areas which have an average annual minimum temperature range which is above 40 degrees. Both Mazatlan, Mexico and Honolulu, Hawaii are located in Zone 11.
As a gardener, the gardening zone is very important and it affects gardeners in a lot of ways. For example, the type of plants that you are able to grow in your area really depends on the temperature and the gardening zone. However, gardening zones also can affect gardeners because there are also drawbacks and problems with the zones as well. The National Gardening Association has said that the zoning map has shortcomings, and the zoning map made by the USDA doesn't take into consideration how snow covers are beneficial for perennial plants. In addition, the map does not take into consideration the soil drainage for cold times of the year, and it also doesn't consider freeze cycle thaws.
In addition, the elevation of an area also can affect the vegetation, which is not taken into the temperature highs and lows that are indicated in the gardening zones. For this reason, there are a couple of problems in the West when taking the different mountain ranges into consideration. For example, both Seattle, Washington and Tucson, Arizona are both located in the Zone 8, but they are at different elevations and different locations in the continent. Seattle has more of a humid climate, whereas Tucson is drier because it is farther inland. So, the gardening zones may affect your choice of vegetation a little bit, but you will have to do your own research to find out if vegetation can do well in the type of elevation in your area.
So, in conclusion, as a gardener you will also need to take your own climate into consideration a little bit outside of the gardening zone limitations. Although the gardening zone can overall affect the types of vegetation and plants that are in your garden, you also should do your own research for the plants that you want to put in your garden. For example, if you are getting a perennial, you might find out that the plant does well with snow cover during the winter. If that is the case, you will want to go with the information regarding that specific perennial than specifically worrying about what the gardening zone tells you!
