Understanding and knowing the climate is a key part of fine gardens. This means understanding your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone. Wait...what?
In the 1960s, the USDA (or United States Department of Agriculture) developed the concept of plant-hardiness zones. The USDA divided the United States into ten zones, each representing a 10-degree difference in annual temperatures. The zone number is indicative of how warm it is in the area. Zone 1 is the coldest with an average winter temperature of -60 to 50 degrees F. Zone 13 is the warmest.
There are many reasons why you should be concerned about USDA Plant Hardiness Zones.
Let's begin with the most common mistake that gardeners make when starting out. Even experienced gardeners make this mistake from time to time. Knowing your local climate and hardiness zone will make it easier to determine the right time of year, rainfall timing, temperature ranges, and temperatures to plant the plants you are interested in. The number of the recommended hardiness zone will be printed on most commercial seed and plant companies' seed packages. This information from landscaping sandwich ma can be used to help you choose the right plants for your garden.
It can make a big difference whether your garden succeeds. Knowing when certain types of plants are safe to be planted within your zone of plant hardiness will help you decide if your garden is a success or failure. Gardeners living in warmer climates can plant flowers and vegetables in May while those in northern regions are busy tilling the soil and making beds. Some of the New England planting seasons are just beginning, while others are ending elsewhere.
Many plants thrive in very specific environments. While you can adjust many factors, including soil type, moisture level and sunlight, temperature can be difficult to control. You can maximize your gardening and landscaping success by choosing plants and trees that are suitable for specific planting zones.
What does "plant hardiness" mean?
Plant hardiness simply means that a plant can withstand adverse growing conditions such as drought, flooding and heat. Plant hardiness science can be complex. The ability of a plant to withstand low temperatures without injury is determined by its genetic makeup. Different cultivars of plants may have different levels of hardiness depending on their genetics and adaptations. Different parts of the plant can be hardy in different ways. The cold can cause your perennial to die back, but the roots are strong enough to produce new growth in spring.
Plants, like humans, thrive in different environments so there is some room for error in the hardiness zone concept. It is important to understand that there are microclimates within each garden which could allow gardeners to grow plants listed at higher zones. This may be a good thing. A zone 6 garden may have a sunny, warm area with well-drained soil near a building that is protected against the wind and cold. This makes it more like a zone 7. In the same zone 6, there might be an open area with low elevation, but no protection, that is where cold settles. This area would make it a zone 5, which is where zone 6 plants would struggle.
What does weather have to do with this?
Climate is the weather patterns over a period of time. It could be 30 years or more. Weather can be described as the daily state of the climate. It could rain in the 60s or it would be sunny in the 80s.
This is crucial because humans relate to their local climate day-to-day, not decade by decade. We are actively gardening using our climate and zone information as a strong pillar and adjusting for seasonal and daily fluctuations in our weather patterns. The same thing is happening with plants. They respond and relate to the same daily weather. It is our job to interpret this relationship and understand the landscape.
How important is it to understand your USDA Hardiness Zone and your regional climate? Very. It will make your garden more beautiful, longer-lasting, healthier, as well as more attractive. Paying attention to weather patterns day-to-day, season to season, will allow you to drill down to make better landscape decisions.
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