North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Michele Stanton <6ducks@gmail.com>]

The USDA climate zones are not meant as an all-encompassing guide to what grows where.  They are based on average winter minimum temperatures, and nothing more.   Their main advantage is that they are so widely used.  You can find similar maps for almost any country or area in the world now. Read more at: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/index.html

 

Those of you West of the Rockies should look at the Sunset climate zones.  They're a much more accurate picture of climates.  I introduce students to Sunset's national maps even though I live in the Midwest. I wish they were more widely used.  They're based on a larger number of factors, such as minimum and maximum temperatures, rainfall amount and timing, humidity, and length of the growing season. Check them out at:  http://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zones/

 

Some nurseries use a combination of USDA zones and AHS heat zones, which is at least a little more helpful.  If you haven't used the AHS heat zones, you can obtain info for your area by entering your zip code.

 

http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htm

 

Michele in SW Ohio