Hardiness Zone Map - plant weather hardiness - Brief Article

Flower & Garden Magazine, July, 2000

To select the right plants for your yard, learn to use the Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

NOT ALL of your most useful gardening tools are out in the garage along with your rakes, hoes and shovels. One is probably inside your home in the back of a gardening book--the Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

The first zone map was published in the USA in the 1930's. It was revised in 1965 and again in 1990.

Today's hardiness zone map has eleven different temperature zones. (If you have a zone map with only 10 zones, it's an older version and should no longer be used.)

Zone One is the northernmost, or coldest, zone, with an average annual minimum temperature of -50 [degrees] or below. Zone Eleven is the southernmost, or warmest, zone, with an average annual minimum temperature of 40 [degrees] and above, making it the only zone that's essentially frost-free.

The map has long been a boon to gardeners. With just a quick glance at a plant tag, you can determine if the plant will survive a winter in your area.

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