Selecting Plants: Will That Plant Grow Here? The Reality of Zo

-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage

Top 2. Feb 21, 2002 11:29 AM

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Re: Thank you, thank you!

In response to message posted by bici:
Hi Barbara! Sorry it took so long for me to get back to this question / idea.
First of all, you might try checking the Sunset Zone map for your area as the criteria used for this map are much more inclusion than for the USDA map. You'll need to get your hands on the Sunset Northeast Garden Book to check as there is to my knowledge no Web Site where one can check on this. Syracuse seems to be in Sunset Zone 40, lying between the Finger lakes and Oneida lake. You're also right at the edge of a very hilly/mountainous area. All of these might make you and your neighborhood a little island.
Another problem with the maps is that the ones in catalogs and garden books are so small that the zones seem smushed together. I know my yard is more zone 4 than 5, but it consistently comes out on the small maps looking like zone 5. On the larger maps that I use for teaching, obtainable from the USDA and AHS, one can actually see county boundaries and the more realistic zone limits.
You might also, just for the fun of it, go over to The National Arbor Day Fountation Hardiness Zonmes Map , and enter your zip code. According to information at this site, The National Arbor Day Foundation has updated U.S. Hardiness Zones to provide more current and precise cold-hardiness information for tree planting throughout the United States. They state that their hardiness zones database is based on the most recently compiled average annual minimum temperatures recorded by U.S. weather stations. They also compare maps from 1990 (the one most of us use) and 2002 as well as provide downloadable maps.
Also note that they are presenting this material in terms of the cold-hardiness of trees, not perennials or frost-free dates needed for growing vegetables or annuals.
This is praobably a lot more than you wanted or expected. However, though it is important information what it all comes down to is being observant of your own weather and what seems to grow well in your neighborhood.

Top 3. Apr 1, 2002 8:27 AM

» biogardener - nursery staff useless

I have found nursery staff to be totally useless in advising customers, except for the owners of one nursery whom I know personally. The rest of them only know two words, perennial and annual, but they don't know that a perennial in zone 4 is an annual in zone 2.

I garden in zones 2 and 3, and I depend completely on my own judgment or that of my nursery owner friends in choosing my plants. The labels, even if they do indicate the zone, are rarely reliable. I have saved fellow shoppers a lot of money by telling them not to buy certain nursery stock because it won't survive the first winter. The customers are always happy when I tell them, but I am not too popular with the staff, to put it mildly. They prefer to rip people off.

-- posted by biogardener

Top 4. Apr 5, 2002 9:07 AM

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Re: nursery staff useless

In response to message posted by biogardener:
What you've found is unfortunate, but true in many places...your locale is probably more hypersensitive to cold than most. Again, unfortunate, but true is that I feel the garden center / nursery clerks (for this is all that really are) are the product of little or no horticultural education. And labels are just that...labels...designed for the average consumer in the average location. All this is very unproductive because it leaves the gardener / consumer feeling that they are doing something wrong / have black thumbs / shouldn't be gardening. When the nursery / garden staff take time to do some educating, their consumers comes away much more confident and happier. It's a shame because there are good educational display materials that cost the staff little or no money. Another good education tool is Saturday / Sunday workshops offered by competent plants people who educate and not just WOW! Would any of the places close to you take you up on offers of a lecture / workshop? Thanks for dropping by and please let readers in this topic know how you make out. OK?

-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage

Top 5. Jan 21, 2005 11:31 AM

» kdjoergensen - So true...

I really liked this article. My own experience with nursery "professionals" started when we bought our first house in New Jersey (zone6) and the lady sold us "citronella ferns" (to this day I still dont know exactly what it was) except they died back in winter; turned out they were tropical.
Do you know what the USDA zone numbers mean by the way ? Zone2 has two months of good growing in summer, zone3 has 3 good months, zone6 has 6 good months, etc (*** SMILE *****)

Kenneth

-- posted by kdjoergensen