When people want to create a more contemporary planting design for a yard, they will need to use perennials and grasses that come back year after year. This means you need to pick the right species for the job. This way of thinking is a completely different mindset than those more interested in growing veggies or who’s in love with annuals. Only when you use the correct plants for your hardiness zone will you see them come back after the bitter snows melt.
Plants didn’t evolve to simply die in the fall and never return. Their primal desire is to live and multiple. When you pick flowers and grasses ideal for your climate, you will be participating in helping fulfill a deep-rooted instinct. It will also save you tons of money over time and give you the iconic swaying grasses of the High Line everyone loves.
A plant’s hardiness zone is defined as the amount of cold it can take before it freezes to death. It’s ability to survive blistering winters is directly connected to where and when it evolved. Tomatoes, for example, are native to Central America and can’t get through even the mildest winter in the US. So you have to plant them over and over each year. But, go to where they are native, and they don’t need to be started from seed annually. Likewise, Echinacea purpurea (coneflower) evolved in eastern North American with a hardiness zone range of 3 to 8. They can take lots of cold and relatively lots of hot. They will find it difficult to grow where tomatoes flourish as well as in the northern parts of Canada.
A hardiness zone map is easy to find. The one below is from the USDA and break each zone into an “a” and “b”.
A plant’s hardiness zone is defined as the amount of cold it can take before it freezes to death. It’s ability to survive blistering winters is directly connected to where and when it evolved. Tomatoes, for example, are native to Central America and can’t get through even the mildest winter in the US. So you have to plant them over and over each year. But, go to where they are native, and they don’t need to be started from seed annually. Likewise, Echinacea purpurea (coneflower) evolved in eastern North American with a hardiness zone range of 3 to 8. They can take lots of cold and relatively lots of hot. They will find it difficult to grow where tomatoes flourish as well as in the northern parts of Canada.
A hardiness zone map is easy to find. The one below is from the USDA and break each zone into an “a” and “b”.
This lettering indicates that one part of the zone is colder than the other. The “a” is always the colder of the two. In the United States, nearly every location will fall within one of 10 or 11 zones. Each zone is based on historical data for how cold an area gets. So a zone 6 means that area could likely see low temperatures from 0 to -10 while a zone 10 will like see lows from 30 to 40 degrees. A Zone 6 is situated through most of northern New Jersey, Ohio and southern Illinois while a zone 10 is found in Texas, Florida and Louisiana. Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota are home to zones 2 and 3.
Hardiness zones were first created for cultivating trees and shrubs during the first half of the 20th century. In the 1990s, the USDA began to publish the “official” maps. This makes sense because most vegetables are planted and harvested within the same year while fruit and nut trees need to stay around to mature. That’s why oranges are grown in warm climates and apples are grown in colder climates.
Hardiness zone is a fundamental especially for those wanting to create that beautiful new perennial look. There’s plenty of things it doesn’t tell you. The more you fall in love with gardening and landscape design, the more you’ll have to learn. Plus, there is no substitute for real-world experience. The hardiness zone don’t tell you how much or little water a plant will need or how much heat a plant can take. However, on the road to expert planting skills, knowing what hardiness zone you are planting in will do more good than harm.
More Posts about Winter and Colder Temperatures
Winter Gardening: Beauty in the After
Beauty in the After, the Series
Helleborus, Winter's Rose
Hardiness zones were first created for cultivating trees and shrubs during the first half of the 20th century. In the 1990s, the USDA began to publish the “official” maps. This makes sense because most vegetables are planted and harvested within the same year while fruit and nut trees need to stay around to mature. That’s why oranges are grown in warm climates and apples are grown in colder climates.
Hardiness zone is a fundamental especially for those wanting to create that beautiful new perennial look. There’s plenty of things it doesn’t tell you. The more you fall in love with gardening and landscape design, the more you’ll have to learn. Plus, there is no substitute for real-world experience. The hardiness zone don’t tell you how much or little water a plant will need or how much heat a plant can take. However, on the road to expert planting skills, knowing what hardiness zone you are planting in will do more good than harm.
More Posts about Winter and Colder Temperatures
Winter Gardening: Beauty in the After
Beauty in the After, the Series
Helleborus, Winter's Rose
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