Re: What are the criteria for "Zones"?
- Subject: Re: What are the criteria for "Zones"?
- From: M* T*
- Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 23:55:50 -0500 (CDT)
Ron,
The US is so vast with so many different climates that the zone
system was developed using the average low temperature - not exactly
pertinent because our zone 8 covers climates that are extremely
dissimilar...but, it's a start. The American Horticultural Society
has recently developed a heat zone chart along similar lines but for
heat tolerance. It is marginally useful since most plants have not
been rated for it and it does not take into consideration many
climate factors.
UK, including Ireland, is generally similar to our zones 7, 8 and 9 -
but more those zones on the west coast, not our east coast, where we
have very high summer temperatures and humidity - and hot, humid
nights, which many plants do not like at all.
Here's a map showing USDA zones for Europe:
http://www.marblenet.es/pjse/mapuse.htm
and, here's another:
http://www2.dicom.se/fuchsias/eurozoner.html
This site has information about US hardiness zones and the
temperatures for each in F and C.
http://markw.com/hzones.htm
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
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From: Ron Iles <roniles@eircom.net>
Please can someone explain what criteria are used for "Zones"? With
a range of rarely freezing to rarely touching 80F, what "Zone" is
West Cork Ireland? This is 20F too low in summer & 30-40F too low
in winter for growing Spaths outside, especially with sea winds etc.
Ron
