Re: Rainfall Map

Rain map is an interesting idea. Do they really mean "rainfall [what is sleet, my sweet?]" or do they mean precipitation? I'm sure the amount of precipitation an area receives is an important factor in plant adaptability and/or hardiness. But I'm not sure what I know when I know it. Kitty's home away from home, Barrow, Alaska, probably gets as much precip as I get--I just get 90 percent of mine when the temps are in the 80s, below the high point on the heat zone and above the average [maybe, actually, median] point on USDA.

If you take the volume of precip out of the equation, and leave only the frequency and the temps, Theresa's environment would be nearly the opposite of mine. Yet we have more growing experiences in common than I have with most of you and, perhaps, than she has with many of you.

What makes the Sunset zones so accurate for the three Pacific coast states, Kitty, is that they are not based on gross data collected from weather stations [as are all the other "zone maps" I know of], but on Sunset Magazine's plea in the 1920s to its readers to keep track of their own weather and gardening experiences and share that data with the magazine.



On Friday, December 5, 2003, at 10:25 AM, kmrsy@comcast.net wrote:

We've discussed USDA hardiness zones and AHS heat zones. And then
there's the sunset system etc. We've talked about southeast heat is not
the same as southwest heat, especially the humidity.


I just received the new High Country Gardens catalogue. On pg 37 they
have a rainfall map. Perhaps you've seen one elsewhere, but I haven't
and I find it very interesting. They show 6 zones in which the rainfall
differs by 10 inch increments. In addition, they code all their plants
to indicate somewhat, how much rainfall they can handle. This is why I
don't do well with Penstemons and Salvias. I'm in the 30-40 inches per
year zone. Marge and Gene are in the 40-50 inches rainfall zone. Texas
and OK span 3 zones from west to east. Jim is, of course, in the 50-60+
zone.


I'm sure it is there, but I wasn't able to locate this map on the HCG
website. But you should watch for it when your catalogue comes. This is
valuable information for any part of the country.


Kitty

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
Zone 10

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