Re: Zones
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Zones
- From: "* b* c* <b*@atlantic.net>
- Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 17:27:50 -0700 (MST)
----------
> From: Nicki Shay <nickishay@juno.com>
>
> Organic Gardening has a Zone map - but the colors used are so vague, as
> not to be discernable, and the Zone they give if you could see the
> colors, is the same as the southern portion of the U.S. - so something is
> scewed!
>
Nicki,
This is because the USDA Zones are based entirely on the normally
expected coldest temperature (extreme) in winter. Because of the marine
influence in the Pacific Northwest, the winter extreme lows in western
Washington and Oregon are no colder than the extreme lows in Atlanta,
Macon, or some other southern city.
But, of course we are much hotter in summer. This is why I have come
to prefer the Sunset National Garden Book's 45 climate zones. Their system
is not perfect, but it is far more usable than the USDA Zones for
determining what will or what will not grow in a given area.
Tonight, the temperature will drop to near freezing. This is the
result of a cold air mass plunging southward, something the southeastern
states are sometimes prone to.
Mark A. Cook
billc@atlantic.net
Dunnellon, FL. USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 28
