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new usda hardiness map

PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:24 pm
by eeldip
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZM ... veMap.aspx

pretty fun. downtown portland got the upgrade to 9a. makes sense to me, its a "phormium OK" zone. whereas my house, 3 miles away, is a "phormium on the edge" area, good old 8b.

Re: new usda hardiness map

PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:48 pm
by matt walker
Do you really find it useful? According to the zone chart, I'm 8b, and should be able to grow the same stuff here as would grow in Tallahassee. Uhm, no.

*shrugs*

Re: new usda hardiness map

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:52 am
by Lollykoko
I guess I'm 5b. Not that I know what that means yet, but I'm sure I'll find out.

Re: new usda hardiness map

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:59 am
by eeldip
well, you know, classic story. usda map is basically useless for the west coast. but it is fun to find all the microclimates.

Re: new usda hardiness map

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:04 am
by George Collins
If we were basing that map on this years temperatures, my portion of zone 8a would be upgraded to zone 9b (low of 25 degrees).

We got down to 25 a couple times back in early December. Just cold enough to ruin a fall crop of English peas. Now it's so warm pear trees are in bloom. What's more, there is no realistic possibility that we've seen our last frost which means that for a whole bunch of folks, this year's fruit crop can already be chalked up to a failure.

This is certainly the warmest winter I've experienced since starting to pay attention to such things. My 74 yo father says that he remembers winters like this so I'm not quite ready to throw my weight behind the the whole global warming thing. For us, seems to be that rainy/cloudy weather means warm temps; clear sunny weather means cold temps. And this January has been VERY wet.

My biggest concern is that the weather will be insufficiently cold to successfully stratify black walnut seeds which I have a few thousand of in pots. Fortunately we have two refrigerators so there are a few hundred stored there in buckets. Hopefully, if the ones in the pots outside fail, the ones in the fridge will provide enough raw materials to plant an acre or two.

Re: new usda hardiness map

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:10 am
by eeldip
low lows of only 25 are pretty normal here in the pacNW and i can't remember a year that walnut trees didn't make 10000000 babies.