Zone Discrepancy
I just found a resource produced by the California Energy Commission
that "lists the climate zones associated with several thousand California cities." (http://www.energy.ca.gov/maps/climate_zone_map.html) It lists my zone as Zone 12, while the Western Garden Book lists my zone as Zone 9. Who am I to believe? -Fleemo (Zone 9, no, make that 12, no...) |
Zone Discrepancy
Xref: kermit rec.gardens:251199
You are to believe your plants (or look at what your neighbors are growing or what the local nursery sells). California has so many micro climates that there is no fast safe rule. If you are by the ocean your temperatures are going to vary far less than if you are inland. If you are going up into the mountains you have to consider latitude, what side of the hill you're on, wind patterns and all kinds of things. Are you in a protected valley or a valley where the cold settles is yet another varient in that area.... My Mother moved from San Bernardino which as a 9 zone rating and where we had a thriving bougainvilla to Escondido with zone 11 where for the life of her she could not get a bougainvilla to survive (but all of her hawaiian type plants do). If it were me I would assume a zone 11 and try plants with that zone range that are not expensive and then move in the appropriate direction of zone from how the plants do. DKat "Fleemo" wrote in message om... I just found a resource produced by the California Energy Commission that "lists the climate zones associated with several thousand California cities." (http://www.energy.ca.gov/maps/climate_zone_map.html) It lists my zone as Zone 12, while the Western Garden Book lists my zone as Zone 9. Who am I to believe? -Fleemo (Zone 9, no, make that 12, no...) |
Zone Discrepancy
BTW, the zone 9 chart was re-evaluated this year and its changed again.
I don't think it has been released yet. (like the flood plain re-eval we are supposed to get this year due to Tropical Storm Allison 2 years ago) Somewheres north of the tropic of cancer. Fleemo wrote: = I just found a resource produced by the California Energy Commission that "lists the climate zones associated with several thousand California cities." (http://www.energy.ca.gov/maps/climate_zone_map.html) = It lists my zone as Zone 12, while the Western Garden Book lists my zone as Zone 9. Who am I to believe? = -Fleemo (Zone 9, no, make that 12, no...) -- = J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP =F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business =F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal |
Zone Discrepancy
Fleemo wrote:
I just found a resource produced by the California Energy Commission that "lists the climate zones associated with several thousand California cities." (http://www.energy.ca.gov/maps/climate_zone_map.html) It lists my zone as Zone 12, while the Western Garden Book lists my zone as Zone 9. Who am I to believe? Do you mean the Sunset Western Garden Book? If so, they use their own proprietary zone system with 24 zones. The site in your url appears to use it's own proprietary zone system as well. In fact, it doesn't look like a "zone" map as much as it looks like a district map with no duplicate numbers (except for 14 and 15 being split in two each). Most of the time when people talk about zones without prefacing it with a proprietary name they're referring to USDA zones. That system uses nine zones numbered 2-10 Check your USDA zone he http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/index.html Or enter a zip code he http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatzone.html The USDA zones only represent average low temperature in winter. I believe that the Sunset system takes into account average summer highs and humidity. The zones in your map are apparently based on energy use, but do not represent any kind of range where 1 would be high or low, and 16 would be the other end. They appear to be numbered consecutively in a line on the coast, and then down and back up again inland. -- Warren H. ========== Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife. Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants to go outside now. Blatant Plug: Adobe Collections now at Holzemville http://www.holzemville.com/mall/adobestore.html |
Zone Discrepancy
"Warren" wrote in message
. net... Fleemo wrote: I just found a resource produced by the California Energy Commission that "lists the climate zones associated with several thousand California cities." (http://www.energy.ca.gov/maps/climate_zone_map.html) It lists my zone as Zone 12, while the Western Garden Book lists my zone as Zone 9. Who am I to believe? Do you mean the Sunset Western Garden Book? If so, they use their own proprietary zone system with 24 zones. The site in your url appears to use it's own proprietary zone system as well. In fact, it doesn't look like a "zone" map as much as it looks like a district map with no duplicate numbers (except for 14 and 15 being split in two each). Most of the time when people talk about zones without prefacing it with a proprietary name they're referring to USDA zones. That system uses nine zones numbered 2-10 Check your USDA zone he http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/index.html Or enter a zip code he http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatzone.html The USDA zones only represent average low temperature in winter. I believe that the Sunset system takes into account average summer highs and humidity. The zones in your map are apparently based on energy use, but do not represent any kind of range where 1 would be high or low, and 16 would be the other end. They appear to be numbered consecutively in a line on the coast, and then down and back up again inland. -- Warren H. ========== Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife. Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants to go outside now. Blatant Plug: Adobe Collections now at Holzemville http://www.holzemville.com/mall/adobestore.html Maybe Fleemo was referring to the California Energy Commission's 16 climate zones which, like Sunset's zones, are based on "temperature, weather and other factors", but have no numerical coorelation to Sunset's zones. Used primarily to predict and track electrical power consumption for specific geographical areas. -Olin |
Zone Discrepancy
Maybe Fleemo was referring to the California Energy Commission's 16
climate zones which, like Sunset's zones, are based on "temperature, weather and other factors", but have no numerical coorelation to Sunset's zones. Used primarily to predict and track electrical power consumption for specific geographical areas. -Olin Indeed, I was. So this has little connection to gardening? When folks discuss zones in this newsgroup, are they referring to the Sunset Western Garden book's definition of zones? Or are there other zone definitions to take into consideration? |
Zone Discrepancy
"Fleemo" wrote in message
om... Maybe Fleemo was referring to the California Energy Commission's 16 climate zones which, like Sunset's zones, are based on "temperature, weather and other factors", but have no numerical correlation to Sunset's zones. Used primarily to predict and track electrical power consumption for specific geographical areas. -Olin Indeed, I was. So this has little connection to gardening? When folks discuss zones in this newsgroup, are they referring to the Sunset Western Garden book's definition of zones? Or are there other zone definitions to take into consideration? You make a good point in that if a zone is referred to, the zone type should be specified. The USDA Cold Hardiness zones are used to indicate plant sensitivity to cold temperatures. The AHS Heat-Zones indicate sensitivity to heat. The Sunset zones are true climatic zones and include other relevant factors such as humidity, pH, temperature, exposure, wind, elevation, coastal influences, etc. The Monrovia Nursery has a brief comparison of the USDA, AHS, and Sunset zones with links to the zone maps at http://www.monrovia.com/MonroviaWeb....8?OpenDocument (The url may wrap) The zone references are usually to the USDA zones. West of the continental divide, the Sunset zones seem to be more useful. Olin |
Zone Discrepancy
"Fleemo" wrote in message
om... Maybe Fleemo was referring to the California Energy Commission's 16 climate zones which, like Sunset's zones, are based on "temperature, weather and other factors", but have no numerical correlation to Sunset's zones. Used primarily to predict and track electrical power consumption for specific geographical areas. -Olin Indeed, I was. So this has little connection to gardening? When folks discuss zones in this newsgroup, are they referring to the Sunset Western Garden book's definition of zones? Or are there other zone definitions to take into consideration? You make a good point in that if a zone is referred to, the zone type should be specified. The USDA Cold Hardiness zones are used to indicate plant sensitivity to cold temperatures. The AHS Heat-Zones indicate sensitivity to heat. The Sunset zones are true climatic zones and include other relevant factors such as humidity, pH, temperature, exposure, wind, elevation, coastal influences, etc. The Monrovia Nursery has a brief comparison of the USDA, AHS, and Sunset zones with links to the zone maps at http://www.monrovia.com/MonroviaWeb....8?OpenDocument (The url may wrap) The zone references are usually to the USDA zones. West of the continental divide, the Sunset zones seem to be more useful. Olin |
Zone Discrepancy
When
folks discuss zones in this newsgroup, are they referring to the Sunset Western Garden book's definition of zones? Or are there other zone definitions to take into consideration? USDA Plant Hardiness zones (new for 2003): http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...den/zones2.htm sed5555 |
Zone Discrepancy
"Sed5555" wrote in message ... When folks discuss zones in this newsgroup, are they referring to the Sunset Western Garden book's definition of zones? Or are there other zone definitions to take into consideration? USDA Plant Hardiness zones (new for 2003): http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...den/zones2.htm sed5555 Official Site for all of the US: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html |
Zone Discrepancy
USDA Plant Hardiness zones (new for 2003):
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...den/zones2.htm sed5555 Official Site for all of the US: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html Unfortunately, this last site still has the outdated zones. The USDA plant hardiness zones, last updated in 1990, are about to be revised. Gone will be the "a and b" zones. Four more numbered zones will be added for the semitropical portion of the country for a total of 15 zones. The American Horticultural Society has designed the new map. You can see it on a very slow-loading PDF file on their site or in a smaller html version at the first site mentioned. There are no longer a's or b's within zones, and the color coding has been named for plants that are hardy in each zone. For an explanation, see: http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...rden/zones.htm sed5555 |
Zone Discrepancy
"Sed5555" wrote in message
... Unfortunately, this last site still has the outdated zones. The USDA plant hardiness zones, last updated in 1990, are about to be revised. Gone will be the "a and b" zones. Four more numbered zones will be added for the semitropical portion of the country for a total of 15 zones. The American Horticultural Society has designed the new map. You can see it on a very slow-loading PDF file on their site or in a smaller html version at the first site mentioned. There are no longer a's or b's within zones, and the color coding has been named for plants that are hardy in each zone. For an explanation, see: http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...rden/zones.htm sed5555 Thanks for the info. It's a 5.7 MB File. Took just over 18 minutes to download (48 KB/sec Modem). From the description at http://www.ahs.org/publications/usda...s_zone_map.htm it looks like it will be too complex to use. I doubt that the current zone designation will disappear soon. The AHS Heat-Zone ratings have been out over five years and I have yet to see them used in catalogs or on plants in a nursery. Plus there are several dozen plants in Dr. Cathey's "Heat_Zone Gardening" book that are not rated for our Heat-Zone (HZ 11 or 12 - kinda hard to tell from the maps) that grow very well here (Phoenix AZ). Sunset's zones still seem to work best for us but there are lots of new xeriscape plant introductions every year and it seems to be difficult for Sunset to keep their Plant Encyclopedia up to date. Olin |
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