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What's Your Planting Zone? | USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
Know your zone! This is the first step to gardening. By understanding your USDA Hardiness Zone or Canadian Planting Zone, you can choose plants that can survive and grow year after year in your area. We’ll explain what planting zones are all about, how to use this information, and links to the latest maps.
What Are Planting Zones?
Obviously, not every perennial, shrub, or tree grows and thrives in every climate. When choosing plants for your garden, it’s important to select varieties that can survive and thrive year-round in your area, especially in regions where extreme winter temperatures are normal. The plant must tolerate year-round conditions, such as the lowest and highest temperatures and the amount of rainfall.
The two most commonly referenced hardiness zone maps are those produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Natural Resources Canada (NRC). Different measures are used to create each country’s map, as explained below.
Note that planting zones are a guide, not absolute, especially if you live in a microclimate. These are tiny “pockets” which most commonly occur in areas with steep elevation changes, a body of water, or urbanization. They may be warmer or cooler than the surrounding zone. Learn more about microclimates.
Find Your USDA Planting Zone
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on average annual minimum winter temperatures of each region and divided into thirteen distinct 10ºF zones, which are further divided into sub-zones of 5°F.
Most plants that you buy are marked with a hardiness zone number. The label will identify the zones in the U.S. where the plant can thrive.
The USDA map is color coded to make it even easier to see where your area falls. A sample map of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones is below. Click here to go directly to the USDA website and see a map of your state’s zones.
How to Use Your Planting Zone
Planting zones are most useful to gardeners growing perennial plants, since perennials are meant to live beyond just one growing season. Perennials need to be able to survive winter in your area, so it’s important to know how cold it typically gets in your area and whether a particular plant is hardy enough to survive those temperatures.
Perennial flowers, shrubs, and trees grow best when planted in the appropriate zone. You’ll find that winter damage occurs most often when plants are out of their range or “comfort zone.” When you choose plants for a garden or landscape, avoid selecting plants that are only marginally hardy for your region; that’s when you’ll see winter damage, poor growth, and a reduction in flowering.
Planting native species is a surefire way to achieve a stable garden. Native plants are which occur naturally where you live! So, naturally, they will thrive in their habitat.
See our article on natural landscaping.
For annual plants, like most vegetables and some flowers, it’s far more important to pay attention to things like the length of your growing season and the typical dates of your first and last frosts. (See local frost dates here.) Because annuals are only meant to last the length of one growing season, planting zones don’t necessarily factor into the equation.
NRC Canadian Planting Zones Map
Unlike the USDA map, which is based only on minimum winter temperatures, the planting zones map produced by Natural Resources Canada (NRC) considers a wider range of climatic variables, including maximum temperatures and the length of the frost-free period. Because of this, the zones listed in the Canadian and US maps are not on the same scale, so keep that in mind before following one or the other!
NRC also produces a map that shows plant hardiness zones for Canada based on the USDA extreme minimum temperature approach.
Click here to see Canadian planting zone maps.
Since some Canadians will buy plants from the U.S., it may also be helpful to understand how to use USDA zones in Canada. As rule of thumb, add one zone to the designated USDA zone. For example, USDA zone 4 is roughly comparable to zone 5 in Canada. If you’re on the fence about a plant, always go one zone higher to be on the safe side and avoid disappointment!
Learn More
Another key part of successful gardening is knowing when your frost dates are. Find your local frost dates here.
What are your thoughts on planting zones? Are they accurate? Let us know in the comments below!
United States Plant Zone Map
The USDA created a standard to which gardeners can use to determine which plants can survive in which locations. This data is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature divided into 10 degree Fahrenheit zones. This map was created in 2012 and is a great guide for gardeners to use to decide what plants they can grow and survive through the winter.
The plant hardiness zones also determine whether a plant will be an annual or perennial in your area. Learn more about the difference between annuals vs perennials.
At Plant Addicts we do our best to list the most accurate data on each plant page. So make sure you look to see which zones a plant can grow in before ordering. You can bend the guidelines somewhat by planting in more sheltered areas, or if you live in a micro-climate. But we recommend using the plant growing zones as your guide to decide what to plant outside.
If you are unsure what growing zone you are in, you can enter in your zip code in the tool at the top right of the website and it will tell you. Or you can tell from the map below too.
First & Last Frost Date By Growing Zone
| Zone | Last Frost Date | First Frost Date |
| 1 | May 22 – June 4 | August 25-31 |
| 2 | May 15-22 | September 1-8 |
| 3 | May 1-16 | September 8-15 |
| 4 | April 24 – May 12 | September 21 – October 7 |
| 5 | April 7-30 | October 13 – October 21 |
| 6 | April 1-21 | October 17-31 |
| 7 | March 22 – April 3 | October 29 – November 15 |
| 8 | March 13-28 | November 7-28 |
| 9 | February 6-28 | November 25 – December 13 |
| 10-13 | No freeze | No freeze |
States in Growing Zone 1
Alaska
States in Growing Zone 2
Alaska
States in Growing Zone 3
Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming
States in Growing Zone 4
Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine,Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming
States in Growing Zone 5
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
States in Growing Zone 6
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming
States in Growing Zone 7
Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia
States in Growing Zone 8
Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington
States in Growing Zone 9
Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, TexasUtah, Washington
States in Growing Zone 10
Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, Texas
States in Growing Zone 11
California, Florida, Hawaii
States in Growing Zone 12
Hawaii
States in Growing Zone 13
Hawaii
Annuals vs Perennials
Harvests in the risk zone - Regional newspaper OGIRK.
RU The Irkutsk region is a zone of risky farming. The regions differ significantly in climatic conditions: from the western, generous by agricultural standards, Tulunsky, to Bayandaevsky, located on the lands of permafrost. And the specialization of all is different - from dairy and meat animal husbandry to the production of grain and fodder crops.
The basis of successful agricultural production is good seeds, fertilizers, thoroughbred cattle. The Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture (NIISH) has been conducting practical developments in these areas for many years.
To help the village
Anatoly Viktorovich Polnomochnov, head of the Rosselkhozcenter branch in the Irkutsk region , Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, notes:
- someone else's. These words I would fully refer to agriculture. Without science, without selection, the development of our agrarian complex is impossible.
Technology changes, climate changes.
There are eight agricultural zones on the territory of the Irkutsk region. Each of them requires its own cultures. A manager's mistake in agriculture can be costly - from loss of crops, money, and, accordingly, to the worst - the ruin of an enterprise.
Irkutsk science provides invaluable assistance in ensuring that our agricultural producers receive stable profits while reducing costs. It is the Research Institute of Agriculture that has a long-term breeding experience, practical data on crop rotation, and the use of fertilizers. And all this is adapted to the regions of the Irkutsk region.
My firm conviction is that funding for agricultural science needs to be reconsidered. It is important to raise its prestige, create conditions for development, including through social guarantees for employees - housing, decent wages. Scientists should be able to go on business trips, share experiences, because it is science that is the impetus that will give rise to new agricultural technologies and large harvests.
Work for the result
– Our institute is an example of close connection between science and production. The developments of scientists are actively used in agriculture in the Irkutsk region, - says director of the FGBNU "Irkutsk Research Institute of Agriculture" Anatoly Ivanovich Kuznetsov .
The Institute conducts research on agriculture, agrochemistry, fodder production, plant protection, animal husbandry; creates new high-yielding varieties of grain and leguminous crops, potatoes, perennial grasses, adaptive to the conditions of Eastern Siberia; engaged in primary seed production and production of elite seeds of grain and leguminous crops, perennial grasses, potatoes; leads in other directions.
The institute includes a selection department (former Tulun GSS) and six laboratories (seed production, agriculture, agrochemistry and plant protection, fodder production, animal husbandry, horticulture).
The research institute employs 29 researchers, including six doctors and nine candidates of sciences.
The institute's pilot farms (FSUE "Elita" and FSUE "Buretskoye") are mainly engaged in growing seeds of higher reproductions of grain crops, potatoes; perennial herbs; breeding young cattle. In addition, OPH produce marketable products: milk, meat, potatoes.
– To a large extent, our institute operates on a self-financing basis, – says Anatoly Kuznetsov. – Agriculture has always been in a difficult situation. For us, the issue of production is important not only from a scientific point of view, but also from a purely practical point of view. We ourselves earn most of the funds for the maintenance of the institute. Of course, we dream of updating equipment, scientific base, and attracting young promising personnel.
Reading from science
Deputy director for scientific work of the Research Institute of Agriculture Fanil Sultanovich Sultanov is convinced that the agricultural sector should begin with science.
This allows you to significantly improve the quality and volume of products while reducing costs.
- So, the Tulun breeding department is well known to all grain producers from the Urals to the Far East, - says Fanil Sultanov. - Zoned varieties have no equal in terms of productivity, adaptability to growing conditions. These cereals have a relatively short growing season, a fairly high yield, resistance to pests and lodging. In addition, varieties bred by Tulun breeders have good baking qualities.
Experiments of the laboratory of fodder production
, but also other regions of Siberia and even the European part of the country, as well as neighboring states (Mongolia, Kazakhstan) are actively sown with varieties of field crops bred in Tulun.
Among the Tulun crops, the most famous are: wheat - Skala, Irkutskaya 49, Tulunskaya 12, Daganskaya, Yunata, Tulunskaya 11, Martianka; oats - Baikal, Tulunsky 22, Egorych, Grach, Anchar; barley - Zalarinets, Non-lodging, Nevan; potatoes - Flight, Tulunsky early; peas - Success, Marat, Buslay and Tulunsky 22; sowing wiki - Lyuba and Tulunsky coal; perennial herbs - Meadow fescue, Angara and Pearl; awnless rump - Tulunsky and Vulcan.
The laboratories of the Research Institute of Agriculture, located on the basis of the institute in Pivovarikha, are actively involved in scientific activities. So, under the leadership of Doctor of Sciences Vladimir Ivanovich Solodun, the development of a deficit-free balance of humus, as well as a soil cultivation system, is being completed. The study of sowing complexes continues. The works are carried out not only on the experimental fields of the institute, but also in the farms of the region, ensuring fuel savings and increasing productivity.
Laboratory of Agrochemistry and Plant Protection develops complex application of mineral fertilizers. In the post-Soviet period, the villagers faced the problem of the high cost of mineral fertilizers, so the issue of maintaining the soil in good condition in other ways is one of the most important for farmers.
Scientists of the Institute took an active part in the creation of the black-motley breed of cattle - "Sibiryachka".
Employees of the horticulture laboratory study the range of varieties of fruit and berry crops, produce seedlings and berries for the population.
A separate area is the study of chemical plant protection products, taking into account the preservation and protection of the environment. Another important issue in the work of the Irkutsk Research Institute of Agriculture is fodder crop rotation.
- The achievements of our institute employees are highly valued in agriculture, - says Fanil Sultanov. - In difficult climatic conditions, science is a real helper to farmers.
Experience in practice
Research Institute of Agriculture cooperates with the Irkutsk State Agrarian University named after I. Yezhevsky, Ministry of Agriculture of the Irkutsk region. Researchers communicate with colleagues from other regions and countries, such as Mongolia and China. In fact, the Research Institute coordinates the scientific support of the agro-industrial complex of the region: it conducts scientific and practical conferences, seminars, courses for managers and specialists of agricultural enterprises.
- We cooperate not only with large enterprises, but also with small farms. If a person is a real master on earth, he will think about how to take more from it without causing harm, - notes Anatoly Kuznetsov. - We have a common goal - to actively and fruitfully develop the agricultural sector of the Irkutsk region as one of the most important. All resources for this are available in the region.
Reference:
The first experimental agricultural institution in the Angara region was an experimental farm established at the end of the 19th century near Irkutsk. True, it lasted only a few years. System research began with the creation in 1907 in Tulun an experimental farm, which in 1937 was transformed into the Tulun State Breeding Station.
In 1956 in the village of Pivovarikha, on the basis of the state farm. F.E. Dzerzhinsky, the Irkutsk State Agricultural Experimental Station was created, to which three OPHs were assigned: “Buretskoye” in the village.
Buret Usolsky district, "Irkutsk" in the village. Brewery of the Irkutsk region, "Elite" in the village. Sverdlov, Ekhirit-Bulagatsky district.
In January 1979, the Irkutsk Experimental Station was transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture of the RSFSR to the Siberian branch of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (now the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences). February 19In 1986, the Irkutsk Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture was created on the basis of the Irkutsk Experimental Station and the East Siberian Department of the SibNIIESKh. The institute is located in the village of Pivovarikha.
In November 2004, OPH "Irkutsk" was reorganized into the production department of the institute. In 2005, the Tulunskaya GSS became a structural subdivision of the Irkutsk Research Institute of Agriculture - the selection department.
The material was prepared with the assistance of the press service of the Scientific Research Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, photo provided by the Irkutsk Research Institute of Agriculture
Ukrainian farmers face the worst crisis in the agricultural industry
The armed conflict has led to a significant loss of livelihoods for millions of Ukrainians working in agriculture, as well as a drop in food production in a country often called the “breadbasket of Europe”.
Industry crisis
“As a result of the war in Ukraine, about 40 percent of agricultural land was damaged: some of it is in the war zone, others are mined or littered with unexploded ordnance, and others are simply inaccessible to the farmers themselves,” says Pierre Vautier, head of the representative office FAO in Ukraine.
Many Ukrainian farm workers were forced to flee to safer areas of the country or went to the front. Those who continue to work face numerous challenges, including declining sales revenues and lack of access to virtually everything needed for farming: fertilizers, fuels, pesticides and, increasingly more recently, electricity.
Raw materials are getting more expensive, grain is getting cheaper
24-year-old farmer Evgeny Nagirny lives in the village of Zagirya in western Ukraine, not far from Lvov.
He grows wheat, corn, potatoes and tomatoes on a 200-hectare farm. After the outbreak of the war, he manages to cultivate no more than half of his land. Fuel prices have doubled, he complains, fertilizers have nearly tripled in price and are hard to come by. Meanwhile, the grain that Eugene grows is sold much cheaper than before the war.
“Earlier, grain cost eight to nine thousand hryvnias per ton ($216). Now I can sell it for no more than five or six thousand dollars ($135), which means at a loss,” the farmer says. “So we have to keep the grain in warehouses in the hope that sooner or later something will change.”
It will get worse in winter
As winter approaches, the situation for many Ukrainian farmers is expected to get even worse. Millions of tons of grain destined for export are stuck in the country, and many farm workers have not been paid for months.
“Not all livestock owners have been able to stock up on animal feed,” says Pierre Vautier, FAO Country Manager for Ukraine.
