USDA Plant Hardiness Map - INTERACTIVE!

I just found this. It's AWESOME! You can almost go as far down as street level to get your USDA Zone! For example I was able to find out that I'm on the edge of Zones 9b and 10a. Since I have gotten into the 20s on occasion I kept myself in Zone 9b.

http://www.plantmaps.com/

I've asked Admin if they could find a place for it on the DG site.

Thanks faeden. That is better than most. I am a solid 10A, but the average temps are waay off this year. 35 this morning!

I love it not only because it's interactive but because I can SEE the zones. Most of the zone maps I've seen online are way too small for me to see details.

Excellent find, faeden. I agree with Carol...the temps are off a bit, but nothing has been consistent lately ! We got down to 37 this morning.
This morning I was up on the roof of a 3 story bldg. we manage which is right across the street from the beach and there was ice on the roof from last nights rain...but then again, that was 3 stories up.

I'm sticking to the Sunset Western Garden zones!

I just checked out the mileage. Right now, we are borderline 9b also, but that 380 miles north makes a big difference. Humidity, rainfall, Etc. I'm 10 miles from the coast, at the mouth of the Santa Ana canyon...not even clost to living on the bay.

Very neat map. I see 'normal' would be 9b for us, etting down to 25-30 degrees, but this year and a few others, more like 9a 20-25 degrees. Too bad the Heat Zone indexes are not used more.

I agree - I think they should be put together so we could see them on the same website. Here's the AHS Plant Heat Zone Map for those of you who haven't used it.

http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htm

This message was edited Mar 16, 2011 1:08 PM

Great link! This is particularly handy for me right now because we're moving and I've been trying to figure out what I'll be able to grow. Most other maps like this don't let you get close enough and don't have landmarks. It's definately a step in the right direction. Thanks Faeden!!

Y'all are very welcome. I love them too!

TLeaves - we used to live in Bonita and then Jamul, what part of SD are you living in?

Moving to Ramona if all goes well.

More like Jamul out in Ramona. We thought it was so hot in Jamul, till we moved up here to Wildomar, that is. Funny, when they used to talk about SD having the best weather in the country, DH would complain and I would remind him we DO NOT live in San Diego.

Yes, according to the heat zone map, you moved up a few knotches when you moved to Wildomar. I'll be doing the same. I was particularly happy to learn with these maps that I'll still be able to grow succulents, which I've become particularly fond of. It'll probably be a bit more challanging, but doable. Yep the 'San Diego' weather is very temperate near the ocean but you don't have to go far to find a 20-30 degree temperature change in one day. The great thing about this area is that if we don't like the weather on a particular day, we can always drive to an area not so far away or wait awhile --- and it'll be different. :)

It's exactly the same here, and I love it that way. If I'm too cold I go east. If I'm too hot, I go west. Works for me!

faeden - what's that old adage? The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.

Used to live in San Pedro a block from the water and a cliff overlooking Catalina (heavenly). I would come home from downtown LA each day in summer to put my sweats and scarf on to sit on my deck. Sisters in TX thought I was nuts talking about my 4th of July sweater.

So many people think, "California - ocean - sun - warm." WRONG! A lot of the coast is like San Pedro - quite cool most of the year. Those in the know always carry a sweater or jacket as well as a hat in the car. But I do live for those few days a year when it's actually WARM at the beach! In the meantime I live close to the Bay, so the temps at my house are usually wonderful - 60s-80s most of the year. I've already had lots of days when I didn't even bother to turn on the heat, and if I had it I'd only use air conditioning about 3 days a year. Perfect for me!

Yes, when we had a class reunion, for my high school, in Santa Barbara there was an unusual heat wave and my dh, native on NM, couldn't understand that so many hotels and restaurants did not have AC. Ditto for Monterey and SF. An organization I belong to has their annual CA convention the beginning of May at various places in the state. Seems fate wants it to be hot when we gather, as we regretted NOT having AC in our hotels in Monterey and SF 2 different years. Then, travelling for our group to a monthly brunch in San Jose July 1993, there was a huge heat wave and the Sat we went into SF to see DH's daughter it got to 103 as shown on the big digital thermometer near the Bay Bridge and 100 the day before in Santa Cruz. So now DH says it is too hot to live in those places, lol. When we first moved to CA and lived in Sunnyvale, we learned the taking a sweater thing when we went to SF. When Grandma came to visit a year later, she thought we were nuts at the suggestion when we took her to tour the City. Not so much after we got there...

Your timing has been great, hasn't it? LOL!! Can't believe you hit the 3 days a year we had hot weather in SF! HEHEHEHE

Shoot me a dmail if you get up this way.

my son is in sacramento for the month and he is amazed at how much it has rained there.

We had a fairly dry January, but even at that we've had as much rain this year so far as we usually have all year, and we still have over a month before the rain mostly stops. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!! If I wanted this kind of weather I would have stayed in Oregon!

Thanks for these great links! I have been having a hard time figuring out what my zone really is! Every map i've seen says different...pretty positive now that im in zone 8 :)