A new USDA zone map was released today that reflects generally warmer temperatures for the last few years.
For instance I was in zone 7a previously, but now am officially in zone 7b.
There is a better detailed state map you can select once you go to the big US map.
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
new USDA zone map Jan 25, 2012
Thanks, a friend had just e-mailed this. I changed mine on the preferences. And I think my daffodils had already this.. they are blooming away.
I'm floating around in the 7b/8a area ... literally. Part of Coweta is 7b and part is 8a. I am in the north part of the county east of I-85, about 5 miles from Fayette. As you can see ... I'm light green AND yellow. Somebody said it would be interesting to start experimenting. LOL
In Atlanta everything is blooming out of their "normal" time frame. I use a lot of leaf mulch which has kept the Daffodils under wraps. But where there is clear ground they came up and bloomed nearly a month ago. There were even sporadic blooms on some Azaleas. I'm wondering what to start in the greenhouse as the weather is so unpredictable. The Japanese magnolia was beautiful for two days before the blooms got frozen. But that plant always plays the " it may freeze" game.
I agree, many plants are blooming earlier than usual
Hmm - the past 2 winters here in South GA have been colder than 'normal' - we had a brief snow 2 years ago, & several spells in the 20s, & it got down to 8 degrees last year twice. (The peach crops were outstanding, too!!) This year, however, has been ridiculously warm - we have only had about 3 decent cold spells - not enough cold hours for decent peaches, but last week's low 20s may have ruined our local crop - all the trees were fully blossoming; I haven't been by to look, but fear the worst.
Astilbe and Trillium are coming up here.