{"id":17439,"date":"2021-07-27T11:29:48","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T15:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?p=17439"},"modified":"2021-07-27T11:29:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T15:29:48","slug":"zone-hardiness-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2021\/07\/27\/zone-hardiness-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"Are there plans to update the current USDA plant hardiness zone map?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Question:<\/h3>\n<p><strong>The new &#8220;normal&#8221; 1990-2020 temperatures were recently released. Do you have any idea if plans are being made to update the current plant hardiness zone?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I live in Portland near the Fore River Estuary. It is definitely a warmer &#8220;microclime&#8221; even though I can see the runway of the Jetport (5b) from the house. The National Arbor Society has Portland at zone 5-6. As you know, zone 6 in Maine is currently midcoast, south York county and a narrow strip in Saco, OOB, and Scarborough (seacoast\/marsh area). I did a quick research of lows in Portland from 1990 on up (ignoring the few +1\/+2 degree days (coldest was -17). The Portland average low was -8 which would put us in the Zone 6a spot. I realize it is all relative and not etched in stone but was wondering if anyone else has &#8220;played: with the numbers. I&#8217;m under no illusion my southern magnolia (which lives inside Nov-April) will be planted outside but I do enjoy &#8220;pushing the envelope&#8221; with experiments.<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong><br \/>\nPics are the southern magnolia about to bloom and the frost proof gardenia which is heavenly right now. I&#8217;ve kept it in the garage (about 40\/5c) and also the past few years in a cool room. Worth the work!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-17439 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-225x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Southern Magnolia\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-17441\" srcset=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-105x140.jpg 105w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-317x423.jpg 317w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-423x564.jpg 423w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-634x845.jpg 634w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-846x1128.jpg 846w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia-951x1268.jpg 951w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Southern-Magnolia.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 85vw, (max-width: 768px) 67vw, (max-width: 1024px) 62vw,225px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-17441'>\n\t\t\t\tSouthern Magnolia\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-300x225.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Frost proof gardenia\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-17440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-105x79.jpg 105w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-317x238.jpg 317w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-423x317.jpg 423w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-634x476.jpg 634w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-846x635.jpg 846w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-951x713.jpg 951w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Frost-proof-gardenia.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 85vw, (max-width: 768px) 67vw, (max-width: 1024px) 62vw,300px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-17440'>\n\t\t\t\tFrost proof gardenia\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<h3>Answer:<\/h3>\n<p><em>Liz Stanley, Horticulture Community Education Assistant<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your question about the <a href=\"https:\/\/planthardiness.ars.usda.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The interactive map was last published in 2012. We hope to inquire about updates so that home gardeners and commercial growers will have access to more accurate information.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, overwintering your beautiful southern magnolia in the garage is a good idea!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: The new &#8220;normal&#8221; 1990-2020 temperatures were recently released. Do you have any idea if plans are being made to update the current plant hardiness zone? I live in Portland near the Fore River Estuary. It is definitely a warmer &#8220;microclime&#8221; even though I can see the runway of the Jetport (5b) from the house. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are there plans to update the current USDA plant hardiness zone map? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2021\/07\/27\/zone-hardiness-zone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are there plans to update the current USDA plant hardiness zone map? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: The new &#8220;normal&#8221; 1990-2020 temperatures were recently released. 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