What Hardiness Zone Do I Live In?

If you are an avid landscaper or gardener, then one of the most important things that you should know is which hardiness zone you live in.

Hardiness zones are an important aspect of home gardening. Many gardeners research the topic every few months in order to better understand what to plant, and how to properly care for trees, plants, and shrubs in their area.

What Hardiness Zone Do I Live In?

Here’s a short guide to standard USDA plant hardiness zones, what they mean, and why they matter to anyone who wants to see their plants and seedlings flourish.

The History of the USDA Hardiness Zone Map

The standard plant hardiness zone map in the United States is released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The planting zones map was first introduced in 1960 as a means of identifying which temperature zone gardeners and farmers were in.

The first revision of the USDA Hardiness Zone Map happened in 1965. The USDA map showing hardiness zones is re-assessed once every couple of decades so that the information in it can remain accurate even when climates and temperatures change.

If you live in the United States and want to plant flowers, shrubs and trees, refer to a planting guide together with a map of hardiness zones.

The map tells you where you are, and what type of plants can be expected to flourish in this particular growing zone/climate.

What is a Hardiness Zone?

Hardiness zones are a way to indicate temperature zones on a map and can tell you which plants are expected to flourish in these climates.

The use of hardiness zones combined with planting guides makes choosing plants, trees, and shrubs much easier than before.

Almost anyone can create an effective garden with the use of hardiness zone maps. In fact, hardiness zone maps cut out months (sometimes years) of trying to figure out what grows where.

While hardiness zones are not a foolproof method of figuring out whether plants will grow in a certain climate, they make it more likely.

How Many Hardiness Zones Are There?

According to the USDA Hardiness Map, there are a total of thirteen hardiness zones across the United States.

Colder, more relaxed climates are located at the top of the map (1). Warmer climates in the US are located in the Southern and Southwestern parts of the map (13).

Do Other Countries Use Different Zones?

Yes, other hardiness zone maps exist for gardeners and landscapers who live outside of the United States.

Different hardiness maps that indicate unique climates are used in Australia, Canada, and Europe. In fact, the maps are read and applied the same way as the standard USDA Hardiness Map. The only thing different about hardiness maps elsewhere is the climate.

View an Interactive Hardiness Zone Map

Time to plant?

View an interactive Hardiness Map of the United States here.

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