Heat zones!

I've been doing my homework and found a useful tool called the Heat Zone map, which shows the average number of days per year above 86°F (30°C). This is different from the USDA Hardiness Zone map that gives you the average minimum temperature. I’m basically in the same zone, 7 for heat and 7a for hardiness. Both maps are fairly detailed and you can find ones that will indicate your county, if you know the shape of your county, which I’m sure we all do... ahem, yes. I like the color of the heat zone map better, 7 is a refreshing green, which I’ll call lymon after the popular soft drink flavor. 7a is a pale salmon, mmm, pale.

Now I must warn you, zones are known to shift a bit from year to year, so don’t get fond of your color. Of course, if you have read or heard about the recent climate reports you’ll know that you can soon look forward to growing plants from zones far south of your current region in the not too distant future. Woohoo! Time to order some new catalogs. You may also want to pick up some salt tolerant species if you live in low-lying areas (20-30 ft above sea-level), those of you near the coast may want to inspect your PFDs.

Alright enough talking about climate change unless I’m going to do something about it, which at 22:27, I can only accomplish by reducing consumption through powering down the computer.

cheers,
christopher