In what zone is your garden?

[_Keith]

This is just a quick fun poll to see how our palm lovers are distributed climatically.  (and yes, I know climatically is not a word)

[DoomsDave]

Keep in mind there's a lot more to this than USDA Zones, but they're a good start.  

I'm in Zone 10b, I think.

[_Keith]

(Dave from So-Cal @ Jan. 12 2008,00:32)

QUOTE

Keep in mind there's a lot more to this than USDA Zones, but they're a good start.  

I'm in Zone 10b, I think.

Yeah, for some folks it is a tough call.  I went with my official designation of 9a, even though we have been 9b for the last decade.  This is just a casual poll, so folks can put down whatever they "feel" is right.

[NBTX11]

Zone 9a- (the 1990 usda map shows 8b, 2006 arbor day map 9a).  Although a solid zone 9a/b over the last 10-15 years or so.

9b so far this year (27F)

[Kris]

Lovely topic  

And iam from south india and the climate is horribily warm,hot and hottest through out the year and i want to grow Caryphas,Cidps,copernicas,bismarkia's,Washy's,Cycas,yucoos,agaves,desert palms,queen palms(new fasination),jubeas,sabals,brehas armeta,med fan,lipstick palms,triangles,travellers palms,latania's,cocotrinax,datepalms,livistonia,etc..

believe me or not most of the palms listed above have be collected either they are in pots or as small saplings ! and the verdict seems to be that they love the place where i live..

temps are from 82F to 104F on average throughout the year.

only problem that i have is sudden rainfall in summer and the winter is also wet.so lots of fungus attach seen on hubiscus & desert palms ?

i think that i live in zone 10 to 11

thanks & love,

Kris  

[bgl]

I'm in my own very personal zone - definitely higher than 11

[calyptrocalyx&licuala freck]

(bgl @ Jan. 12 2008,02:25)

QUOTE

I'm in my own very personal zone - definitely higher than 11

Hi Bo,  

I'm in that same sort area, Spoiled...... :laugh:  :laugh:

Cheers, Mikey.

P.S. Good Thread now we can see what others have as far as weather and whats normally growing in those Zones.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

coastal Tas is 10 a but with a record low in Hobart of 27 9b ! when you get 25 km from coast it can be 8b in certain areas .

[Carlos Simón]

Coastal. 3 months zone 11 and 9 months higher than 11...

Kris, I think you live in zone 11 or higher ;-)

[Kris]

(Carlos Simón @ Jan. 12 2008,09:55)

QUOTE

Kris, I think you live in zone 11 or higher ;-)

Dear Carlos  

thanks for the information and you are right but here we speak our area as hot or warm their is no frost or snowfall ever.And i also at times feel as though iam living in some hot desert country but suddenly it will start to rain...

thanks & love to u,

Kris  

[Palm Guy]

Where I live is definitely zone 11  as the record low is 43. However, I can't say that Bermuda is on par with other zone 11+ places as our winters can be quite cool.  Some winters we even get a couple wet winter days that drop below 50F and the average mean temperatures in Jan- Mar are about 64-65 F. Although, in summer we don't get as hot as some of the more tropical places which admittedly is a good thing. So I can't necessarily say that the zone 11 tag will make my Crytostachys Renda look beautiful down here, but I will try and keep you all posted.

Take care,

Mike

[happ]

Yes Kris - rest assured your above USDA 11 and unlike any region in the US   tropical

USDA places me also in zone 11 but that's where any resemblance with Tropic of Cancer ends  

[Adam from Oz]

I'm unzonable.

Melbourne's like that.

Someone want a shot?

Cheers,

Adam

[Palm Guy]

Not too sure Adam, but I would be willing to say 10a more or less. here is a link that might help you out.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/hort.research/zones.html

[osideterry]

9b, but so close to 10a it hurts. My average low for the past 9 years is 29.9F.

Odd how (at this point) the two most crowded zones are 10a and 11, with only one 10b. Much like how I've never met anyone who thinks they are 5'11". They all seem to be 6'0".

(I'm 6'0". Honest.)

[BS Man about Palms]

I think 10a and I'm 5, 11 3/4"

[FRITO]

depending on what source im either 8b or 9a, i voted 9a as that is usually our winter.

[Randy4ut]

I guess I get to be one of the artic palm lovers.  I am listed as 7a, but looking at the past 10-15 years, I am closer to 7b.  But at this point, doesn't really matter which.  I would love to live in a more tropical area, but then again, with living where I do, its always a challenge, and not many others around here are willing to try what I do...  Makes it alittle more interesting...

[cobra2326]

I've been 9b for the past few years.  Unfortunately, that means no crownshafted palms without some considerable protection... ugh.

[Kim]

I can't tell by looking at the maps, the scale is too small.  Either 10a, 10b, or 11.  Average winter lows here are above 40F, but I had lows of 29-32F a few nights in January 2007.  Anyone know?

[joe_OC]

10a/b here in Huntington Beach.  I would say mostly 10b, but with the frost last Jan, it got to 33 degrees here.

[scl113074]

I considered the mississippi gulfcoast 9a until the temperatures we experienced this january  19-22 for greater than 12 hours. my 7 year old adult queens got baked.

[ruskinPalms]

I have to go with 9B for here. It may technically be very low 10A looking over a 100 year period if the data were available, but with definite 9B (and lower) freezes every few years, it is 9B here for all practical purposes. And as my weaker 10A/B stuff dies off over the years, I will probably replant with palms that prove to be hardy to my yard, not necessarily to my USDA designated zone. Basically, my yard is big experiment at this time.

[DoomsDave]

(krisachar @ Jan. 12 2008,02:13)

QUOTE

Lovely topic  

And iam from south india and the climate is horribily warm,hot and hottest through out the year and i want to grow Caryphas,Cidps,copernicas,bismarkia's,Washy's,Cycas,yucoos,agaves,desert palms,queen palms(new fasination),jubeas,sabals,brehas armeta,med fan,lipstick palms,triangles,travellers palms,latania's,cocotrinax,datepalms,livistonia,etc..

believe me or not most of the palms listed above have be collected either they are in pots or as small saplings ! and the verdict seems to be that they love the place where i live..

temps are from 82F to 104F on average throughout the year.

only problem that i have is sudden rainfall in summer and the winter is also wet.so lots of fungus attach seen on hubiscus & desert palms ?

i think that i live in zone 10 to 11

thanks & love,

Kris  

Kris!

You're in 11, trust me, sir . . .

dave

[amazondk]

Is there a zone above 11? At 3 degrees South Latitude and about 100 feet above sea level in the humid equatorial tropics it is hard to be more tropical ( I guess impossible is better than hard)  than where my garden is.  

dk

[jonnymac]

The last 30 years our average yearly low is 15F/-9C.  The last 10 years its been 17.8F/-7.8C

[Wai`anae Steve]

(bgl @ Jan. 12 2008,02:25)

QUOTE

I'm in my own very personal zone - definitely higher than 11

Bo, I guess you, Don and I as well as Al in Kona are at least in a 13  

[bubba]

I respectfully suggest the use of Sunset/zonal specifications rather than those promulgated by the USDA.Correspondingly,Sunset 25.Of course, after the recent Artic blast,and low temperatures in the 40's,all of the Jamaican Talls pictured in my Christmas Day Travel Log have been reduced to mush!

[Adam from Oz]

(Palm Guy @ Jan. 12 2008,11:00)

QUOTE

Not too sure Adam, but I would be willing to say 10a more or less. here is a link that might help you out.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/hort.research/zones.html

Thanks for the link.

OK, 10a it is. ???

Cheers,

Adam

[Walter John]

coastal sub tropical, don't know much about zone numbers sorry.

[Carlo Morici]

I am in Zone X, out of the world, in the ocean. We are Subtropical Mediterranean Oceanic, and there is a long cool winter that is far from tropical, but there is no cold at all, so we are in the "upper zones", as long as zones are only defined by the absolute minimums.

Here in downtown Santa Cruz it never goes below 14 C (57 F), so I am well above Z 11, which includes anything above 4,5 C (40 F). Up on the hills where I grow my plants, is a bit colder, but never goes below 10 C (50 F) so it is still Z11. Further above is still zone 11 up to about 500 m asl, where a coconut would fry to death, probably on its first winter outdoors.

Kris, if I am in Zone X, you are in Zone Y  :laugh:  . The USDA Zones were developed for the United States and they make real sense just within the US, while they fail in other parts of the world. For example, they lack detail in the tropics because Zone 11 includes anything above 4,5 C (40 F) and there is no official definition of Zone 12, 13, 14 etc.

Another example is Mediterranean So.Europe which has comparatively high minimum temperatures at Northern latitudes, so it all gives 10a/10b but most of the year feels like a 9a/9b.

[bubba]

Carlo,You point out the issues created by USDA classifications quite well.In South Florida,where all sorts of tropical vegetation abounds,we are considered zone 10.The Koeppen classification recieves acceptance world wide and seems much more accurate.

[Really full garden]

I live in what I would describe as a Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde ZONE 13.We have never been below 64 degrees F. We get almost 80inches of rain from April to November and then not a drop from December to March.It is extreme.Not many palms are adapted for such drastic conditions.

                                                                                      Scott

[amazondk]

If I understand the USDA plant hardiness zones they are not really climate zones but where plants will grow.  So, it is not to relavant to tropical parts of the world where climate varies greatly due to altitude and other factors, like Carlos mentions.  

Here is the Koeppen climate zone map.

[Kris]

Dear Dave & Carlos  

thanks for the zone clarification,but i must say all the palms that were raised from seeds,that were imported from abroad simply love my climate,they are all growing like crazy but its very atrange that my washy filifera was doing great in our roof top terrace is not doing okay when planted in ground in our garden and my timming was wrong since i thought that its very nice for the palm to adjust to any transplanting shock ?

but to my surprise it started to rain heavily while i was away at my marriage function and when i returned back i found the entire central spear infested...

here is a still of my sick palm in ground...

Thanks & Love,

Kris.

[gandryko]

Although the USDA hardiness zone scheme is notoriously problematic, the Koppen Climate Classification system also has serious deficiencies.  For example, Washington, DC/ Louisville, KY/Atlanta, GA and Tampa/Orlando/Daytona Beach, FL are all categorized as having Humid Subtropical/Temperate climates.  I can assure you that the palms that can be grown in these places is very different.  Indeed, in my experience, their climates are unique, particularly from December to March, a critical time for gardens in the Northern Hemisphere.

[bubba]

I agree that all current Climate designations have serious issues and are certainly not applicable to truly tropical climates.I agree the issue open and shut should be "what grows" and beyond that what"florishes".The criteria chosen by the USDA simply ignores what they attempt to accompolish with their designation.For those in Medditerrean climates that fulfill the USDA zone 11 criteria,show me your Cytotachys renda(see pictures in thread below),your Tropical Almond's... etc.Then look me in the eye and tell me South Florida should be considered Zone 10.We need to devise an accurate sytem that works!

[pin38]

6B and proud of it.

[BobbyinNY]

I'm classified as 7a, but I've definitely been a 7b for the past 5 years - maybe even bordering an 8a.. not sure, but it hasn't gotten below 7f here in the past 5 years - and that has only been a once-a-year occurance... our 'average' low has been around 25-30f for the most part.

[DoomsDave]

(amazondk @ Jan. 12 2008,22:15)

QUOTE

Is there a zone above 11? At 3 degrees South Latitude and about 100 feet above sea level in the humid equatorial tropics it is hard to be more tropical ( I guess impossible is better than hard)  than where my garden is.  

dk

You live in one giant garden!