Fact Sheet Gardening Climate Zones
Gardeners Ultimate Guide to Gardening Climate Zones
What are Gardening Climate Zones?
We can distill successful gardening down to finding the balance between enough sunlight (warmth), fertile soil and water for your garden. Getting the mix of these right in your particular garden context is the challenge for every gardener with plants and lawns having different requirements of these 3 key elements.
Gardening climate zones or hardiness zones are a mechanism used to rate zones across the world based on their average annual minimum temperature which is directly related to warmth, one of the three key success factors for plant health.
Why do I need to know my Gardening climate zone?
- Gardening experts will refer to gardening climate zones or hardiness zones and as such it is a basic gardening term that is useful to understand.
- Understanding the climate zone you live and garden in is important as it will assist you in understanding the best time of year to plant and also the types of plants that are must likely to thrive in your environment.
- You can access sowing and planting guides relating to your specific zone or use information from another countries zone that is similar to yours. These resource can save you time and money to select plants most likely to thrive in your garden.
What Gardening Zone am I in?
Australia
Africa
Canada
Europe
Japan
New Zealand
South America
South Africa
United States
What are Plant Gardening Zones?
FAQ's
Q: Can I sow plants that are not recommended for my hardiness zone
A: Hardiness zones are a guide to the prevailing temperatures in that area. There are micro zones within the broader hardiness zones that also affect the climate (for example alpine climates may be included in cool zones where milder (yet cool) conditions exist). With this in mind gardeners will know best the condition within which they are growing and can modify their plant care to suit the conditions for their hardiness zone and any micro climate they may garden in.
Q: I cant find a hardiness zone map for my country/region.
A: The best alternative is to find a map that has a region or country who’s climate is close to yours and refer to that. Don’t forget to take into account any micro climate specifics for your area.
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