For the first time since 2012, the USDA has published a new map of plant hardiness zones.
The Year Map, released on November 15, 2023, is a tool used by American gardeners and farmers to determine which plants will grow in a particular location.
Here's what you need to know about the new Florida map and locations.
Who created the new botanical area map?
The new map was produced by the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the PRISM climate team at Oregon State University.
Florida Plant Zone Map: Find Your Hardiness Zone
The USDA website allows you to find your plant's hardiness zone based on your specific location.
Enter your zip code and expand to find your home or neighborhood to find out your area.
How to Read the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map?
The Plant Hardiness Zone Map is based on average annual minimum and maximum winter temperatures, shown in 10 degree zones from Zone 1 (coldest) to Zone 13 (warmest).
Zone numbers are often displayed in catalogs, commercial garden supply and plant suppliers, etc.
How can you use the Florida hardiness zone map to grow plants?
Florida plant hardiness zones range from 8B to 11A. The general damage is as follows.
Southeast and South Florida: 11A and 10B
East Coast, including central and southwest Florida: 9B to 10B.
North Florida : 9A or 9B.
Handle : 9A or 8B.
All plant hardiness zone maps are designed as a general guide to growing perennials.
They are based on average levels, not historical lows.
The areas in the 2023 map are based on meteorological data collected between 1991 and 2020.
The temperatures received are not or will be the coldest area. Instead, it is the lowest winter temperature recorded at the same location in more than 30 years.
How were the new locations for the factory determined?
The 2023 map is based on the 30-year average minimum winter temperature, known as the lowest winter temperature in certain locations. It is divided into 10°F zones and 5°F centres.
Like the 2012 map (the map was last updated), the 2023 web version offers an interactive GIS-based format and is designed to be easy to use.
The 2023 map uses data measured at 13,412 weather stations between 1991 and 2020. For comparison, the 2012 map used data from 7,983 weather stations.
Farmland in the United States and Florida
Like the 2012 map, the new edition includes 13 U.S. territories and their states.
Each region is divided into half regions called “A” and “B”.
Compared to the 2012 map, the 2023 version moves nearly half of the country to the equatorial zone. Half the country remained in the middle.
Moving to the warmer temperate zone means places with temperatures between 0 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, the USDA noted that some areas warmed by 5 degrees but did not move into the new central zone.
Overall, the 2023 map is warmer than the 2012 map during the recent average period (1976-2005 compared to 1991-2020) over most of the United States.
Some changes in regions were the result of additional sources and improved data methods.
Is vegetation changing due to climate change?
Some boundary changes are the result of the use of increasingly sophisticated mapping techniques and the merging of data from multiple weather stations.
Due to the variable nature of high annual minimum temperatures, temperature changes in plant tolerance zones do not necessarily reflect global climate change.
Climate change is a trend in the overall average annual temperature, which is typically recorded over 50-100 years.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is essentially a 30-year average of extreme weather events (coldest annual temperature), and zone changes are not reliable evidence of global warming.
This article originally appeared in the Treasure Coast Newspaper: Crop Zone Hardiness Map: USDA Changes for 2023
