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hostacats

zones which are you in???

hostacats
9 years ago

Ok I've seen zones 4-5-6-7-8-9 on here. I don't see too many zone 4's and definitely not zones 3. Am I the only one on this forum with a zone three??

michelle

Comments (17)

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    There is hostarus, an occasional poster who lives a little bit South of Siberia who is in zone 3. B-r-r-r-r-r.

    Don B.

  • hostacats
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Don I am in zone 3! Its hotter than hell usually on the prairies in the summer and cold in the winter. We've adapted well. The winters are dry winters like dry air not moist air which seems colder to the body than dry. I've experienced moist winter air before, feels a lot colder than what the temperatures say. Dry air is just cold, dress appropriately and you'll be fine. You live in Colorado so you must have the cold winters too.
    I know I saw MI which gets cold. Saw WI not sure but think they get cold too. I just know that TX and AL or SC are warm climates. Am I correct?? As for the people in BC they may have warmer zones, but they have moist air in winter, not so sure what happens on the coast though.
    People correct me if I'm wrong I'm just guessing!!

    Michelle

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    9 years ago

    USDA zones are designed to show areas where the average WINTER temps gets to a certain degrees. Don't know how that affects Canada. Is there a North America zone map for cold?

    Out here in California we go by the Sunset Magazine numbers which include all the many microclimates.

    I don't get hot here in summer, and it normally rains only in winter. So my Garden Web Zone 9b only tells you that I don't freeze.

    Much interpreting to do here. I'm guessing that you have a very short growing season. Hooray if you can still grow hostas. I know that they grow in the UP Michigan.

    I'm pushing the envelope with no freezes here, so you can push the envelope where you are too! Go for it!

    -Babka

    Here is a link that might be useful: USDA zones

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    "USDA zones are designed to show areas where the average WINTER temps gets to certain degrees."

    Very well put, Babka. That's an important discernation to make, and thank you for pointing that out.

    Don B.

  • santamiller
    9 years ago

    I'm in 8b in South Central Texas. Our average winter temp is probably 50â¦â¦80 degrees on Monday and Wed and 20 on Tuesday and Thursday!

  • ci_lantro
    9 years ago

    I'm kinda' on the line between Zone 4A/4B. Except that last winter was a Zone 3. Does that count?

  • hostacats
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Babka there is a zone map for Canada too. Actually I'm really close to the border of being a zone 2! Most perennials and shrubs we have to really watch which zone they are meant for because they will not survive the freezing cold temperatures of winter.
    We do have a shorter growing season than say like BC or Ontario or any of the southern states. The prairies get cold in winter and I am among one of three prairie provinces. We start getting better temperatures in April and things start growing, BUT, because temperatures still drop below freezing at night, we cannot really plant anything outside until around May.....usually closer to middle to be on the safe side. People always push that too though. September the evenings get cooler and by October plants start dying from the cold night temperatures.
    Hostas are very slow to emerge and this year especially because it was so bad......they took until June to emerge, and then some!!!!
    Our summers on the prairies get very hot. I've never been to any of the US states except for Hawaii. What Hawaii temperatures are pretty much every day with moist air and trade winds, we get the same temperatures during summer and hotter, with a dry heat.
    I don't know how to do the exchange in degrees cuz you guys use Farenheit while we use celcius. Hope you can figure this out. Hawaii on average is 28 C in summer, we are around 25-34 C. In winter our temperatures range from Minus anything to high minus 30's C. Rarely does it reach the minus 40's. Can you figure out the cold from that??? So even though we have a cold winter we have a hot summer here on the prairies anyways.

    Michelle

  • dougald_gw
    9 years ago

    Just a few thoughts on climate zones.

    First of all, the ones used in this forum are the USDA zones which really measure average max winter cold. In areas where there is adequate snow cover (like here in the Ottawa Valley) this doesn't mean much as far as hostas go.

    Next, there is a map of USDA climate zones that extends outside the USA - so those in Canada and Europe and maybe elsewhere can relate.

    Canada has its own set of climate zones which take into account other variables besides just winter cold. Things like rainfall, length of growing season and so on are very important and find some expression in the Canadian climate zone definitions. These are actually called Plant Hardiness Zones and can be seen here http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/nsdb/climate/hardiness/index.html

    Clearly, a USDA Zone 4 rating in the Ottawa Valley is a very different climate for growing in than a similar zone 4 in say Minnesota. However, there has to be some generalizations for comparison and that is the one commonly used in this forum.

  • hostacats
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you dougald for clarifying all that for me. I did forget to mention the adequate snowfall which we on the prairies definitely get. Did I mention everything else ok??

  • thisismelissa
    9 years ago

    A good portion of MN and WI are in zone 4 and we're known all over the country as growing hostas very large.

    I wouldn't hesitate a second to grow in zone 3b.

  • DonnaDelaware
    9 years ago

    My friend, Hostarus, who lives in Siberia says his hosta have adapted very well. All kidding aside, I reside in Zone 7A. August can get very hot here with temps as hot as Florida. We're in the 90's this week in July. The front of my garden gets 6 hours of sun in the morning. So I'm diligent about keeping them hydrated. Otherwise it's a great place to grow hosta.

    DD

  • hosta_freak
    9 years ago

    I'm in zone 6,in the western NC mountains. The rest of NC is zone 7. I don't worry about those new zone designations,with b,or a. In fact I don't care about zones at all. All I care about is,it gets cold enough here to grow hostas every year! Phil

  • duluthinbloomz4
    9 years ago

    We have the 4a designation here (think we got the "a" for being on Lake Superior). But tons of snow, sustained temps at 20-30 below; summer temps wavering in the high 70's. Regular and adequate rain.

    Not a hosta collector by any stretch of the imagination - but I enjoy lurking on this forum and do know a good thing when I see it as fabulous additions to gardens, etc. I might have 25-30 selected varieties - late emerging this season, but many are simply huge already.

  • hostacats
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Ok minus 34 C is roughly is around same temperatures in F give or take.....but as for the plus temperatures if it is plus 34 it is in the 90's. Ok fellow Canadians did I do this correctly?? It gets hot here is all I know.

    michelle

    Oh and I wont be scared to grow hostas anymore in sun shade or inbetween. I have learned lots in this forum last couple of weeks.

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago

    I'm with Santa. We have pretty much the same temps. They are a little warmer in the winter, though. It's not unusual for us to have freezing temps overnight in the winter. The days are in the 40's and 50's, with occasional 80 degree and sunshiny days in February. The weather is glorious in April and May. June is not bad. July starts the hot dry summer for us. July and August are in the 90's and low 100's and we get little rain during those months. It starts to cool in mid September followed by glorious, sunshiny days until December.

    Which comes down to this: don't come visiting in July, August, December or January. Other than that, we have glorious, temperate sunshiny days.

    We do not grow Melissa's glorious, huge blue hosta here. We grow them anyway.

    bk

  • hostacats
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I would never go farther south in summer, if its hot here must be super hot down there. Would never go to Hawaii in april-sept either......I'd come visiting when I could handle nice days...feb- march???

  • unbiddenn
    9 years ago

    I'm 5b Wis. I'm on the door peninsula, and surrounded by Lake Michigan and Green Bay. I was told when I moved to Wis not to plant anything before June 1st because of the freezes. The first trees start turning yellow in August.