There is no way they can be completely acurate because we have these mountains with all the little micro climates but... that -5 sure does seem unrealistic to me. I've seen single digits in the last 5 years but no negatives and I live up in the mountains of south central pa.

BTW how are those miniture roses doing. The ones I gave my neighbor here are all leafed out and going good.

I think that my city of Pittsburgh garden is MUCH warmer than that. Many things will over winter in my garden and I am gonna get a FIG!! this year (doing a happy fig dance) this is just not a zone 6a climate.

Tracy

Speaking of figs, check this out. A guy down the street from me has a small fig tree growing out of a part of his yard. It's a weedy section, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know what kind of tree it is. The fig tree comes back YEAR after YEAR here near Pittsburgh. It will lose it's leave in the winter, and even form small figs on it as well! Some parts of the tree die, but the whole tree never dies and keeps coming back! I'd say by the average low temps we've gotten here, it's more like zone 7a or b. As far as miniture roses, haven't kept tabs on them here so I'm really not sure.

Tracy, What kind of fig tree are you getting? I had a 'Brown Turkey' for awhile. Got some great figs from it. Got tired of covering it in the Winter and gave it to a friend that still has it. A nursery near me has a little grove of fig trees. They die down to the ground every Winter but it grows back every Spring. It's up against a stone wall and gets warmth through the Winter from the wall. That's it's microclimate. Billie

Well... the current zones are based on about 12 - 13 years worth of data (I believe only going up to ~1986 - probably averaged in with some earlier data). and the person who is responsible for the USDA Hardiness Zone website (KimKa) posts on the MA Forum. She indicated that the USDA is in the process of re-zoning but there is no ETA for it. The latest draft (from a different source than the AHS, who was contracted to do an early, now-rejected draft) is under review at the moment.

I do think that a building boom, not just in urban areas but in suburban areas, including more and more blacktop, has probably made a major contribution towards the heatsink effect just about everywhere and there has been an admission of what is termed "zone creep", where slowly, some of the more southern plants are surviving further north than previously. I do know for a fact that as of 1984, when Philly's building height restriction was removed, there have been well over 30+, 33 story or higher buildings built downtown and that had to have made a big difference down there and in the surrounding area. This is something that wouldn't have been reflected in the temperature measurements used for the curernt 1990 map release, that had ended just 2 years later when the first of the early taller skyscrapers was barely completed (eg., the Liberty Towers).

Billie ann - you might want to look for a Celeste fig. They bloom on new growth (figs will pop out right along with new leaves). I noticed that as a big difference from my Brown Turkey, which seems to grow in cycles (ie., sprout leaves, sit and grow roots, sprout baby figs, sit and grow roots, sprout more leaves, sit and grow roots, swell figs, sit and grow roots, etc).

I bought my BIL a Celeste for in ground and I was just by there yesterday and it has sprouted a few leaf/stem buds from the lower part of the small trunk (it was planted last July and was a 4ft baby). I had covered it for them with an old down comforter and a loosely fitting (for air flow) plastic bag (to keep the comforter from getting wet and snowed on) this winter after spraying it a few times with Wilt Pruf. I dubbed it "The Mummy". I unwrapped it for them April 1. So like a good little fig on a 6-week cycle, it is finally starting to show some life. I look forward to how it does as I had them plant it on what is often considered the "ultimate" spot for northern-grown figs - the SW corner of their house about 4ft from the foundation. Gets plenty of sun most of the day. Gotta give them a bagful of Dolomitic lime to spread around it now. heh

My fig is a baby from an heirloom black fig that was brought from Italy to Pittsburgh in the nineteenth century. I have directions for either burying it in the winter or wraping it and putting it in the garage. The gentleman who gave it to me said that the big one makes about 1000 figs a year in shadyside. It has been passed in his family for about 100+ years in Pittsburgh and many more than that in Italy. I am honored to be considered worthy to be a custodian.

I think that I will wrap it and garage it this year but I am thinking about building a little fig house for it. I want to build a phonebooth (remember them?) like structure for it that shares on wall with the garage and is insulated. I want to have the structrue hinged so that it can be put away for the summer. DH thinks that I am crazy to take on such a project but that is what my mom said when I married him 16 years ago ;) and that worked out so why not?

Tracy

Figbooth! I like it!

(Don't think it would change the temperature at the roots though... but since I know nothing about figs, I don't know if that would matter.)