Welcome to Tennessee! I'm over west of Nashville, so can't help you much. There is a Middle TN plant swap, as well as an East TN swap, you could get to either one about as easy. Sorry I can't help with local info, someone will be along....

Rockwood is in zone 7. You are probably right in between zones 7a and 7b, but use your microclimate to make an even better judgment about what to plant. If you are in a valley, you might be closer to a low 7 or even a high 6. If you are near a rocky bluff, you might be a high 7b or even in a low zone 8.

BTW, I based my information above on actual weather/climate conditions for your area over the past few decades, not the very outdated USDA map. So, if you run into the USDA map and wonder why it says you are in zone 6b, that's because the antiquated USDA map is based on information from 1974 to 1986, not current info.

I live in Rockwood! I live on a mountain in Rockwood. Rockwood seems to have two zones. Rougly between 6b and 7. I feel like I live in 6b on the mountaintop! Feel free to ask me any questions!

Lucas

Thank you Brandon and Lucas. Will keep in touch

Linda

Here's a link to the East Tennessee Plant Swap mentioned above. We hope you can come! It's on Sunday May 24. If you would like, you can check out the swap forum on our website and make arrangements for swaps even before you get to the event. This season's swapping is just getting started and will be buzzing by Mid May.

Here is a link that might be useful: ETPS

Until this winter, this area was zone 8B. We had not seen temps below about 15. THis winter sucked! Not only did we have lots of days near 5 degrees, it also seemed we had lot so of wind on the cold days. Killed a lot of stuff that had been going strong for years...

Zones are determined by average, so, while one extreme year may change the hardiness zone slightly, it isn't likely to make even nearly a half-zone difference. I haven't checked, but I bet even in-town Chattanooga isn't quite up to 8b yet. This year was very mild compared to many of the winters we had around here a few decades ago.

In terms of the winters, we have been 8B for maybe 5 years until this winter. Not saying it changed our zone, just saying all the plants that are Zone 8B may have been happy and growing until now. If you care to roll the dice, you can plant some things that are zone 8 and maybe we'll get back to mild winters and they'll be happy for a few years. MY Washingtonia Palm is 8B, and appears to be toast after last winter. We'll see in a month or so...