[HN Gopher] The USDA's gardening zones have shifted. (Interactiv...
___________________________________________________________________
The USDA's gardening zones have shifted. (Interactive app and map)
(2024)
Author : nuke-web3
Score : 63 points
Date : 2026-04-18 16:31 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (apps.npr.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (apps.npr.org)
| starkparker wrote:
| (2024), via https://www.npr.org/2024/05/13/1250855166/big-news-
| for-garde...
|
| Further context from 2023:
| https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213600629/-it-feels-like-im-...
| altairprime wrote:
| (2 years ago, 218 comments)
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40342578
| nmbrskeptix wrote:
| This is weird. This represents a change over a mere ten year
| period.
|
| My zone hasn't changed (still 6b), but USDA states the lowest T
| has gone up 5F (-10,-5) to (-5,0).
|
| Last winter we had -10F for a week. This winter we had -20F for a
| week.
|
| What I find strange is that the interval from the last assessment
| is small, only 10 years. And yet in two of those we broke records
| in the opposite direction of that reported. Note that USDA is not
| reporting the average, but the coldest temps likely to be
| encountered.
|
| Even if the winter is trending warmer, I would think two record
| breaking cold winters in a ten year span would change my local
| data downwards, not up.
|
| This has affected me. For three years I have tried planting
| chicago hardy figs. For three years we've had chicago like
| winters and the figs didn't make it (chicago hardy needs a couple
| of mild winters to withstand chicago temps).
|
| What do I know? YMMV
| zamadatix wrote:
| "Hardiness zones in this map are based on the average annual
| extreme minimum temperature during a 30-year period in the
| past" https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/pages/how-to-use-the-
| map... (the page also reflects this in one of the sections).
|
| So it doesn't matter if it was -20 F all year or for 1 day,
| either counts as 1 value of -20 F out of 30 annual measurements
| to be averaged. 2 record breaking cold winters out of 11
| wouldn't necessarily imply much with over 1/3 of the averaged
| data being replaced (it'd depend more on the 11 years replaced
| than the 2 new extremes), and that should show in the graph of
| the exact yearly values used towards the middle.
|
| I do sort of wish it opened with the deeper explanation of what
| the data is first and then got to showing you the values
| second. Giving someone numbers, having them try to interpret
| them, and then telling them what it was the numbers were
| actually trying to measure is a recipe for creating confusion.
| comrade1234 wrote:
| I have property in NW WI and I planted 5 paw paw trees. I had
| heard that there's a paw paw in Madison so I had hope. I bought
| them from a tree farm in MI that said they had discovered a cold-
| resistant paw paw.
|
| One of them survived over five years now! It's still really small
| but I think it'll make it. Even if it grows up there's two
| problems - the summer may not be long enough for it to produce
| fruit. And two, they reproduce by sexual reproduction. The only
| way it will produce fruit is if there's another paw paw in the
| vicinity.
|
| I wanted to plant another batch of trees but when I went to the
| website of the tree farm there was an announcement that they
| retired - that they ran the farm for 50 years and it was time to
| retire. So no more cold-hardy paw paw.
|
| I live in Zurich which is about the same latitude as NW WI and
| there's a bunch of paw paw trees at a tennis club near my house.
| They produce copious amounts of fruit. And there's constantly
| random new paw paw trees sprouting up. But the weather is much
| nicer here.
|
| Maybe some day the weather in NW WI will be mild enough to match
| Zurich.
| lanyard-textile wrote:
| May be worth reaching out still :)
|
| The commercial operation is retired but they may still help an
| enthusiast.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2026-04-18 23:01 UTC)