How cold is your yard in winter? How deep does the winter frost penetrate the ground? Will plants that are native in your area survive winter better than plants that grow wild in other parts of the world? The answer to all these questions is that gardeners no longer need to ask them. It’s now easy to choose plants for your yard that will not be killed by winter’s cold; to choose plants that have exactly the winter tolerance you need. This is how it works.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has divided the country into 13 different areas, , according to the average lowest winter temperature. The USDA accessed data from weather stations across the country to create the map, which was last in 2023. Here, we take a closer look at what this means, and the best plants - from bulbs, trees, natives, vegetables and annuals - to grow if you live in zone 8.
covers areas with a lowest winter temperature of 10F to 20F. For additional accuracy, each zone can be split into two subzones, zone 8a (10F to 15F) and 8b (15Fto 20F), for example, but this level of detail is not always needed. At the same time, for decades now, horticultural experts across the country have been assessing all the plants that we grow and allocating each variety a hardiness rating, that indicates the lowest winter temperatures that the plant will tolerate.
Hardiness ratings for individual plants can be found on plant tags, on websites hosted for mail order nurseries and advisory organizations, in b.
