Do you know your zone? Climate zone, that is. If you are buying plants at your Tucson nursery or home improvement center this fall, this is important information to know.
If only it were as simple as going to the nursery and reading the plant tags. For western states, however, those tags are quite misleading.
Nurseries use what are called United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Hardiness Zones to educate the public where plant species will grow well. The problem for the west is our climate does not fit the zones created by the USDA for cold hardiness. If you look up the zone for Tucson, you will discover we are in Zone 8. Now look up the zone for Seattle. It is also Zone 8. Obviously, that in itself is a problem.
Fortunately, Sunset created Sunset Garden Zones for the west. These zones are far more accurate, and address the subtle differences between the three main zones for southern Arizona. Phoenix is in Zone 13; Tucson Zone 12; and Green Valley, Rio Rico and Nogales are in Zone 10.
Since those plant tags are no help, buy yourself a Sunset Western Garden Book; Sunset Publishing Corporation. You do not need to buy a brand new one, used books abound and although they don’t have all the new cultivars then do have most of the standbys. Take this book with you when you go plant shopping and look up the plants you are thinking of buying. This will save you a lot of time and money by preventing you from buying a plant that will not survive a winter or summer (or both) in your yard.
Comments