GARDENING : GARDEN NEWS : New Zone Maps

The United States Department of Agriculture has just published a new Plant Hardiness Zone Map, and, surprise, parts of Southern California are now a new zone! Zone 11 includes the very tip of Florida, Hawaii and two small crescent-shaped coastal areas in Southern California, one in San Diego and one that covers most of the coastal communities in Los Angeles and northern Orange County.

Data from 14,000 weather stations went into this update, the first in 25 years, and the additional data turned up a number of microclimates plus the new Zone 11, which is defined as having an average minimum annual temperature of 40 degrees F. and above--essentially frost-free. Interestingly, no evidence of global warming was found, but the temperatures on the West Coast were 5 to 10 degrees cooler in winter than on the previous map.

Copies of the map--”misc. publication 1475, stock number 001-00004550-04”--are available from the Government Printing Office for $6.50. There is a local office in Los Angeles, phone (213) 894-5841. They expect to have the 4-by-4-foot color maps in several weeks.