Every gardener is familiar with the multicolor U.S. map of climate zones on the back of seed packets. It's the Department of Agriculture's indicator of whether a flower, shrub or tree will survive the winters in a given region. It's also 18 years old.
The new map to be released soon by the USDA is being prepared by the Prism group at Oregon State University, known for doing sophisticated climate modeling. The current map, found below was released in 1990 designated growing zones as small as counties; the new one will narrow the focus to square miles.
Gardeners may also utilize these follow links for more information.
