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zone descrepencies
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Posted by neeedgreenthumb 7 I think (My Page) on Wed, Apr 15, 09 at 21:29
| Why am do I get different zones from different zone finders? I always thought that Long Island was zone 7, but the last zone finder I used gave me zone 6 when I put in my zip. I did it again on a different site and I got zone 7. Not sure if there really is much of a difference between the two zones, but I am curious as to how two sources can have different information over something that is supposedly standardized. |
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RE: zone descrepencies
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| All of NYC, its immediate suburbs, and most of Long Island is zone 7 (there may be scattered areas into zone 6b in rural areas of Long Island's pine lands). But I would say, coastal areas and more developed areas in and around NYC are solidly zone 7. Another possible reason you are getting different answers to this question, is that the zonal maps where updated a few years ago (only not all zone finders seem to have been updated to reflect the change). Locally, zone 7 has now crossed the Hudson River to the West and inches up just past the New York State border to the North on the river. Some of this may be due to global warming but a lot of it also has to do with the fact that temperatures in developed areas are always going to be warmer (all that concrete, fewer shade trees, less cooling from evaporation etc.) The net result is that a larger area of the Greater New York City/New Jersey Megalopolis is now zone 7 (previously zone 6b). Not a drastic difference. But once you get into zone 7, you do begin to see interesting gardening opportunities open. The large chain stores seem to be clued in to the slightly shifting zones as nowadays I regularly see such plants as figs, Camellia japonica and Magnolia grandiflora being sold whereas years ago, they were not available in the area. Some garden shops are even selling such hardy palms as Windmill palms. The whole zone thing is really a bit complicated though. There is still a big difference between zone 7 NYC and zone 7 in Georgia (northern winters will be longer/summers shorter). The simplified 1-10 zonal maps don't take precip into account, you can get away with this in the East (precip doesn't vary as much from place to place) but the western US is another planet and they use a different system which better reflects the complexity. Happy gardening! |
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