Can You Explain the Plant Hardiness and Zone Maps?

Planting zones were established to help us correctly plant the right plants in the right climates. The zone map was created to illustrate plant hardiness based on the weather year round including factors such as average low temperatures and special climate areas like the Great Lakes. While it is not a hard and fast rule, planting outside of the recommended zone for a specific plant exposes you to a much higher chance of failure. For instance, a plant grown outside of its recommended zone may bud out too early for your area. If the early bud break is followed by a frost or too low of a temperature, this can damage the plant and even cause it to perish. For your convenience, each one of our product pages includes a map which shows the area that the plant is most likely to thrive.