Zoned Out - How To Decipher Zone Rules When Planting Roses
December 1st, 2008

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You're thinking about planting roses for your garden or to decorate outside around your house. If you want to spruce things up a bit, but are not too sure how to go about it, and then read about a few tips that will guide you on your journey of rose planting. It's not that hard to do, you just need to be aware of how to use a map and a few other tips to grow beautiful roses.

The map is meant to be used as a general guideline that you'll need to seriously consider before planting any roses outside in your garden or around the yard. However, don't be confused or fooled, some roses do well in many different kinds of climate. The best knowledge for learning how to locally grow roses in your area is to talk with others in your hometown, such as your plant and gardening center or a florist. A good reading of any quality book on how to grow roses can be found at the library or a bookstore.

A little history about how maps came into use for roses is necessary to be a fully informed Rosarian!

The first map ever created for information on plantings was the USDA Hardiness Zone Map, and it came from the combined effort of Henry Skinner in the 1800s when he worked with the US National Arboretum, and the American Horticultural Society which produced the valuable map of information on the climates in the US. It was a generalized map of meteorological information broken into zones of large areas for the US. It was the first time people had some type of guideline to go by for planting and growing, not only decorative plantings, but crop information as well. This was necessary because many people were on the move throughout the country, and many didn't know the local areas growing capabilities.

Later in 1960 the map was revised and was named the Plant Hardiness Zone Map with more detailed information, and included all of North America. A few reasons for changing the map were that there was more technological ability to map weather trends, as well as data. Also, the weather patterns were changing too. More detailed information such as the names of plants and their cold climate zones, along with an alphabetized listing of plant names were included.

Here is how the map is broken out into zones for the US.

South West - AZ, CA, NV, UT

South Mid-West - AR, KS, CO, ILL, KS, LA, MS, MO, NM, OK, TX

South East - AL, FL, GA, MA, NC, SC, CO, TN

North West - OR, ID, MT, WA, WY

North Mid-West - IA, MN, NE, ND, SD, WI, WY

North East - CT, DE, IL, IN, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT, VA, WV

Alaska - Listed separately but in the North Mid-West

Hawaii - Hawaii Is not listed in any category of the US geographic regions

The major areas are further broken out into sub areas of temperatures. Starting with zone 1 which is the coldest area of -50 degrees F and graduating up to 11 which are the warmer areas of the US. Areas of the regional zone is further broken out into sub zones of temperatures represented by a combination of numerical and alphabetized designations such as 2a, 2b, and 3a, 3b, and continuing on. Zone 11 is the area where annual local temperature is continually over 40 degrees F.

Like the unfamiliar settlers before, you'll need to know the map. There are places on the internet where you can order one and print it out to use as a guideline for growing your roses. Remember to stay updated on any changes to the map.

With your handy map in hand, go and speak to people in the know about growing roses in your area. The map is helpful, but it's only a general guideline. Different things concerning your local climate can affect how roses grow in your garden or around your house. Professional horticulturists use them and they are termed micro climates. Situations such as how much smog or pollution conditions, soil feasibility, or even any catastrophic conditions such as the eruption of a volcano, or a man made problems of pesticides can affect how or if your roses grow.

Take the time and understand the map, and use any information you can find in books, or from a gardening or floral provider. Also, use the advice of locals for growing your healthy beautiful roses. Most of all enjoy the adventure; it's a sweet smelling one

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