What Are the USDA Hardiness Zones?
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- February 15, 2021
At Great Garden Plants, we want to set you up with the best gardening experience, and it starts with selecting the right plants for you. A few factors determine whether a plant will feel at home in your garden, including temperature, rainfall, soil type, drainage, and light. Temperature is arguably the most important climatic factor when growing perennials because plants need to survive the highs and lows of every season to return the following year. Knowing your USDA hardiness zone, and what it means, is the first step in your perennial garden journey!
USDA Hardiness Zone
The USDA plant hardiness zone map uses average annual minimum temperature to assign plant hardiness zone ratings to various regions of the country. It divides the United States into 11 zones, with zone 1 being the coldest and 11 being the warmest. Plants are assigned to hardiness zones based on the lowest temperature they will survive.
It’s essential to know your hardiness zone when picking out perennials and shrubs, which is why we ask you to enter your zip code when you enter our site. All of the plant descriptions on our site include a USDA hardiness zone rating that you can use as a guide when deciding which plants to purchase. Plus, on our plant pages, we give alerts if a plant is outside your growing zone!

Hardiness In Warm Zones
"If My Zone Is Warm, Shouldn't All Plants Survive The Minimum Tempurature?"
What If I Want To Buy Plants Outside My Zone?
What Is My Growing Zone?
Written by: Miranda Niemiec, click here to read bio.
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