Find Planting Zones and Growing Zones for the U.S. and Canada
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The Plant Hardiness Zone Map was updated for the 2024 gardening season with the addition of thousands more local weather stations. Look at your growing zone or gardening zone to understand which plants can survive your area’s climate. Did your planting zone change?
What Are Planting Zones?
When choosing perennial plants for your garden, it’s important to select varieties that can thrive year-round in your area, especially in regions where extreme winter temperatures are normal. Planting zones generally define which plants can survive winter in your area, and zones are typically listed in plant growing guides for reference.
The two most commonly referenced hardiness zone maps are those produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Natural Resources Canada (NRC). Different measures are used to create each country’s map, as explained below.
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Zone maps are not absolute; if you find the information contradictory to your own experience, you may live in a microclimate. Soil, moisture, humidity, heat, wind, and other conditions also affect the viability of individual plants.
Find Your USDA Planting Zone
Considered the current standard measure of plant hardiness, the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map is based on average annual minimum winter temperatures. The map is divided into thirteen distinct 10ºF zones, which are further divided into subzones of 5°F.
Check the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map below, or visit the USDA website to find out exactly which zone you live in!
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Note: The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was just updated in November 2023, the first update since 2012. According to the USDA, the new 2023 map uses data from 13,412 weather stations compared to 7,983 from the previous map. Compared to the 2012 map, the 2023 version shows that half of the country moved up to a warmer zone (including much of Alaska) while the other half stayed in the same zone.
The scientists are using 30 years of long-range data and more sophisticated computers for a more accurate map, especially in challenging areas such as mountain zones and Alaska, which may have been rated too cold or warm in prior map iterations. Learn more about the updated map here.
How to Use Your Planting Zone
Planting zones are most helpful to gardeners growing perennial plants since they live beyond just one growing season, regrowing each spring. Perennials need to be able to survive winter in your area, so it’s essential to know how cold it typically gets in your area and whether a particular plant is hardy enough to survive those temperatures.
Perennial flowers, shrubs, and trees grow best when planted in the appropriate zone. You’ll find that winter damage occurs most often when plants are out of their range or comfort zone. When you choose plants for a garden or landscape, avoid selecting plants that are only marginally hardy for your region; that’s when you’ll see winter damage, poor growth, and a reduction in flowering.
Planting native species is a surefire way to achieve a stable garden. See our article on natural landscaping.
For annual plants, like most vegetables and some flowers, it’s far more important to pay attention to things like the length of your growing season and the typical dates of your first and last frosts. (See local frost dates here.) Because annuals are only meant to last the length of one growing season, planting zones don’t necessarily factor into the equation.
NRC Canadian Planting Zones Map
Unlike the USDA map, which is based only on minimum winter temperatures, the planting zones map produced by Natural Resources Canada considers a wider range of climatic variables, including maximum temperatures and the length of the frost-free period. However, the NRC also produces a map that shows plant hardiness zones for Canada based on the USDA extreme minimum temperature approach. Click here to see both Canadian planting zone maps.
Check out a simplified version of the official Natural Resources Canada Plant Hardiness Zone Map below, then go to the Natural Resources Canada website to find out which zone you live in!
Click here to see the full Natural Resources Canada Plant Hardiness Zones Map.
Another key part of successful gardening is knowing when your frost dates are. Find your local frost dates here.
What are your thoughts on planting zones? Are they accurate? What gardening zone do you live in? Let us know in the comments below!
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I was having the same issue, but that worked like a charm! Thank you
I'm looking for a planting guide for trees and bushes in zone 9 , Melbourne Florida. You have an extensive chart for herbs and vegetables but I can't find anything for trees and bushes.
Check out this “Best Tree Finder” from the Arbor Day Foundation! You can sort by which trees are suitable to your zone.
Cannot see the readings on the maps and the link that says click to see larger map is actually much smaller.
On the USDA page, try selecting your state from the drop-down menu to get an enhanced view of the zones in your area. Here’s a link to a larger map as well: USDA Zones
Would have liked to use the may but couldn't read because of small size. A map or option to enlarge would have helped greatly. As a gardener in her seventies, the eyesight isn't what it used to be.
You can click on the map or the link and it will open up to the USDA page which allows you to hone in on your zone.
I live in Zone 8a or 8b. Those colors are so close.
THe blueberry plants in my yard are soooo good and grow great here.
The name is Chandler. If you have a big back yard order a bunch of seeds and start them yourself. Then you will have so many in a few years:)
I am wondering if I am in zone 9b can I pick plants from 9b and lower like 7b? If it is only about the frost date. I was wondering if there was a zone map for Maximum heat? That would help me a lot. Every summer plants even for zone 9b get fried from the summer heat.
In the US there is also a heat zone map developed by the American Horticultural Society. Unfortunately I don't know if there's an equivalent map for Canada to figure out which zone you'd be in, but since I live very close to the border, I use the part of the map closest to my area. Lots of plants that do well in zone 7b will do well in zone 9b too, especially if the type is noted as being heat/drought tolerant. If you're growing vegetables, you can often look up the maximum and minimum temperatures that the plant needs at different life stages and compare it to the temperatures on your plot.
There are a few things I've done that have caused my plants to be stressed from heat. Planting at the wrong time of year (spring/fall crops like lettuce in summer), in the wrong spot (tender plants that need shelter out in the open) and underwatering are probably the big ones. Underwatering was most easily fixed for me by making sure everything was in deep soil or a very large pot (so that there's a large reservoir of water that can be drawn from) and using mulch over bare soil to reduce evaporation. Hope that helps!
