Out with the potatoes and carrots, in with the bananas and coffee

January 6, 2007 8:29 AM

A revised U.S. plant hardiness map has been put out by the National Arbor Day Foundation, based on numbers from 5,000 cooperative climate observation stations throughout the United States. The foundation forged ahead with their own revisions since the official USDA map update has stalled. One unofficial draft [PDF] does exist. A USDA spokesperson said their map delay is because of fine-tuning where to draw the zone lines; the agency also plans to incorporate other data such as wind.
posted by rolypolyman (8 comments total)

That's impossible. Jim Inhofe told me global warming is a lie. How can the climate change?

The Arbor Day Foundation is clearly run by Hollywood elites, homosexuals, Jews, homosexual Jewish Hollywood elites, and Dan Rather. And what the hell is an "Arbor" anyway? That sounds French.
posted by dw at 9:00 AM on January 6, 2007

This is long overdue. 10 of the warmest winters on record have occured since 1990. I currently have a very crunchy and delicious patch of lettuce doing just great in my garden. This is good to know if you're ordering plants for spring.
posted by Ostara at 9:31 AM on January 6, 2007

I agree, dw....I'm sure it's been delayed for the same reason there are books on the shelf at the Grand Canyon visitor center that detail why the Canyon is just 6,000 years old. It really is incredible how much politics has bled into everything.
posted by nevercalm at 10:04 AM on January 6, 2007

I agree these things should be updated regularly, but a hardiness map is only useful when it shows lowest recorded temperatures as well as average lowest. Higher average temperatures does not mean that you still won't get the freezes the particular zones are capable of. Data that says a tree can survive in a new zone doesn't mean that it will survive there in the real world when you get a nasty early frost.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:22 AM on January 6, 2007

If this trend keeps up the frozen expanse that is Canada might soon become habitable.
posted by crowman at 12:28 PM on January 6, 2007

This means we're doing good, right?
posted by Balisong at 6:53 PM on January 6, 2007

Yeah, crowman, I'd like to not be the only one living here.
posted by watsondog at 11:11 PM on January 6, 2007

One wonders if the next version will call for the mass relocation of certain plants. Already, trees in MA that finished shedding their leaves not too long ago have started to bud.
posted by VulcanMike at 6:50 AM on January 7, 2007