Greetings Seeders!
USDA agricultural zones denote the coldness of your winter, with a zone 1 being very cold and a zone 10 being frost-free. These zones are designed to tell you what perennials are likely to overwinter successfully in your area. You can easily discover your USDA agricultural zone by running a google search, ex. “USDA zone for Iowa City, Iowa.” Google will then give you your zone, in this case “Zone 5.” Searching by zone here on this website will bring up only the seeds and plants that will overwinter reliably in your area. There are, of course, several caveats. The variables of weather, altitude, location and the proximity of significant features such as woodlands, mountains, and maritime exposure will certainly have an effect on adaptability and ultimate survivability of different plant species. Horticultural practices including microsite planting, companion planting and protection (greenhouse, cloche, shade-house or indoor culture) can be employed to improve the likelihood that favorite plants will overwinter. Ultimately, if a person wants a plant badly enough, they will figure out a way to keep it, and keep it from harm. Meanwhile, our “shop by zone” feature is designed to guide gardeners toward the plants that will survive in their area without added protection. Greenhouses are great, but no matter how large one makes them, they tend to get overcrowded. Shop by zone and overwinter your plants outside!
