One of the questions we are asked related to gardening is how can I tell which zone I am? Sometimes the zone maps on the back of seed packets are hard to cipher, zone divisions and small type often confuse the purchaser.  But other factors also affect your micro-zone.  My mother’s house has a protected “U” shaped area between two areas of her house connected by a hallway. That Southern facing area is a full zone hotter than her other yard areas and two zones hotter than her north facing slope since it atop a ridge and exposed to the winter winds.  For a quick guide to your zone, just type your zip code into this handy little gadget found on Arborday.com, https://www.arborday.org.
