The long awaited revised 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was released a few weeks ago. There had been some speculation that some of our area might change to Zone 6, but our area is mostly unchanged. Much of the Colorado Springs area remains in Zone 5b (average annual minimum temp of -10 to -15 F), while Black Forest and Monument stay in Zone 5A (-20 to -15 F), and our neighbors directly west stay in Zones 4A and 4B (-20 to -30 F). The new map, searchable by zip code, can be found here:
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
And for more information on the map’s history and what it means for gardeners, revisit Ed Carley’s informative post from two years ago:
http://peakgardening.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/usda-2009/
Contributed by Carey Harrington, Colorado Native Plant Master and Certified Colorado Gardener
January 4, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Thanks for the info! I did notice, though, your http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ link actually points to the hello world link below. I was still able to copy and paste the link and get to the site though!
March 2, 2013 at 11:52 am
Thanks for letting us know, Lisa. It’s all fixed now.