maps, guides and charts for planting

Here are several maps that I use and recommend others use to check for first and last frost, hardiness zones and other neat things. Remember these are just a guide and please don't blame me for dead gardens.

plant hardiness zone map

find your zone by zip code

heat zone map with how to use instructions
http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htm
http://www.ahs.org/pdfs/05_heat_map.pdf

Canada hardiness zone map

Europe hardiness zone map

Australia hardiness zone map

average fall frost dates US and Canada

last spring frost map for US and Canada

Something else to think about when it comes to planting beside hardiness zones and frost dates is soil temperature. I often go by this rather than the freeze dates. It does require you keep a careful eye on frost dates but over all this method seems to make more sense than the others.

soil temperature chart

another chart

Still another thing to take in to consideration is the lunar phase and some even take zodiac signs in to consideration. I try to use the moon phases here but I have noticed that often times our window to get things in the ground closes or opens during the non optimal moon phase. No matter it is still interesting and is neat to look at.

moon phases

zodiac signs

lunar planting