What Can You Plant in Kansas? Most Areas Are Now Warmer on the USDA's Gardening and Farming Map

Kansans may take a chance on some new plant varieties in gardens and nurseries and on farms next year after the U.S. Department of Agriculture changed its hardiness zone map.

Most of Kansas has been recategorized as one half-zone warmer on the map, which the agency updated last month for the first time in 11 years.

The hardiness map reflects the coldest winter temperatures recorded annually by weather stations across the U.S.

Growers use it to pick plant varieties that should survive the bitterest nights of their local winters. The federal government uses it to set crop insurance standards.

“It’s critical,” said Cheryl Boyer, a professor at Kansas State University’s Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources. “I would say everybody involved in plant production or growth of any kind is using this map.”

Boyer also directs Kansas State Research and Extension programs related to horticulture and natural resources.

“To me, the biggest change if you’re a gardener,” she said, “is in the southern part of the state.”

Wichita, Fort Scott and surrounding areas shifted from zone 6b to zone 7a, meaning gardeners there could check out plant recommendations from northern Oklahoma for inspiration.

“That’s open season on trying some new things,” she said, “but also being OK with losing a plant if we have a really extreme winter some year.”

In other words, growers should be aware that an exceptional cold snap could still buck the USDA’s adjusted map.

Based on 30 years of data, about half of the country has shifted a half-zone warmer on the map.

However, the USDA hasn’t linked this to climate change.

It wrote in a news release that the new map partly reflects efforts to record temperatures in more locations.

Several thousand more weather stations contributed to the 2023 map – 13,412 stations compared to the 7,983 that provided data for the 2012 version.

Additionally, the agency said that the lowest winter temperatures in each area can vary significantly from year to year.

“Map developers involved in the project cautioned against attributing temperature updates made to some zones as reliable and accurate indicators of global climate change,” the agency said in its release, adding that studying climate trends usually requires longer-term data.

Source: hppr.org

Photo Credit: istock-chas53