What Gardening Zone Is Jacksonville Florida

I miss growing peonies, so I bought a bare-root peony plant in the garden section of the local big box store. Why don't people have them in their gardens here?

Peonies thrive in cooler climates. In Northeast Florida we have long periods of hot, humid weather. In general, most peony cultivars do not perform well in the South because they were bred and selected for northern climates and do not receive the right amount of cold weather in Northeast Florida. Your peony may start growing here while it is cool, but it may wither in July or August, when our daytime temperatures are over 90 degrees for several days. If it survives summer, it may not go dormant until our first frost. If the plant re-sprouts next spring, it won't have blooms since it didn't get its required cold dormant period. It'll be a weaker plant that will slowly fade.

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I'm getting emails, pop-up ads and even paper mail order gardening catalogs in the mail. If it says it'll grow in Zone 9, the plant will grow here, right?

Maybe. This question and the one above relate to heat tolerance and cold tolerance (requirements) in plants. The "zone" you are referring to comes from the USDA Hardiness Zone Map (planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/). The USDA Hardiness Zone Map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature. Duval County is in USDA Zone 9. Counties west of Duval could be in zone 8b.

Probably more important when thinking of plants is heat tolerance. Heat tolerance has been addressed by several sources. The American Horticultural Society has a Heat-Zone Map (solanomg.ucanr.edu/files/245158.pdf) that is based on the number of days that the temperature is at or above 86 degrees. It assumes that the plant is getting adequate moisture at its roots. We're in Heat Zone 9.

The University of California uses Sunset Climate Zones. If you're reading one of those Sunset Gardening books, we're in Sunset Climate Zone 28.

National publications of books and mail-order gardening catalogs usually only reference the USDA Hardiness Zone, and rarely you might see zone 8E/9W referring to the zones in the eastern U.S. and the western U.S. California USDA Zone 9 is different than our USDA Zone 9. The western USDA Zone 9 has winter rains and a dry summer with no humidity. We can have rain year around, though spring tends to be dry and summer can have a monsoon. The breeze off the Pacific is a lot cooler than our sea breeze off the Atlantic and Gulf. Obviously, temperature extremes are not the only deciding factor factors in determining what plants will grow in your garden.

The University of Florida has done a lot of research on what plants will grow in Florida. Their online and print publications divide Florida into North, Central and South Florida, depending on their cold hardiness (temperate, subtropical or tropical). It's hot and humid in the summer throughout Florida. If we grow plants listed for Central or South Florida, they may behave like an herbaceous perennial and re-sprout from the roots if frozen back, or they might die from the cold.

In addition, the University of Florida IFAS publications mention soil pH, soil texture, light range and preference, salt tolerance, soil moisture and drought tolerance (the last two are not the same). Additionally, growth rate, height and spread, native status and use by wildlife is covered, as well as wind resistance for trees. Lots of information is covered to help you choose plants wisely.

"The Florida-Friendly Landscaping Guide to Plant Selection & Landscape Design" is a gardening book just for Florida. Check it out at ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/FYN_Plant_Selection_Guide_2015.pdf.

A mobile plant app is available at ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/plants to help chose plants.

You can do an online search for appropriate plants using the Florida-Friendly Plant Database at floridayards.org/fyplants. This allows you to put in site specific requirements and build a personal list of plants that you can print out and take to the plant nursery.

Other good resources for researching plants are the St. Johns River Water Management District's Waterwise Landscaping at www.sjrwmd.com/water-conservation/waterwise-landscaping/efficient-water-use, and the Florida Native Plant Society at www.fnps.org/plants/plants, which has Florida Native Plants only.

If you still like actual paper books, check out the University of Florida IFAS bookstore at ifasbooks.ifas.ufl.edu/ for Florida Gardening books. Local bookstores may have some of them in their regional section, instead of the gardening section.

It is important that we know the growing conditions in our own landscape. We should have an idea of the soil moisture, pH, and sunlight. Match the growing conditions in our landscape to the plant's growing requirements when purchasing.

Some plants are native from Canada to Florida and Texas, such as red bud trees. If you order a mail-order a hybrid from a northern grower, it might not grow well here and could even die. Eco-types of the same species have evolved to local growing conditions. For best results try to get plants grown in Florida, South Georgia or Louisiana.

Brenda Daly is a Master Gardener Volunteer with the Duval County Extension Service and the University of Florida/IFAS. For gardening questions, call the Duval County Extension Office at (904) 255-7450 from 9 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. and ask for a Master Gardener Volunteer.