118 How to Use Hardiness Zones and Frost Dates Effectively | Growing Joy with Plants | Podcast
Channel: Growing Joy with Maria
Date: 28/10/2023

I’ve always known that Hardiness Zones and Frost Dates are important to planning your outdoor garden… but plant friend, I’ve never quite understood what they were or why they were so important. I’ve gotten as far as typing my zip code into the hardiness zone website, getting my “number” and then pretty much not doing anything with it.

As I look to plan my first grown-up garden this summer, I knew I needed help, so I asked Rochelle Greayer, of the renowned garden design website Pith & Vigor, who has years of garden design under her belt to help break all of these important concepts down for us, to better understand our outdoor environments.

In this episode, we learn:
[04:46] What Maria has in store for fellow novice gardeners like her this summer!
[05:40] How Rochelle went from flying aircraft and satellites to a full-time garden designer
[08:34] What Rochelle loves about garden design—and Maria’s luxury spa biophilic experience
[10:00] The many careers you can get into if you want to pursue a plant profession
[11:26] Do plants really clean the air in your apartment? Maria discusses this hot topic circulating in the plant community
[13:10] The topics that Maria wants to understand about outdoor gardens
[13:49] What are hardiness zones? What are the pros and cons of the USDA Hardiness Zones?
[17:23] The difference between the USDA hardiness zones and the American Horticultural Society (AHS) Heat Zones
[18:39] What does a plant’s hardiness mean?
[19:20] Once you know your hardiness zone, how do you apply that information to your outdoor garden?
[21:11] Does hardiness matter for annual plants?
[21:58] How do frost dates differ from hardiness zones? What are frost dates actually for?
[23:10] Why it is important to know frost dates—beware of last frost!
[25:54] What’s more important between hardiness zone and frost dates?
[29:48] How to plan your garden with your hardiness zone and frost dates information
[31:02] Frost date hack: you can extend your growing season inside!
[32:31] Understanding how a plant supports itself during growing season
[35:06] What are the Sunset climate zones?
[36:58] Listener question #1: How much does microclimate affect your predicted garden zones? What is a microclimate?
[39:31] How do you know if you have a microclimate in the garden?
[41:06] Listener question #2: What methods can be used to push gardening zones, if a plant is hardy just outside your gardening zone?
[41:43] Why it’s important to pay attention to the environments in your garden
[44:44] Listener question #3: Have the zones changed because of climate change?
[46:49] Rochelle’s favorite piece of advice for those who want to try out garden design
[48:57] Rochelle’s gardening course for homeowners looking into improving their gardens
[50:26] The cool history behind Pith + Vigor’s name
[53:23] Maria’s plans for this seed season and how she’s applied this conversation to her garden planning

Check out the full show notes and blog of ‘Understanding Hardiness Zones, Frost Dates And Microclimates In The Garden' here: https://growingjoywithmaria.com/hardiness/

Order Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants): https://read.macmillan.com/lp/growing-joy/

Subscribe to the Growing Joy with Maria channel by clicking the red button below the video!

Listen to the Growing Joy with Maria: The Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or your preferred podcast player, just type in "Growing Joy with Maria" in the search bar on your preferred podcast player or go to: https://link.chtbl.com/GqF_y8ab

Follow Maria and Growing Joy on Instagram @growingjoywithmaria

Join the (free) Growing Joy Garden Club: https://growingjoywithmaria.com/garden-club

Check out what products Maria uses in her plant collection on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/shop/bloomandgrowradio and https://growingjoywithmaria.com/shop