Native Plants

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Sunday - February 17, 2008

From: Haskell, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: General Botany
Title: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of Haskell, TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

What region are we in --- Haskell, Tx. (Between Abilene and Wichita Falls)

ANSWER:

As you can see from this USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map of South-Midwest US, Haskell County is basically bisected by the dividing line between Zones 7A, with an average annual minimum temperature of 5 deg to 0 deg and 7B, with an average annual minimum temperature of 10 deg to 5 deg. So, theoretically, you could stand in your front yard and be in Zone 7A and walk over to your neighbor's yard and be in Zone 7B. But we all know things don't change that abruptly. The zones have been more or less arbitrarily drawn over a period of years from records kept of average annual temperature maximums and minimums. How low the temperature may get has as much to do with the topography of the land; is it low? is it wet? is there heavy vegetation? than with the actual air temperature at any given place.