US Department of Agriculture says warmer climate allows people in Ohio to grow ...
Local growers already knew what the federal government validated Wednesday -- that warmer temperatures are sustaining plants that used to not survive the winters here.
A new Plant Hardiness Zone Map -- those colorful maps you see on tree tags and seed packets -- reflects warming in much of the country, including Ohio. Most of the state moved from zone 5 to zone 6 under the Department of Agriculture's revised map. The numbers are based on average annual extreme low temperatures over 30 years.
"The only thing it's going to change is it's going to lessen people's resistance to what we've been telling them," said Chris Murray, nursery manager at Gali's Florist and Garden Center on Chagrin Boulevard.
Gali's has already been recommending that customers buy hardy banana trees, for instance, which produce ornamental leaves (but still can't produce fruit in this climate).
The white flowering dogwood and southern magnolia are other examples of trees that used to be risky for this area, but not anymore, said Sean Barry of the Arbor Day Foundation.