Bill, 6b isnt too bad, the data they collected included the major freezes of the 1980's so that probably lowered your zone from a 7a to a 6b. But winters like this year is what kind of evens things out a little bit since it has been a very mild winter! We got down to 13F here which actually is considered a pretty normal lowest temperature for the average mild winter, but the duration of warm weather this winter is something I haven't seen here in many years. I think that if you get colder than your zone more than 2 times in a decade, then you shouldn't be classified in that zone. After looking at NYC records, its clear that it does actually fit that definition as a zone 7b which I thought was suprising. And as for Miami, the city center definitely wont go below 35F so its a solid 10b. The more rural areas outside the city did get a freeze during that bitter 2010 cold spell, but the coastal areas of Miami only went down to the mid 30s. Florida seems like it got a bit colder with this new zone map, one of a few places that showed cooling with this zone map. But the major cities of Southeast Florida (Fort Lauderdale down to Miami and points south) is all a zone 10b now and in the 1990 map, only Miami was in a small pocket of zone 10b. No Problem Joey! Randy, I always thought that the USDA zone map should be taken as just a guide. It gives people a good idea of what kind of climate they have, and I think the zone maps are really intended for those gardeners that dont really know a lot about their climate. Gardeners like all of us are aware that the zones dont tell even half the story. Minimal temperatures during the winter are probably the most important factor for most plant's survival, especially in temperate climates, but its not the only factor. And once you get past zone 9a, I think that the duration of heat and freezes is a lot more important than minimal temperatures. Its the same reason why a zone 10b in Miami can grow a ton more tropicals than a zone 11 in Malibu! And a zone 7b in New York and a zone 7b in North Carolina are 2 totally different climates. You wont see live oaks and spanish moss lining streets here in NYC, but you might see something like that in a zone 7b in the southern states. And It seems to me like some areas are a bit more detailed than others with this map. I see a lot of detail from this map in my area, but Northern Florida and Georgia dont have as much detail it seems. For example, I would definitely consider Savannah Georgia and all of Coastal Georgia a zone 9a, but on this map about half of Georgia's coastline including Savannah is only a zone 8b. And I think that some of the more rural parts of Northern Florida are a bit too warm on this map. -Alex

Sally, I'm with you. I'm not very excited about cities in general and I hate to shop for things like clothes, purses, home furnishings, so they have to have something else to lure me there like cooking utensils or great food or farm markets and cattle auctions, LOL. I love to visit Chicago, but I'm always glad to go home. Places I'd still like to see? Boston and New Orleans and I can't tell you why I want to go either place, LOL. Washington D.C. because I want to go back to the Smithsonian, Philadelphia because I would love to see Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, etc., New York City so I can visit Carol (dishesdone) and New Hampshire so I can meet San! Annie

Southwold, Ontario (near London) has a 5-way "Stop" signed corner, Ron. Post office is small - about 20' on each side. There's a building that used to be a store, but now is closed. A truck backs up to the back sometimes and when I ask what goes on there ... they tell me that they raise bait worms. There's a trucking company about 200 feet south. The aboriginal settlement nearby is having a big furniture sale next week ... on Ball Park Road. They are not a reservation - part of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Oneidas bought their own land, many years ago. My landlord would explain how sod-farming works - he says that it takes two or three days for some companies to roll out a trailer-load of sod ... I think about 36 skids ... but his guys and he lay one in one day. I could show you my garden ... that I must clean up, now that snow's gone. While I was hitch-hiking to the "Old Farts (Senior Men's) Coffee Hour" at church yesterday, (a young aboriginal woman with a baby in the back seat gave me a ride) I found a lot of beer and pop cans along the side of the road. We can take a dozen garbage bags, you travelling one side of the road and I running the other ... ... at 10 cents a can recycling fee for beer cans and liquor bottles and about 2 cents scrap price for a pop can ... ... we could collect enough in an afternoon to go out to dinnner ... well, maybe lunch ... (coffee, maybe: if Starbucks, just us, but we could invite some friends if we go to Tim's). Then home to rub liniment on the sore muscles ... before bed. A bit short of space - there's another single in my bedroom (I'd have to clear the flying clothes off) and a double in the guest room. We could put up another single in the family room. If there's another person, you could have my bed and I'd use the sleeping bag on the chesterfield (couch) ... or the floor: I think that the air mattress still holds air. We could take a tour (about two miles away) of Toronto's new "landfill" (that's a double four-letter word for "dump") that's a couple of miles away, over by Highway 401, the Windsor-Toronto-Montreal Expressway. I expect that they'll build a new exit for the 140 or so trucks that will stop travelling to Michigan and drop their stuff near here, in a couple of years. Nearby London has Storybook Gardens, headquarters of John Labatt Brewery (used to be locally owned ... now somewhere in Europe). They sponsored the civic-owned John Labatt Centre, arena for Junior hockey that provides players for the N H L. There's an Agricultuiral Exhibition Centre, TV station and some flee markets ...oh, something wrong with the spelling, did you say? Used to be a biscuit/candy factory, but they closed. Oh - there's a cookie factory (Archway, Hollandia - similar to Voortmans) in a nearby village - they make great cookies, sometimes have 5-lb. boxes on sale. There's a motor vehicle licensing testing centre on a highway just on this side of London, should anyone be interested. If you're still around next Monday you could go with me for my next test - but you and my licensed required co-driver would have to sit in the centre, as no one allowed in the car but the tester (and me). When they test guys riding motorcycles, they give the guy being tested a radio collar (sorry - "headset") and the tester rides alongside with a transmitter to give instructions. Another driver-instruction session slated for after church on Sunday. Our London has a Thames River ... and ours has two branches, which meet downtown, with parks nearby and the former jail (now a municipal office bulding). I didn't say that we've become so civilized that we don't need a jail any more. Have a lovely weekend, everyone. ole joyful

As you all know, a lot of the upper midwest is f-l-a-t. (My DM, a native of Rhode Island, claimed that she used to drive up and over RR crossings, just for the variety.) I grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois. The "Park" part is common in many place names. The "Ridge" celebrates the infinitesimal bit of altitude above sea level that exists in the center of town. This name replaced the much less 'cultured' name of Bricktown. (An abundance of clay soil led to the founding of brick works.) Our little town and the one next to it had its own telephone company for ages. I remember an early phone directory that extolled the virtues of Park Ridge, inviting Chicagoalns to move there, "Out of the Smoke Zone -- Into the Ozone". (Well, what did they know?)