The-Garden

The Garden

Proudly Serving The North Shore Since 1954

Vegetables & Herbs

Annuals

Fancy Annuals

Geraniums

Hanging Baskets

Container Gardens

Tropicals

Native Nursery

Evergreens/Broadleaf

Flowering Shrubs

Roses

Climbers

Grasses

Ferns

Hostas

Groundcovers

USDA Hardiness Zones

The United States Department of Agriculture came up with these zones to decipher which plants are perennial or annual for specific locations. An annual can be grown temporarely almost anywhere. Although if you are looking for something more permanent then you would want to plant a 'hardy' plant, or perennial, which can tolerate the temperature or rain all year in that area. Typically, if you are looking for a perennial, you want it to be the zone you are in or lower. Some locations can be protected and sunnier, where you might even be able to go one zone higher. In Illinois and particularly the Chicago land area, we are zone 5. Some people that live near the lake can be broken down to 5a and 5b. These represent the temperature change due to lake effect. This would mean that typically zone 5b has a low of -10 to -15 degrees, where as 5a can get down to -15 to -20 degrees.