US Hardiness Zones
Below is a map of Hardiness Zones for helping you choose the best seeds, bulbs, and plants for your garden, as determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When ordering, you can determine if the item will be winter hardy in your area by checking the Zone information on the item's description page.


We Ship Plants, Bulbs, and Bareroots At The Best Time To Plant In Your Area
This map serves as a rough guide for the American Meadows Spring Bulb and Perennial shipping schedule. Each spring as products become available, we ship orders at the right planting time for each zone, once the threat of frost has been minimized. We start with the warmest zones (8-10) and work our way to the cooler zones as spring arrives. In the fall for perennial plants and fall bulbs, we start shipping to the cooler zones and work our way to the warmer zones as winter approaches.
How To Identify Your Gardening Season With Plant Hardiness Zones
Not all growing seasons are created equal. Plants have preferred climates and altitudes based on millions of years of diversifying and adapting to locations specifically for them. In other words, a tropical palm tree would probably not survive if it was planted in the Antarctic tundra. Makes sense, right?
On a smaller scale, certain plants might thrive in North Carolina, but not survive our winters here in the northeast. When you can identify your specific gardening season and its limitations, you can start to narrow down a plant palette for your garden that will thrive and grow every year.
Find Your Zone
Click here to find your USDA Hardiness Zone. Enter your zip code to confirm your zone.
Understanding Plant Hardiness Zones
What you will see is a scale 1 – 13 that categorizes every location in the United States based on its average annual extreme minimum temperature (the lowest temperature of the year averaged out over time).
The coldest regions further north and higher in altitude are 1 on the scale, while the hottest regions are 13.
This scale is further subdivided with 1a being colder than 1b, and 2a being colder than 2b, etc.
So now that you know what zone you live in, how is this information going to help?
How Your Zone Helps You Choose Plants for Your Garden
Every plant has been identified with the zones it will survive in. When shopping at American Meadows, you can use the filters to find plants that are suited to your zone.
For instance, if you want to buy Monarda ,or bee balm, you can simply check the product details to find that its hardiness zone is 4-8. If your garden is a 3, it will have difficulty growing there, possibly dying off in the cold winters. If you garden is a 6, then Monarda will happily thrive.
Many tropical spring-planted flower bulbs are not perennial or winter hardy in much of the United States, but you can bring these plants indoors for the winter, or dig up and store bulbs to replant the next spring.
Knowing your zone is critical before selecting plants because it allows you to purchase the ones that have adapted to thrive in your specific location. Choosing the right plants for the right spot gives you a fuller, brighter, healthier garden that typically requires less work.
Identifying Microclimates In Your Garden
Now that you’ve narrowed down your options into a plant palette that survives in your hardiness zone, we can zoom in even farther to microclimates. Your property is most-likely not a “one size fits all” in terms of planting spots. Take a moment now to visualize all of the different microclimates you have. Some examples include:
- North side of home / Under a tree (Full Shade)
- Open Field / South Side of Home (Full Sun)
- East Side of House (Part Sun / Morning Sun)
- Rocky Hill (Quick Drainage and Sun)
- Stream Bed (Clay and Wet)
- Forest Floor (Dense Shade and Dry)
There are many different microclimates that can be on one single property, or can vary from neighbor to neighbor. Identifying what these conditions are for your garden is the next step for properly selecting plants. Choosing plants that will thrive next to your pond versus on a rocky hilltop must be approached in an entirely different way.
To do this, first recognize where you want to plant.
Then analyze how much sunlight that location gets in a day, scaling from dense shade to full sun.
Next, determine how dry or wet the location is; is it in a lowland spot that fills with water after a rain, or a dry hilltop?
From there, you can narrow down the plant palette you will work from.
Make sure to look at the information provided for each plant online or contact us if you’re unsure.
Always Remember: “Right Plant, Right Place!”
Remember, plants have adapted to grow and survive over millions of years. If you select the right plant for the right place, it will thrive with very little input from you. It will give you more growth, more blooms, and less work to do in your garden. Alternatively, if you select a plant that is out of your hardiness zone level, or is planted in the shade when it wants sun, it will suffer, underperform, and eventually die.
Simply start with knowing your hardiness zone and shopping for plants that fall within that range. From there, the label and planting information will tell you everything you need to know about if that plant will thrive in your specific location. In no time at all you will become familiar with the plant palette adapted for your garden and, after planting it all out, you will be ready to sit back and watch everything grow!
Shop Most Popular Perennial Plants
Our Long Blooming Lavender Collection includes five of our bestselling Lavender varieties for a graceful blend of flowers and fragrance. A mix of French hybrid and English cultivars ...
Learn MoreLong Blooming Lavender Collection Long Blooming Lavender Collection LavandulaAs low as $46.65 Sale $37.32Per Collection of 5Our Long Blooming Lavender Collection includes five of our bestselling Lavender varieties for a graceful blend of flowers and fragrance. A mix of French hybrid and English cultivars will give your planting nuanced texture and color. Lavender plants prefer full sun, and they make a great choice for container plantings and dry, well-draining soil. Plant in a pollinator garden, herb garden, or along a path, patio, or walkway to enjoy soothing fragrance and elegant blooms all summer. (Lavandula) Collection of 5 or 15 plants.Phenomenal Lavender has it all: exceptionally tolerant of both high heat and harsh winter, this easy-to-grow lavender even shows resistance to the effects of humidity. Highly fragran...
Learn MorePhenomenal® Lavender Lavender Phenomenal® PP#24193 Lavandula x intermedia Phenomenal PP#24193As low as $8.52Per Plant - 3" PotPhenomenal Lavender has it all: exceptionally tolerant of both high heat and harsh winter, this easy-to-grow lavender even shows resistance to the effects of humidity. Highly fragrant with concentrated essential oils, Phenomenal's spikes of purple-blue flowers attract butterflies and bees to the garden. Edible, deer-resistant and fast-growing, this silver-leafed lavender has left all other new introductions in the dust! (Lavandula x intermedia) PP#24193‚Karl Foerster‚ Feather Reed Grass creates a dramatic garden accent, with tall, slender, vertical growth and feathery plumes of shifting bronze color that stay in place y...
Learn MoreKarl Foerster Feather Reed Grass Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass Calamagrostis x acutiflora Karl FoersterAs low as $13.32 Sale $10.66Per Plant - 3.5" Pot'Karl Foerster' Feather Reed Grass creates a dramatic garden accent, with tall, slender, vertical growth and feathery plumes of shifting bronze color that stay in place year-round. An early bloomer, 'Karl Foerster' is a cool season grass that grows most rapidly in the spring season and produces notably early blooms. It is a clump-forming decorative grass, with an upward architectural growth habit, making it a dramatic specimen plant in garden or meadow. Torch-like plumes are widely used in dried flower arrangements. This sterile variety does not self-sow, is deer resistant, and notably cold hardy. (Calamagrostis acutiflora)Our Carefree Creeping Phlox Collection offers a beautiful quilt-like groundcover to dress up the early spring garden. Cushiony mats of fine-textured foliage burst into bloom, blanket...
Learn MoreCarefree Creeping Phlox Collection Carefree Creeping Phlox Collection Phlox subulataAs low as $30.65 Sale $24.52Per Collection of 4Our Carefree Creeping Phlox Collection offers a beautiful quilt-like groundcover to dress up the early spring garden. Cushiony mats of fine-textured foliage burst into bloom, blanketing the garden in star-shaped flowers and attracting pollinators. Lovely planted along a walkway, tucked among the boulders of a rock garden, or cascading over a rock wall or the edge of a planter. Choose from a Collection of 4 or 12 plants.
American Meadows Product Guarantee
We offer top-quality seeds, bulbs and perennial plants. They are the very freshest and finest available anywhere, and we work with our growers and importers to ensure that you receive products that will help you grow with confidence.
If any American Meadows product fails to grow, just let us know any time within one year of delivery. We will replace it without charge, or refund your money, whichever you prefer. For over 25 years, we have guaranteed our products and we stand by our commitment to provide you with the highest quality gardening products available anywhere.
Below is a listing of U.S. "Hardiness Zones" for seeds, bulbs and plants, as determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When ordering, you can determine if the item will be "Winter Hardy" in your area by checking the "Zone" information on the item's description page.

You may determine which climatic zone you are in by checking this map. However, this is only a guide since conditions for growing will vary in certain areas.
This map also serves as a rough guide for American Meadows’ Spring Bulb and Perennial shipping schedule. Each spring as products become available, we begin monitoring the weather and shipping orders once the threat of frost has been minimized. We start with the warmest zones (such as 8-10) and work our way north as spring arrives. In the fall, we reverse the process for fall bulbs as winter approaches.
How to Identify Your Gardening Season and its Limitations with Plant Hardiness Zones
Not all growing seasons are created equal. Plants have preferred climates and altitudes based on millions of years of diversifying and adapting to locations specifically for them. In other words, a tropical palm tree would probably not survive if it was planted in the Antarctic tundra. Makes sense, right?
On a smaller scale, certain plants might thrive in North Carolina, but not survive our winters here in the northeast. When you can identify your specific gardening season and its limitations, you can start to narrow down a plant palette for your garden that will thrive and grow every year.
Identifying Your Plant Hardiness Zone
The first step in understanding what plants will thrive in your garden is to know what plant hardiness zone you live in. If you are unsure what this is, find your location on the map above to get your hardiness zone level. What you will see is a scale 1 – 13 that categorizes every location in the United States based on its average annual extreme minimum temperature (the lowest temperature of the year averaged out over time).
The coldest regions further north and higher in altitude are 1 on the scale, while the hottest regions are 13. This scale is further subdivided with 1a being colder than 1b, and 2a being colder than 2b, etc. So this is the type of number that you will receive when you check what hardiness zone you live in. The majority of the northeast tends to fall somewhere between 3 and 6.
So now that you know what zone you live in, how is this information going to help?
How Your Plant Hardiness Zone Helps You Choose Plants for Your Garden
Every plant has been identified for what zones it will survive in. All you need to do is know what zone your garden is and then select plants that are labeled to be in that range. For instance, if you want to buy Monarda bradburiana, or bee balm, you can simply check the tag or online product details to find that its hardiness zone is 4-8. If your garden is a 3, it will have difficulty growing there, possibly dying off in the cold winters. If you garden is a 6, then Monarda will happily thrive.
Knowing your zone is critical before selecting plants because it allows you to purchase the ones that have adapted to thrive in your specific location. Choosing the right plants for the right spot gives you a fuller, brighter, healthier garden that typically requires less work.
Identifying Microclimates in Your Plant Hardiness Zone
Now that you’ve narrowed down your options into a plant palette that survives in your hardiness zone, we can zoom in even farther to microclimates. Your property is most-likely not a “one size fits all” in terms of planting spots. Take a moment now to visualize all of the different microclimates you have. Some examples include:
- North side of home / Under a tree (Full Shade)
- Open Field / South Side of Home (Full Sun)
- East Side of House (Part Sun / Morning Sun)
- Rocky Hill (Quick Drainage and Sun)
- Stream Bed (Clay and Wet)
- Forest Floor (Dense Shade and Dry)
There are many different microclimates that can be on one single property, or can vary from neighbor to neighbor. Identifying what these conditions are for your garden is the next step for properly selecting plants. Choosing plants that will thrive next to your pond versus on a rocky hilltop must be approached in an entirely different way.
To do this, first recognize where you want to plant. Then analyze how much sunlight that location gets in a day, scaling from dense shade to full sun. Next, determine how dry or wet the location is; is it in a lowland spot that fills with water after a rain, or a dry hilltop? From there, you can narrow down the plant palette you will work from. Make sure to look at the information provided for each plant online or ask a professional at the nursery if you’re unsure.
Always Remember: “Right Plant, Right Place!”
Remember, plants have adapted to grow and survive over millions of years. If you select the right plant for the right place it will thrive with very little input from you. It will give you more growth, more blooms, and less work to do in your garden. Alternatively, if you select a plant that is out of your hardiness zone level, or is planted in the shade when it wants sun, it will suffer, underperform, and eventually die.
Understanding these limitations may seem overwhelming when selecting plants for your garden but don’t worry! Simply start with knowing your hardiness zone and shopping for plants that fall within that range. From there, the label and planting information will tell you everything you need to know about if that plant will thrive in your specific location. In no time at all you will become familiar with the plant palette adapted for your garden and, after planting it all out, you will be ready to sit back and watch everything grow!
American Meadows Product Guarantee
Top-quality seeds, bulbs and perennial plants are all we sell. They are the very freshest and finest available anywhere and we work with our growers and importers to ensure that you receive products that will bring you back to American Meadows year after year.
If any American Meadows product fails to grow, just let us know any time within one year of delivery. We will happily replace it without charge, or refund your money, whichever you prefer. For over 25 years, we have guaranteed our products and we stand by our commitment to provide you with the highest quality gardening products available anywhere.
"I have ordered bulbs & seed from this company about half a dozen times, each time I was happy. I ordered the Southeastern Mix & the All Annual mix, both bloomed great. I have also ordered a few hundred bulbs from them & had great blooms the next spring & fall."