USDA 2012 Plant Hardiness Zone Map

[Click the map to go to the USDA Plant Hardiness Interactive Map]

The USDA has updated their Plant Hardiness Zone Map for 2012 with new data and have made it interactive. According to the USDA, the map is "the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones." This map updates the 1990 version, using data from 1976 to 2005: there are 13 hardiness zones in this map, from 1 (coldest) to 13 (hottest).

In the previous map, Ohio was mostly zone 5 and is now mostly zone 6.

The USDA's Plant Hardiness Zone Map site also offers an interactive map of the entire U.S. that can be clicked-and-dragged, or zoomed to view zip codes; click the "Interactive Map" menu tab.

Maumee Valley Grower Specials

Maumee Valley Growers is an industry-based association committed to working together to strengthen our local greenhouse industry. The industry includes more than fifty individual Maumee Valley growers, alike in offering top-quality local plants but distinct in location, product mix, and focus. Learn more about what you can find at these individual locations by visiting our specials page.

•••

Plant Purple - Grow Hope Campaign Generates Thanks

MVG's Plant Purple - Grow Hope campaign has been appreciated in many places by many people. Click here for two letters exemplifying this appreciation.

Plant Purple — Grow Hope was spotlighted in an article in the Toledo Blade on May 2, 2011.

Ohio's Food Systems — Farms At the Heart

UAC commissioned a study of Ohio's food system by Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center, a non-profit organization that works with communities and their allies to foster democracy and local self-determination. From the study's Options for Action:

This study has found that the prevailing food system in Ohio has failed to build health, wealth, connection and capacity in Ohio communities to the extent that Ohioans deserve. Indeed, the food system often frustrates these purposes.

In response, residents are actively building community-based networks that include clusters of food businesses, with supportive social connections, popular organizations, and policy inititives, that strive toward a better future for Ohio.

» Click here to read the study's full report «
» Click here to read the study's Executive Summary «

[This study was funded by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.]

Northwest Ohio Food Vendors

Are you a food producer in NW Ohio? Are you thinking of adding food production to your greenhouse or field production? Check out this new site: maumeevalleyfood.org.

This web site offers information about Northwest Ohio local food vendors. The information is based on one compiled by the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio, Inc., the local administrators of the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program.

Maumee Valley Natives

Once established, natives are low-maintenance, they require no irrigation, and are naturally resistant to diseases and insects.

Maumee Valley Growers would like to welcome you to the Maumee Valley Natives brand of wildflowers now available for distribution at your nursery or garden center! Maumee Valley Natives are grown locally for Northwest Ohio. Click here for more information about the benefits of Maumee Valley Native Plants.

Maumee Valley Growers: Choose the Very Best

•••

Maumee Valley Growers are offering recycling: • Find out what items can be recycled • Get more information about the recycling program

•••

About the Maumee Valley Growers

Maumee Valley Growers is a not-for-profit association of regional growers committed to marketing only the highest quality plants possible, thereby helping to sustain and grow the local economy.