Location, Location, Location: Climate Zones
The Waves of Light • Nisha Prajapati
Foam • Lichen • Storm
Above: Watercolor painting by Nisha Prajapati (She studies Biology and Chemistry!) Painted in and inspired by Ballyvaughan, Ireland.
Above: A fantasy desert setting where adventurers are overlooking an oasis enshrouded within an ancient creature's ruins ~ Description by Lucy He. For the purposes of this blog, one might imagine that this is the quintessential succulent dessert.
Breakdown of Succulent Origins
Above: Watercolor painting by Nisha Prajapati (She studies Biology and Chemistry!) Painted in and inspired by Ballyvaughan, Ireland.
Cold Hardiness, Hardiness Zones, or Climate Zones refers to geographically defined regions where succulents can grow and prosper based on climate and temperature. When buying a succulent, you may come across its particular zone, and knowing the zone of your own home may help you decide which succulents to buy.
While cacti are mostly found in the hottest of desserts, succulents are native to most parts of the world. Agavoideae are native to North & Central America, Cactaceae are native to all Americas, the Crassulaceae are everywhere, Aizoaceae are from South Africa & Australia, Apocynaceae are from Africa, Arabia, India, & Australia, etc, etc. The Dudleya farinosa, for instance, is native to the California coastline and Mexico, while Sedum tetractinum or Chinese stonecrop is native to China. Understanding the origins of your succulent is important in determining if they will thrive or die in your house.
While cacti are mostly found in the hottest of desserts, succulents are native to most parts of the world. Agavoideae are native to North & Central America, Cactaceae are native to all Americas, the Crassulaceae are everywhere, Aizoaceae are from South Africa & Australia, Apocynaceae are from Africa, Arabia, India, & Australia, etc, etc. The Dudleya farinosa, for instance, is native to the California coastline and Mexico, while Sedum tetractinum or Chinese stonecrop is native to China. Understanding the origins of your succulent is important in determining if they will thrive or die in your house.
Above: A fantasy desert setting where adventurers are overlooking an oasis enshrouded within an ancient creature's ruins ~ Description by Lucy He. For the purposes of this blog, one might imagine that this is the quintessential succulent dessert.
Breakdown of Succulent Origins
Aeonium = Africa
Agave = Americas
Aloe = Africa, Mediterranean, Atlantic islands
Cotyledon = Africa
Crassula = Africa
Dudleya = California coast, Mexico
Echeveria = Americas
Faucaria = South Africa
Gasteria = South Africa
Hayworthia = South Africa
Kalanchoe = America, Africa, Southeast Asia
Sanseveria = Africa, India
Sempervivum = Central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa
Why the above doesn't really matter
Succulents like it hot and dry in varying degrees, but just because they may have lived and adapted to a certain country or area doesn't mean they can't live happily in another.
In 1892, the Deutsche Kakteen-Gesellschaft, or the German Cactus Society, was founded in Berlin, where they imported cacti from around the world to sell and display in Europe. A little later, in 1932, the Cactus and Succulent Society of Great Britain was formed (it has since merged with another society formed in 1945 and is now called the British Cactus and Succulent Society.) And today, there are numerous successful succulent growers the world over.
What those Climate Zones Mean
The Hardiness Map was created by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to aid gardeners in determining what will grow in their gardens. Each zone is determined solely by temperature and every zone represents a ten degree Fahrenheit increment. The USDA website has a very nice feature that displays the map of the US, as well as individual states, color-coded for each zone. You can also type in your zip-code to instantly find out your hardiness zone.
When you buy a succulent online, they may provide you with a filter so that you will only see succulents that fit your hardiness zone. Mountain Crest Gardens is a great example of this. If you're shopping in a nursery, you can always google the name of your succulent to find its exact zone, but chances are, if the nursery is local, the succulent will probably live in your home too.
If you don't live in the USA, you may find this map to be super useless. However, there are zones for you too! This website has compiled a list of other websites that have the hardiness zones around the world.
Why the above doesn't really matter (again!)
While matching temperatures to zones and succulents is nice, there are many more factors that determine whether a succulent will survive in your garden. Things like soil, humidity, wind, daylight, and rainfall are not encompassed within these zones. Even within the same zone, these factors are different and may affect what plants will actually grow in your local area. Additionally, growing plants indoors is a lot different from letting the elements have at your succulent. If you grow indoors, things like the local soil environment don't matter, neither does the length of the day if you have a growlamp, or rainfall frequency if you water your plants.
Takeaway
You may have found this post to be very informative and useless at the same time. (So did I.) All I can say is try your best. I typically ignore the hardiness zone information and haven't had a succulent die yet! Just be aware that you maybe shouldn't spend a fortune on a single plant without doing some research first.
BONUS: Looking for some great artwork to decorate your home? A new phone case or poster? Or just some original artwork to liven up your Instagram feed? Look no further than Lucy He Illustration. She's an illustrator from the Philadelphia and Baltimore area and you can contact her via email at lucyheillustration@gmail.com. She has the ability to bring even the most fantastic scenes to life and the eye to render the world around her. In addition to illustration, she does visual journalism, portrait painting, sketching, and plein-air painting. Check out her Website, Shop, Instagram, and Behance gallery using the links.
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| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Lucy He |
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