When I woke up this morning I saw the outside temperature was -15*F, making it the coldest day of the winter so far and I was relieved. Why? Because an early forecast was for -21*F.

Here in Gothenburg we live in Hardiness Zone 5.

What is a Hardiness Zone? It is: “A geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature.” Zone 5 is further split into 5a and 5b.

Zone 5a is just north of us and the average LOW temperature for the winter in Zone 5a is -20*F. We are in Zone 5b, which stretches from around Arnold to the Kansas border. In Zone 5b the average LOW temperature for the winter is -15*F.

I’m concerned, not just because I hate cold, but because of my peach trees. I have peach, apple, and pear trees in my yard along with some grapes. Peaches are originally from China where they have been cultivated since the Stone Age. From there they moved to Iran thus the scientific name of the peach is “Prunus persica”, meaning “the plum from Persia”.

Peaches spread throughout the Middle East and into Spain. In the 1500’s the Spanish took them to the New World. They were introduced into Europe in the 1600’s. Today California is the leading producer of peaches in the U.S. Georgia, the Peach State, isn’t even in second place, South Carolina is. However, worldwide, China is still the leading producer of peaches producing 14 million tons of peaches each year with second place Spain well behind at 1.7 million tons. The U.S. produces only 625,000 tons.

Mid-winter temperatures can affect the peaches more than the apples and pears and the magic low temperature for peaches is -15*F. If you remember back in January of 2024 we had three days in which it was below -15 culminating on the 16th in which the low hit -20*F. I didn’t have any peaches last summer!

There are different kinds of peach trees and in Zone 5 there are 10 different cultivars that can grow. In my yard I have two of the cultivars, the Contender and the TruGold. The Contender flowers a little later than the TruGold and thus is a little more resistant to spring frosts, but with -15*F last night, late frosts may not be an issue again this year because the winter cold may have already killed the fruit buds. I hope not, but then I guess I’ll just have to wait until May to see if any buds survived and whether or not I’m going to have any low-hanging fruit to snag as I go by on the mower in August.