Hardiness zone

A hardiness zone (a subcategory of vertical zonation) is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone (see the scale on the right or the table below). For example, a plant that is described as "hardy to zone 10" means that the plant can withstand a minimum temperature of −1 °C (30 °F). A more resilient plant that is "hardy to zone 9" can tolerate a minimum temperature of −7 °C (19 °F). First developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the use of the zones has been adopted by other countries.

USDA hardiness zones

Benefits and drawbacks

The hardiness zones are informative: the extremes of winter cold are a major determinant of whether a plant species can be cultivated outdoors at a particular location; however, the USDA hardiness zones have a number of drawbacks if used without supplementary information. The zones do not incorporate summer heat levels into the zone determination; thus sites which may have the same mean winter minima, but markedly different summer temperatures, will be accorded the same hardiness zone.

White Flower

The White Flower (Italian: Biancofiore) was an informal name given to the electoral alliance of two Christian democratic Italian political parties for the 2001 general election, namely:

The parties aligned themselves with the House of Freedoms centre-right coalition. It was led by Pier Ferdinando Casini. The list gained only 3.2% of the vote, short of the 4% threshold however, thanks to its alliance with the House of Freedoms, it gained 40 Deputies and 29 Senators.

In December 2002 both constituent parties merged with European Democracy to form the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC).

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