What are these 'zones' I have seen when refering to planting and geographic location?

Question

What are they, why are they seperated, and what is the details of each zone?

Answer 1

Basically, they are climate and soil zones which are guides to when planting can begin and what kinds of plants do well in different places at different times.

The details are to many to list. Instead, go to a website such as the following one (for the U.S., Canada and Mexico). There are other websites for other countries.

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

Answer 2

they are climate zones. They are general guides to length and timing of growing season by area.

Check any seed company website and they will have a zone map.