Autumn Olive is a tree, a long-term addition to the landscape. It's hardy across USDA zones 4 through 8. Its early spring flowers are a moderate draw for honeybees and native bees, even though the fruit is the prize. A nitrogen-fixer, it draws nitrogen from the air and feeds it back to the soil — turn it under or leave the roots in place, and the next planting inherits a richer bed.
Autumn Olive — the short answer
Autumn Olive: grown in zones 4–8, full sun, pH 6–8.5.
- USDA zones
- 4–8
- Hardy to zone 4a — NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox.
- Soil pH
- 6–8.5
- FAO ECOCROP
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Frost-kill temp (growing season)
- 30.2°F
- FAO ECOCROP
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — each tile names its own row's source, because per-field provenance varies.
Score Autumn Olive on your exact land.
Zone averages can't see the slope, soil, frost, and sun that decide whether autumn olive actually takes — and those shift from one yard to the next. Enter your address and we'll score autumn olive against your land's real conditions.
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What Autumn Olive is
Autumn Olive grows as a perennial and reaches around 15 feet at maturity. It blooms yellow in early spring.
How to grow Autumn Olive
Autumn Olive grows in USDA zones 4 through 8. Autumn Olive does best in full sun — at least 6 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 6 to 8.5, on well-drained ground. It needs around 1,800 growing degree days to mature, which is why climate matters as much as soil.
USDA Zones
4-8
Rated hardy to zone 4a by NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, checked Oct 2026. Ceiling: not verified.
Soil pH
6 - 8.5
FAO ECOCROP
Sun
Full Sun
Growable Ground plant catalog
Drainage
well (dry spells)
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost Kill Temperature
30.2°F
Where cold starts killing growing tissue. Not a winter-survival floor — a dormant perennial takes far colder, which its hardiness zone answers.
FAO ECOCROP
Minimum Growing Temperature
41°F
Below this it stops growing rather than dies — a pace limit, not a survival limit.
FAO ECOCROP
GDD Required
1800+
Growing degree-days of accumulated warmth it needs to mature — humid summers reach this faster than cool coastal ones.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Mature Height
15 ft
Growable Ground plant catalog
Plant it right
Set autumn olive in full sun with well-drained soil. Many fruit trees need a second variety nearby to pollinate — check before you plant just one.
Match the soil
Autumn Olive prefers pH 6 to 8.5 (FAO ECOCROP). A quick soil test from your local Extension lab tells you whether to add lime or sulfur to land in band. It fixes its own nitrogen, so skip the high-nitrogen feed and instead dust the seed with a matching rhizobium inoculant at sowing.
Water steadily
Keep the root zone evenly moist through establishment. A 2–3 inch mulch layer holds moisture without waterlogging.
Be patient, then harvest
Prune annually while the tree establishes; fruit trees reward patience with years of harvest. Local Extension guides publish per-cultivar bearing-age tables.
Where Autumn Olive thrives
Autumn Olive is hardy across USDA zones 4 through 8. Zone is only the starting point, though: the soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific land decide how well it actually does.
A USDA zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme winter minimum, so zones 4–8 spans average winter lows from -30°F to 20°F (USDA PHZM 2023). Across the 50 states and DC, that band covers 25 outright and splits 26 more down the middle — and which side of that line your land sits on changes the answer.
Zones 4–8·Where Autumn Olive growsOpen map →
This map is derived from the USDA ARS / PRISM Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2023) and is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Where Autumn Olive stands, state by state
Autumn Olive is rated for zones 4–8 — a cold floor USDA puts at -30 to -20°F. Across the 50 states and DC, 25 sit fully inside that band, the line runs through 26 more, and 0 sit outside it — and inside every split state, the same line runs on at county grain.
Fully inside zones 4–8
25 states
3 of 25 shown
State zone extents: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023. A zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme minimum temperature, so a state that splits the band contains the boundary — its own page draws the county line, and a parcel report resolves which side your land sits on.
What grows around Autumn Olive
Growing guides for autumn olive
Related plants in fruit
Good to know
Autumn Olive offers moderate value to bees and other pollinators.
Before you harvest autumn olive, know your soil
Anything you grow to eat takes up what's in the ground it grows in, so it's worth knowing what's documented near you before you plant autumn olive for food. Our free screen reads 8 federal source types across roughly 1.8M indexed sites and shows which sit near your address and which way they drain. It's a screening estimate from public records and proximity — not a soil test — so a nearby record means a soil test is worth it, not that your soil is unsafe.
Your land is one point inside Autumn Olive's range
This page resolves to the species. Your state page draws the county line, and a report reads the parcel — the soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost dates on your exact ground, which no species average can see.
See if Autumn Olive will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your exact soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether autumn olive actually takes — we score it against the real conditions at your address.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources analyzed in seconds
How we know this about Autumn Olive
The figures above are cited per row, not per site: the pH band names this plant’s own source column, the three temperature figures each carry their own, and days-to-maturity cites the publication that actually lists it. All of it comes from the Growable Ground Plant Database — a compilation over FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources, published openly with per-field provenance.
Grounded inUSDA PLANTS Database•ASPCA
Frequently asked questions
Can I grow Autumn Olive in my zone?
Autumn Olive grows in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 8 (Rated hardy to zone 4a by NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, checked Oct 2026. Ceiling: not verified.). Zone is one factor — soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
When should you plant Autumn Olive?
Set autumn olive out in early spring or fall while it's dormant, so the roots establish before the heat of summer. Your local last-frost date — which a Growable Ground report pulls for your exact address — sets the precise window.
How much sun does Autumn Olive need?
Autumn Olive needs full sun — a spot that catches at least 6 hours of direct summer sun a day. In more shade it still grows, but usually gives a smaller, later crop. The catch is that a yard rarely gets even light everywhere — a fence, the house, or one tall tree can quietly take those hours. A Growable Ground report reads the real sun-hours across your land, canopy and buildings included, so you can pick the brightest bed before you plant.
What soil does Autumn Olive need?
Autumn Olive prefers soil pH 6 to 8.5, on well-drained ground (FAO ECOCROP). Your report scores your parcel's actual soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Autumn Olive attract pollinators?
Yes — autumn olive's flowers are a solid nectar source for honeybees and native bees.
Keep exploring Autumn Olive
Autumn Olive state by state
Every state autumn olive's zone reaches — 29 link straight to that state's autumn olive growing page; the rest open the state's full growing guide.