Brass Buttons is a cover crop — grown to build and protect the soil rather than for a harvest of its own. It's hardy across USDA zones 4 through 10, shrugs off deer and grows just as well in a container as in the ground. Its summer flowers are a modest draw for native bees.
Brass Buttons — the short answer
Brass Buttons: grown in zones 4–10, part sun, pH 5.5–7.
- USDA zones
- 4–10
- Not verified
- Soil pH
- 5.5–7
- We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
- Sun
- Part Sun
- We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
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 Brass Buttons on your exact land.
Zone averages can't see the slope, soil, frost, and sun that decide whether brass buttons actually takes — and those shift from one yard to the next. Enter your address and we'll score brass buttons against your land's real conditions.
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See Brass Buttons
What Brass Buttons is
Brass Buttons grows as a perennial and reaches around 2 inches at maturity. It blooms yellow in summer. It's also deer-resistant and well suited to containers.
Life cycle, mature height, bloom period, flower colour, deer resistance and container suitability: We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
How to grow Brass Buttons
Brass Buttons grows in USDA zones 4 through 10. Brass Buttons does best in part sun — at least 4 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 5.5 to 7, on well-drained ground.
USDA Zones
4-10
Not verified
Soil pH
5.5 - 7
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Sun
Part Sun
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Drainage
well (dry spells)
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Mature Height
0.2 ft
We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Start the season right
Plant brass buttons in part sun with at least 4 hours of direct sun. It grows in the cool halves of the year, so sow it in spring or late summer rather than waiting for midsummer heat. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Match the soil
Brass Buttons prefers pH 5.5 to 7. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. A quick soil test from your local Extension lab tells you whether to add lime or sulfur to land in band.
Water steadily
Keep the root zone evenly moist through establishment. A 2–3 inch mulch layer holds moisture without waterlogging.
Turn it in before it seeds
Cut brass buttons down or turn it into the soil before it sets seed, while the growth is still green — that's when it returns the most to the ground.
Where Brass Buttons thrives
Brass Buttons is hardy across USDA zones 4 through 10. 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 4–10 spans average winter lows from -30°F to 40°F (USDA PHZM 2023). Across the 50 states and DC, that band covers 38 outright and splits 13 more down the middle — and which side of that line your land sits on changes the answer.
Zones 4–10·Where Brass Buttons 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 Brass Buttons stands, state by state
Brass Buttons is rated for zones 4–10 — a cold floor USDA puts at -30 to -20°F. Across the 50 states and DC, 38 sit fully inside that band, the line runs through 13 more, and 0 sit outside it — and inside every split state, the same line runs on at county grain.
Fully inside zones 4–10
38 states
3 of 38 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 Brass Buttons
Growing guides for brass buttons
Related plants in grass/groundcover
Good to know
Brass Buttons offers low value to bees and other pollinators. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Your land is one point inside Brass Buttons'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 Brass Buttons will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether brass buttons actually takes. We score it against the mapped and modelled 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 Brass Buttons
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
Frequently asked questions
Can I grow Brass Buttons in my zone?
Brass Buttons grows in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 10. Zone is one factor — soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
When should you plant Brass Buttons?
Brass Buttons is a cool-season crop, so it goes in during the cool halves of the year — early spring, and again in late summer for a fall planting — rather than at the height of summer heat. Your local frost dates set the exact window — a Growable Ground report reads them for your address.
How much sun does Brass Buttons need?
Brass Buttons does well in partial sun — around 4 hours of direct sun, and it takes some afternoon shade in stride. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. That flexibility makes it a good match for a bed the house or a nearby tree shades for part of the day. A Growable Ground report maps how the sun actually falls on your land, hour by hour, so you can set it where the light lines up.
What soil does Brass Buttons need?
Brass Buttons prefers soil pH 5.5 to 7, on well-drained ground. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet. Your report scores your parcel's mapped soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Brass Buttons attract pollinators?
Yes — brass buttons's flowers are a modest nectar source for native bees. We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Keep exploring Brass Buttons
Brass Buttons state by state
Every state brass buttons's zone reaches — 1 link straight to that state's brass buttons growing page; the rest open the state's full growing guide.