Buffaloberry is a tree, a long-term addition to the landscape. It's hardy across USDA zones 4 through 10. Its late spring flowers are a modest draw for 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.
Buffaloberry — the short answer
Buffaloberry: grown in zones 4–10, part sun, pH 5.3–8.
- USDA zones
- 4–10
- Manual horticultural correction (source not retained); NC State Extension and Missouri Botanical Garden, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation
- Soil pH
- 5.3–8
- USDA PLANTS
- Sun
- Part Sun
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Frost-kill temperature
- -40°F
- Growable Ground Plant Database
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 Buffaloberry on your exact land.
Zone averages can't see the slope, soil, frost, and sun that decide whether buffaloberry actually takes — and those shift from one yard to the next. Enter your address and we'll score buffaloberry against your land's real conditions.
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What Buffaloberry is
Buffaloberry grows as a perennial and reaches around twelve feet at maturity. It blooms yellow in late spring.
How to grow Buffaloberry
Buffaloberry grows in USDA zones 4 through 10. Buffaloberry does best in part sun — at least 4 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 5.3 to 8, on well-drained ground. It needs a growing season of at least 110 frost-free days, which is why climate matters as much as soil.
USDA Zones
4-10
USDA PHZM 2023
Soil pH
5.3 - 8
USDA PLANTS
Sun
Part Sun
Growable Ground plant catalog
Drainage
well (dry spells)
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost Kill Temperature
-40°F
Where cold starts killing growing tissue. Not a winter-survival floor — a dormant perennial takes far colder, which its hardiness zone answers.
Growable Ground Plant Database
Cold Hardiness
-38°F
The coldest temperature this plant is documented to survive.
USDA PLANTS
Mature Height
12 ft
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost-Free Days
110+
The frost-free stretch it needs start to finish — short-season areas may need an indoor head start.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Plant it right
Set buffaloberry in part sun with well-drained soil. Many fruit trees need a second variety nearby to pollinate — check before you plant just one.
Match the soil
Buffaloberry prefers pH 5.3 to 8 (USDA PLANTS). 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 Buffaloberry thrives
Buffaloberry 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 Buffaloberry growsOpen map →
Where Buffaloberry stands, state by state
Buffaloberry 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 Buffaloberry
Growing guides for buffaloberry
In rotation planning, buffaloberry counts as a Other — beds recover best when other crops don’t follow each other in the same spot year over year. (Growable Ground derivation — crop-rotation group from botanical family)
Good to know
Good news for pet owners — buffaloberry isn't known to be toxic to dogs or cats. (Source: ASPCA.)
Buffaloberry offers low value to bees and other pollinators. (Source: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.)
Before you harvest buffaloberry, 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 buffaloberry for food. Our free screen reads 9 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 Buffaloberry'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 Buffaloberry will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your exact soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether buffaloberry 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 Buffaloberry
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•USDA PHZM•ASPCA
Frequently asked questions
Can I grow Buffaloberry in my zone?
Buffaloberry grows in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 10 (USDA PHZM 2023). Zone is one factor — soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
When should you plant Buffaloberry?
Set buffaloberry 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 Buffaloberry need?
Buffaloberry does well in partial sun — around 4 hours of direct sun, and it takes some afternoon shade in stride. 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 Buffaloberry need?
Buffaloberry prefers soil pH 5.3 to 8, on well-drained ground (USDA PLANTS). Your report scores your parcel's actual soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Buffaloberry attract pollinators?
Yes — buffaloberry's flowers are a modest nectar source for native bees. (Source: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.)
Is Buffaloberry safe for pets?
Buffaloberry is not known to be toxic to dogs or cats based on available data. Always supervise pets around new plantings. (Source: ASPCA.)