Frisee is an annual grown for its leaves, ready to start cutting about 50 days after sowing. Season length, not a winter zone, decides where it grows. Notably, it grows just as well in a container as in the ground. Its summer flowers are a modest draw for honeybees, even though the leaves are the prize. Once it comes in, a single planting keeps producing for a couple of weeks, so you harvest over time rather than all at once.
Frisee — the short answer
Frisee: grown in zones 4–9, full sun, pH 5–7, about 50 days to maturity.
- USDA zones
- Grown as an annual — see the growing season
- Growing season, not a hardiness zone
- Soil pH
- 5–7
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Days to Maturity
- 50 days
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Frost-kill temp (growing season)
- 25°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 Frisee on your exact land.
Zone averages can't see the slope, soil, frost, and sun that decide whether frisee actually takes — and those shift from one yard to the next. Enter your address and we'll score frisee against your land's real conditions.
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your parcel report in seconds — read in full free for your first 14 days
What Frisee is
Frisee grows as an annual and reaches around a foot at maturity. It blooms blue in summer. It's also well suited to containers.
How to grow Frisee
Season length, not a winter zone, decides where frisee grows; it is ready to harvest about 50 days after planting. Frisee does best in full sun — at least 6 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 5 to 7, on well-drained ground. It needs around 900 growing degree days to mature and a growing season of at least 50 frost-free days, which is why climate matters as much as soil.
USDA Zones
Grown as an annual — see the growing season
Soil pH
5 - 7
Growable Ground Plant Database
Sun
Full Sun
Growable Ground plant catalog
Drainage
well (dry spells)
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost Kill Temperature
25°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
Days to Maturity
50 days
Growable Ground plant catalog
GDD Required
900+
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
1 ft
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost-Free Days
50+
The frost-free stretch it needs start to finish — short-season areas may need an indoor head start.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Start the season right
Plant frisee in full sun with at least 6 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.
Match the soil
Frisee prefers pH 5 to 7 (Growable Ground Plant Database). 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.
Harvest at maturity
Frisee is ready about 50 days after sowing. Cut the outer leaves as you need them — frequent harvest keeps new growth coming.
Where Frisee thrives
Season length, not a winter zone, decides where frisee grows. 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 4–9 spans average winter lows from -30°F to 30°F (USDA PHZM 2023). Across the 50 states and DC, that band covers 33 outright and splits 18 more down the middle.
Zones 4–9·Hardiness bandOpen 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 Frisee stands, state by state
Frisee is rated for zones 4–9 — a cold floor USDA puts at -30 to -20°F. Across the 50 states and DC, 33 sit fully inside that band, the line runs through 18 more, and 0 sit outside it — and inside every split state, the same line runs on at county grain.
Fully inside zones 4–9
33 states
3 of 33 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 Frisee
Growing guides for frisee
Related plants in vegetable
Good to know
Frisee offers low value to bees and other pollinators.
Before you harvest frisee, 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 frisee 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 Frisee'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 Frisee will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your exact soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether frisee 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 Frisee
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 Frisee in my zone?
Frisee is grown as an annual, so a hardiness zone does not decide it — its growing season follows your last and first frost dates. Soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
How long does Frisee take to grow?
Frisee is ready to harvest about 50 days after planting. Your local frost dates and soil temperature move that window earlier or later.
When should you plant Frisee?
Frisee 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 Frisee need?
Frisee 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 Frisee need?
Frisee prefers soil pH 5 to 7, on well-drained ground (Growable Ground Plant Database). Your report scores your parcel's actual soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Frisee attract pollinators?
Yes — frisee's flowers are a modest nectar source for honeybees.
Keep exploring Frisee
Frisee state by state
Every state frisee's zone reaches — 12 link straight to that state's frisee growing page; the rest open the state's full growing guide.