Yes — Strong Match
sand cherry (zones 2-6) covers every zone New Hampshire contains (3b-6b), so hardiness is not what limits it anywhere in the state.
Sand Cherry in New Hampshire — the short answer
Sand Cherry in New Hampshire: hardy in zones 2–6, full sun, against a state median of ~171 frost-free days.
- Plant zones
- 2-6
- 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
- New Hampshire zones
- 3b-6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Frost window
- Apr 22 - May 4 – Oct 10 - Oct 21
- NOAA RCC ACIS 1991-2020, 28°F
- Shortest county season
- 145 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze
- Days to maturity
- 1095 days
- Growable Ground Plant Database
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset.
Your yard isn't the whole zone.
New Hampshire spans zones 3b-6b, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and cold-air pockets nudge it further. Enter your address and we'll score sand cherry against your parcel's actual hardiness, soil, and sun.
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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New Hampshire is not one climate
New Hampshire’s winter-low ladder runs across 10 counties, from zone 4.5 in Coos County to zone 6 in Strafford County. That is 15°F between the two counties’ average coldest night — the difference between sand cherry overwintering in the ground and coming under cover.
The middle half of 10 counties runs 5–6 zones, with a median of 5.5 zones — a 1.5-zone span end to end.
Measured across 10 New Hampshire counties. USDA PHZM 2023, per county. Quartiles are order statistics — every figure shown is a value a real county recorded, not an interpolation. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where in New Hampshire Fits Best
Even within New Hampshire's zones 3b-6b, county microclimates differ enough to change what thrives. These counties carry the closest zone match for sand cherry (USDA PHZM 2023):
Zone Comparison
Sand Cherry Needs
- USDA Zones: 2-6
- Frost-Free Days: 240+
- Sun: Full Sun
- Mature size: 4 ft tall
- Picking window: ~21 days of harvest
- Drought tolerance: Low
New Hampshire Has
- USDA Zones: 3b-6b
- Last Hard Freeze (28°F): Apr 22 - May 4
- First Hard Freeze (28°F): Oct 10 - Oct 21
- Annual Rainfall: 36-50 inches
- Common Soils: Glacial till, Sandy loam, Rocky loam
Plant Zone Range (zones 2-6)
Preferred Soil pH
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset. State data: USDA ARS PHZM 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NRCS SSURGO.
When to Plant Sand Cherry in New Hampshire
The frost window
Across New Hampshire, the last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Apr 22 and May 4, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Oct 10 and Oct 21 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Counting from the latest last freeze to the earliest first freeze, that's a 159-day window you can count on — up to 182 days on a mild site in a kind year. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost, so tender transplants usually wait another 2-3 weeks.
Winter standing
New Hampshire runs as cold as USDA zone 3, and no sourced winter-hardiness floor is on record for sand cherry, so this page does not state whether it overwinters here — and gives no fall establishment date on the strength of a guess. Whether sand cherry is a permanent planting or a replant-every-spring crop for you turns on your own zone within New Hampshire; check its hardiness range against that before treating it as long-lived ground.
Frost window: NOAA Climate Normals 1991-2020. Plant timing fields: Growable Ground Plant Database — frost-free days from FAO ECOCROP, days to harvest from university Extension production guides, and growing-degree-day and chill-hour minimums that are compilation estimates rather than published figures. Your site's own frost dates can run earlier or later than the state range — a parcel report pins them down.
Growing Season Fit
The zone check says sand cherry survives winter here. Whether the season is long enough — and warm enough — is a different question.
Frost-free days
Sand Cherry wants 240+ frost-free days; a typical New Hampshire site sees ~171 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020) — 69 days short of what it needs. A typical New Hampshire season does not carry this crop to harvest outdoors, and a gap that size is not one an earlier sowing date or a faster cultivar closes; growing it here means growing it under cover.
Growing degree days
Sand Cherry needs ~1800 GDD (base 50°F) to ripen. The state median runs ~1870 GDD (from PRISM 1991-2020 climate normals), so New Hampshire sits right at the threshold — pay attention to siting and microclimate.
Chill hours
Sand Cherry requires ~800 chill hours (32-45°F dormancy window). New Hampshire typically banks ~2500 chill hours per winter (from PRISM 1991-2020 climate normals), which keeps this plant on track.
GDD and chill-hour figures are computed from PRISM 1991-2020 monthly climate normals; frost-free days from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. Each is the state median across its counties (P25/P75 span the within-state spread). Hardiness-zone range is USDA PHZM 2023.
Soil + Drainage Fit
Sand Cherry tolerates a wide pH range (pH 4.5-7.5) — 3 units, acid ground through alkaline — so soil acidity is rarely what limits it in New Hampshire. A soil test is still worth having, but for what else it tells you about this site, not to clear this plant. It will grow across that whole span, but it does best between pH 5.5 and 6.3 — worth knowing before you decide whether a New Hampshire soil test result is a problem or just a number. Drainage matters: this plant wants well (dry spells). If your New Hampshire site is heavier clay or sits in a low spot, raised beds or amendment with compost solve it.
Plant pH requirements: FAO ECOCROP and USDA PLANTS, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Drainage: FAO ECOCROP, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. New Hampshire soil profile from USDA NRCS SSURGO. Site-specific verification: a 30-minute soil test from your local Extension lab.
Before you plant sand cherry for food
Anything you grow to eat takes up what is in the ground it grows in, so what is on record near you is worth knowing before sand cherry goes in. What follows is New Hampshire’s documented federal record at state scale — a screening signal, not a soil test, and not a statement about any one lot.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across New Hampshire — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across New Hampshire — 10,091 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 82 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
New Hampshire carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across New Hampshire
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What Else to Consider for Sand Cherry in New Hampshire
Zone compatibility tells you about winter cold survival — but New Hampshire growers also need to think about:
Very short season in the White Mountains (80-100 frost-free days)
Rocky glacial soils throughout the state
Harsh winters with deep snow cover
What to actually do about these — and the constraints that apply to every New Hampshire grower, not just sand cherry — is covered on the New Hampshire growing guide.
Timing shifts within New Hampshire
Sand Cherry needs about 240 days of frost-free season to complete its cycle. No New Hampshire county gives it that outdoors: even Rockingham County, the state’s longest season at 188 frost-free days, falls 52 days short — so it needs transplants, a short-season variety, or covered growing.
County last-freeze dates and frost-free day counts: NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991-2020), county 28°F freeze (earlier than the folk 32°F "last frost"). Sand Cherry's 240-day requirement: USDA PLANTS / Growable Ground plant database (minimum frost-free days). A parcel report resolves your address's own frost dates.
Pollinator + Wildlife Value
Sand Cherry draws honeybees, native bees, and butterflies (high value, Growable Ground Plant Database). Planting it near vegetable beds can lift fruit set on neighboring crops. Outdoors, sand cherry can only work that bloom inside New Hampshire's frost window — roughly 171 days, opening after the last 28°F freeze (Apr 22 - May 4) and closing at the first (Oct 10 - Oct 21), per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020.
New Hampshire Cooperative Extension
For New Hampshire-specific cultivar recommendations, planting calendars, and pest pressure for sand cherry, the canonical source is UNH Cooperative Extension. Their fact sheets carry the local trial data we can't generalize across 50 states.
Is Sand Cherry native to New Hampshire?
Yes — the USDA PLANTS Database (accessed 2026-07-01) documents Sand Cherry as native to New Hampshire. Planting it supports the pollinators and wildlife that evolved alongside it.
Native-range data: USDA PLANTS Database state-distribution records, accessed 2026-07-01.
What pests threaten sand cherry in New Hampshire?
Japanese beetle is documented in New Hampshire and will find sand cherry, but it is manageable here. What an experienced grower watches for, and does:
Japanese beetle
Worth watchingJapanese beetles feed readily on Prunus fruit and nut trees — the University of Kentucky lists cherries, plums, peaches and their relatives among the plants likely to be attacked. The University of Minnesota's read keeps it in proportion: fruits and their trees tolerate limited leaf feeding, and in most cases the damage is cosmetic rather than a threat to the harvest.
What to do: Protect it through the few peak weeks of midsummer, not all season. Handpick beetles into soapy water in the cool of morning, harvest regularly through July and August to take feeding pressure off the fruit, and keep the tree well watered. Do not hang a Japanese beetle trap — the lures draw in more beetles than they remove.
Documented range: states listed as Japanese-beetle infested · University of Kentucky Entomology, University of Minnesota Extension, National Plant Board
Only pests whose documented range and host relationship both trace to a primary source appear here — so a quiet section means we have nothing sourced to tell you, not that your garden is pest-free.
Common Questions About Growing Sand Cherry in New Hampshire
When can I plant Sand Cherry in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire's last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Apr 22 and May 4, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Oct 10 and Oct 21 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). No sourced winter-hardiness floor is on record for Sand Cherry, so this page does not state whether it overwinters in New Hampshire and publishes no fall establishment date for it — check its hardiness range against your own zone before treating it as a permanent planting.
What hardiness zone is Sand Cherry grown in across New Hampshire?
New Hampshire spans USDA hardiness zones 3b-6b (USDA ARS PHZM 2023). Sand Cherry carries a range of zones 2-6, so the overlap zones are where outdoor growing is most reliable.
How many frost-free days does a typical New Hampshire site have?
A typical New Hampshire site sees ~171 frost-free days per year (derived from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Sand Cherry needs 240+ frost-free days, so check whether your local microclimate runs above or below the state average before settling on a planting date.
Is Sand Cherry native to New Hampshire?
Yes — the USDA PLANTS Database (accessed 2026-07-01) documents Sand Cherry as native to New Hampshire. Planting it supports the pollinators and wildlife that evolved alongside it.
How should I amend the soil for Sand Cherry in New Hampshire?
Sand Cherry tolerates pH 4.5-7.5 and well (dry spells) drainage (FAO ECOCROP). That is a 3-unit span, acid ground through alkaline, so pH is rarely what limits this plant on a New Hampshire site — amend for drainage and organic matter first.
Will Sand Cherry actually grow on my specific land in New Hampshire?
State-level zone + climate data is a sketch. A Growable Ground parcel report scores sand cherry against your address's exact soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost-date data drawn from USDA SSURGO, NOAA, and PRISM — not state averages.
Check your specific parcel in New Hampshire
State-level data is a sketch. Your Growable Ground report scores sand cherry against your parcel's exact soil, sun, drainage, and frost data — not zone averages.
Three things about your lot that New Hampshire sand cherry averages can't show:
We read public map data around New Hampshire — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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