Watercress is a perennial grown for its leaves, ready to start cutting about 55 days after sowing. It's hardy across USDA zones 3 through 11, stands up to deer and grows just as well in a container as in the ground. Its flowers are a modest draw for honeybees and native bees, even though the leaves are the prize. As a brassica (the cabbage family), give it a fresh bed each year — away from where its relatives just grew — so the soil-borne pests and diseases of the family never get a foothold.
Watercress — the short answer
Watercress: grown in zones 3–11, part sun, pH 4.5–8.3, about 55 days to maturity.
- USDA zones
- 3–11
- 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
- 4.5–8.3
- FAO ECOCROP
- Sun
- Part Sun
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Days to Maturity
- 55 days
- UMass-Veg; OSU-PNW
- Frost-kill temperature
- 32°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 Watercress on your exact land.
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What Watercress is
Watercress grows as a perennial and reaches around 6 inches at maturity. It's also deer-resistant and well suited to containers.
How to grow Watercress
Watercress grows in USDA zones 3 through 11 and is ready to harvest about 55 days after planting. Watercress does best in part sun — at least 4 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 4.5 to 8.3, on consistently moist ground. It needs around 900 growing degree days to mature and a growing season of at least 40 frost-free days, which is why climate matters as much as soil.
USDA Zones
3-11
USDA PHZM 2023
Soil pH
4.5 - 8.3
FAO ECOCROP
Sun
Part Sun
Growable Ground plant catalog
Drainage
poorly (saturated >50% of year)
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost Kill Temperature
32°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
42.8°F
Below this it stops growing rather than dies — a pace limit, not a survival limit.
FAO ECOCROP
Days to Maturity
55 days
Watercress; aquatic; needs running cool water or constant moisture.
UMass-Veg; OSU-PNW
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
0.5 ft
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost-Free Days
40+
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 watercress 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.
Match the soil
Watercress prefers pH 4.5 to 8.3 (FAO ECOCROP). 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. Match watering to the plant's drainage preference and your local rainfall.
Harvest at maturity
Watercress is ready about 55 days after sowing (UMass-Veg; OSU-PNW). Cut the outer leaves as you need them — frequent harvest keeps new growth coming.
Where Watercress thrives
On hardiness alone, watercress grows across most of the country — its range (USDA zones 3 through 11) is unusually wide. 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 3–11 spans average winter lows from -40°F to 50°F (USDA PHZM 2023). Across the 50 states and DC, that band covers 48 outright and splits 3 more down the middle — and which side of that line your land sits on changes the answer.
Zones 3–11·Where Watercress growsOpen map →
Where Watercress stands, state by state
Watercress is rated for zones 3–11 — a cold floor USDA puts at -40 to -30°F. Across the 50 states and DC, 48 sit fully inside that band, the line runs through 3 more, and 0 sit outside it — and inside every split state, the same line runs on at county grain.
Fully inside zones 3–11
48 states
3 of 48 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 Watercress
Growing guides for watercress
In rotation planning, watercress counts as a Brassica — beds recover best when brassica crops don’t follow each other in the same spot year over year. (Growable Ground derivation — crop-rotation group from botanical family)
Related plants in vegetable
Good to know
Good news for pet owners — watercress isn't known to be toxic to dogs or cats. (Source: ASPCA.)
Watercress offers low value to bees and other pollinators.
Before you harvest watercress, 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 watercress 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 Watercress'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 Watercress will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your exact soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether watercress 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.
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How we know this about Watercress
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 Watercress in my zone?
Watercress grows in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 11 (USDA PHZM 2023). Zone is one factor — soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
How long does Watercress take to grow?
Watercress is ready to harvest about 55 days after planting (UMass-Veg; OSU-PNW). Your local frost dates and soil temperature move that window earlier or later.
When should you plant Watercress?
Watercress 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 Watercress need?
Watercress 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 Watercress need?
Watercress prefers soil pH 4.5 to 8.3, on consistently moist ground (FAO ECOCROP). Your report scores your parcel's actual soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Watercress attract pollinators?
Yes — watercress's flowers are a modest nectar source for honeybees and native bees.
Is Watercress safe for pets?
Watercress is not known to be toxic to dogs or cats based on available data. Always supervise pets around new plantings. (Source: ASPCA.)