Alcan Border, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Alcan Border, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Alcan Border lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Alcan Border — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Alcan Border — the short answer
Alcan Border, Alaska: USDA zone 2b, about 85 days between hard freezes, across 97K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 2b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 31
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Aug 24
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~85
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 97K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 2b is Alcan Border's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alcan Border's 85-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alcan Border
Each reading below is measured for Alcan Border itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAlcan Border runs about 85 days between hard freezes (read from Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, the closest normal to Alcan Border) — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAlcan Border sits in USDA hardiness zone 2b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Alcan Border
Plants matched to Alcan Border's USDA zones 2b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Alcan Border?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Aug 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Alcan Border
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alcan Border. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TETLIN SHOOTING RANGEBrownfields · 7.3 mi
Measured from Alcan Border's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Alcan Border.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alcan Border
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Alcan Border
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alcan Border average
Your land is one point inside Alcan Border
Everything above resolves to Alcan Border as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 97K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Alcan Border Average
Alcan Border Average
- ●USDA Zones 2b, averaged across Alcan Border
- ●One soil character for all of Alcan Border
- ●Frost dates read at Alcan Border's scale: May 31 to Aug 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alcan Border's 2b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alcan Border
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alcan Border, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alcan Border averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alcan Border — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alcan Border average
How we know this about Alcan Border
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Alcan Border
When does frost risk typically end in Alcan Border?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alcan Border typically lands around May 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Jun 21.
When is the first frost in Alcan Border?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alcan Border typically arrives around Aug 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 10, so the watching starts about Jul 25 — about 85 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alcan Border?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alcan Border sees about 85 frost-free days — roughly May 31 through Aug 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 21 to Aug 10, about 50 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alcan Border?
The federal record around Alcan Border is light — 1 documented site across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (1), the nearest Brownfields record about 7.3 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Alcan Border?
With about 85 frost-free days between hard freezes, Alcan Border rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 113 to 141 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 31 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Alcan Border's scale — its 2b band and its 85-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alcan Border's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Alcan Border’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Alcan Border's own scale — the 97,120 acres it covers and 1 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alcan Border's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alcan Border, the closest Brownfields record about 7.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alcan Border's boundary and the 97,120 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Alcan Border has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Alcan Border's 97,120 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Southeast Fairbanks County
- The candidate plant list — Alaska's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Alaska
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Southeast Fairbanks County
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Southeast Fairbanks County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alcan Border's 97,120 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alcan Border you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 97,120 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 7.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Alcan Border-wide figureread your own land →