Anderson, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Anderson, 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 Anderson 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 Anderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Anderson — the short answer
Anderson, Alaska: USDA zone 2a, about 118 days between hard freezes, across 27K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 2a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 24
- Denali Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 19
- Denali Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~118
- Denali Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 27K 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 Denali Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 2a is Anderson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Anderson's 118-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Anderson
Each reading below is measured for Anderson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAnderson runs about 118 days between hard freezes (read from Denali Borough, the closest normal to Anderson) — 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
MeasuredAnderson sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a.
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 Anderson
Plants matched to Anderson's USDA zones 2a, 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 Anderson?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Anderson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Anderson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USAF CLEAR AIR FORCE STATIONSuperfund · 1.2 mi
- USAF CLEAR AIR FORCE STATIONToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- USAF CLEAR AIR FORCE STATIONBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- CITY OF ANDERSONBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- ANDERSON CITY OF MAINT SHOPBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- Clear Sky LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Clear Lumber Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
Measured from Anderson'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 Anderson.
Total Sites
7
within ~10 miles of Anderson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Anderson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Anderson
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Anderson
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 Anderson average
Your land is one point inside Anderson
Everything above resolves to Anderson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 27K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Denali Borough’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Anderson Average
Anderson Average
- ●USDA Zones 2a, averaged across Anderson
- ●One soil character for all of Anderson
- ●Frost dates read at Anderson's scale: May 24 to Sep 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Anderson's 2a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Anderson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Anderson, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Anderson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Anderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Anderson average
How we know this about Anderson
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Denali Borough’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Anderson
When does frost risk typically end in Anderson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Anderson typically lands around May 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Anderson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Anderson typically arrives around Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 5, so the watching starts about Aug 20 — about 118 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Anderson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Anderson sees about 118 frost-free days — roughly May 24 through Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 14 to Sep 5, about 83 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Anderson?
The federal record around Anderson is a meaningful one — 7 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (3), the nearest Superfund record about 1.2 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Anderson?
With about 118 frost-free days between hard freezes, Anderson 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 146 to 174 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 24 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Anderson's scale — its 2a band and its 118-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Anderson'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 Anderson’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Anderson's own scale — the 27,009 acres it covers and 7 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Anderson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 7 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Anderson, the closest Superfund record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Anderson's boundary and the 27,009 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Anderson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Denali Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Anderson's 27,009 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Denali 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 Denali 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 Denali County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Anderson's 27,009 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Anderson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 27,009 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 1.2 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 Anderson-wide figureread your own land →