What Grows in Pilot Station, Alaska

USDA Zones 4a · 1K acres

Pilot Station, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.

Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, chokecherry, roman chamomile, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Pilot Station, 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 Pilot Station 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 Pilot Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Pilot Station — the short answer

Pilot Station, Alaska: USDA zone 4a, across 1K acres of city.

USDA zone
4a
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (statewide)
Apr 16 - May 15
NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, state middle half
First hard freeze (statewide)
Sep 24 - Oct 29
NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, state middle half
City area
1K acres
US Census TIGER/Line 2025

Every figure names the dataset it came from. Where no local normal resolves, the figure is the statewide middle-half window, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.

Hardiness Zone Range

4a4a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)
Your USDA zone 4aSee the zone map →

Growing Season

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Last frost: Apr 16 - May 15First frost: Sep 24 - Oct 29

Zone 4a is Pilot Station's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against that, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Pilot Station

Each reading below is measured for Pilot Station itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Winter hardiness

Measured

Pilot Station sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.

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.

How hardiness zones work

USDA PHZM 2023

What Grows in Pilot Station

Every plant below cleared Pilot Station's own zone 4a. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in AlaskaZones 2–11Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
chokecherry, photograph
Alaska chokecherry guideZones 2–7Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
Roman chamomile, photograph
Roman chamomile in AlaskaZones 3–9Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Alaska growing notesZones 2–11Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
cranberry, photograph
Growing cranberry in AlaskaZones 2–7Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
St. Johns wort, photograph
Alaska st. johns wort guideZones 3–8Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in AlaskaZones 2–10Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
apple, photograph
Apple: Alaska growing notesZones 3–8Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
black cohosh, photograph
Growing black cohosh in AlaskaZones 3–8Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
kale, photograph
Alaska kale guideZones 2–11Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
blueberry, photograph
Blueberry in AlaskaZones 3–8Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
potato, photograph
Potato: Alaska growing notesZones 2–11Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
asparagus, photograph
Growing asparagus in AlaskaZones 3–8Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
Brussels sprouts, photograph
Alaska brussels sprouts guideZones 2–11Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
broccoli, photograph
Broccoli in AlaskaZones 2–11Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Alaska growing notesZones 3–8Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
ornamental kale, photograph
Growing ornamental kale in AlaskaZones 2–10Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
azalea, photograph
Alaska azalea guideZones 4–8Pilot Station's 4a is its exact cold limit.
hops, photograph
Hops in AlaskaZones 3–8Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Alaska growing notesZones 3–10Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
salvia, photograph
Growing salvia in AlaskaZones 2–11Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
lilac, photograph
Alaska lilac guideZones 4–10Pilot Station's 4a is its exact cold limit.
riverbank grape, photograph
Riverbank grape in AlaskaZones 2–8Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
Siberian squill, photograph
Siberian squill: Alaska growing notesZones 2–8Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
blue spruce, photograph
Growing blue spruce in AlaskaZones 2–8Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
red clover, photograph
Alaska red clover guideZones 3–10Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in AlaskaZones 2–7Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
American elm, photograph
American elm: Alaska growing notesZones 3–9Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
white clover, photograph
Growing white clover in AlaskaZones 3–10Pilot Station's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
bunchberry, photograph
Alaska bunchberry guideZones 2–6Pilot Station's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.

Environmental Check

No contamination sources found near Pilot Station

We checked 9 federal environmental databases and found no recorded contamination sites in this area. A clean starting point for growing.

Your land is one point inside Pilot Station

Everything above resolves to Pilot Station as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K acres. 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 Pilot Station Average

Pilot Station Average

  • ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Pilot Station
  • ●One soil character for all of Pilot Station
  • ●State-average frost dates

YOUR Parcel

  • ✓Your exact zone, not Pilot Station's 4a
  • ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Pilot Station

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pilot Station, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Pilot Station averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free daysYour sun & shade

We read public map data around Pilot Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pilot Station average

How we know this about Pilot Station

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, with the labelled statewide window where none resolves; 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 Pilot Station

When does frost risk typically end in Pilot Station?

Pilot Station has no hard-freeze normal of its own, so it follows Alaska's statewide window: the middle half of counties see their last spring hard freeze (28°F) around Apr 16 - May 15 and their first fall hard freeze around Sep 24 - Oct 29, per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020). Frost dates shift with elevation and local microclimate, so watch your own site's cold pockets. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — light frosts can still bite for a few more weeks, so tender transplants usually wait another 2–3 weeks.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pilot Station?

No database can certify soil, but the federal record here is clean: we checked all 9 federal contamination source types and found no documented sites within the search radii around Pilot Station. That means nothing is on record — not that the land is certified clean — so a one-time soil test is still the way to know your own yard's history.

How do I protect my plants from frost in Pilot Station?

As the season closes around Alaska's statewide first fall hard freeze (28°F) near Sep 24 - Oct 29 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020)), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before the first hard night. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Pilot Station's scale — its 4a band and its zone 4a. Your yard writes its own version of Pilot Station'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 Pilot Station’s own scale

3 of the readings below were taken at Pilot Station's own scale — the 1,028 acres it covers; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Pilot Station's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Pilot Station's boundary and the 1,028 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear Pilot Station's hardiness zoneGrowable Ground crop-matching engine

Inherited from a wider read

  • The frost window — no local hard-freeze normal resolved here, so the statewide dates stand infrom Alaska
  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pilot Station's 1,028 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kusilvak County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kusilvak 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 Kusilvak County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pilot Station's 1,028 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
  • Which side of Pilot Station you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,028 acresreading your own microclimate →
  • How much sun your beds actually get once the trees leaf outmeasuring sun honestly →
  • 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 Pilot Station-wide figureread your own land →
The next step finer is your own address

More in Alaska

Kusilvak Census Area Growing Guide·Alaska Growing Guide

Wider growing context

What grows across Alaska

Pilot Station sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.

USDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•US Census TIGER•PRISM Climate•EPA FRS