Slana, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Slana, 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 Slana 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 Slana — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Slana — the short answer
Slana, Alaska: USDA zone 3a, about 109 days between hard freezes, across 162K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 21
- Copper River Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 7
- Copper River Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~109
- Copper River Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 162K 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 Copper River Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3a is Slana's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Slana's 109-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Slana
Each reading below is measured for Slana itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSlana runs about 109 days between hard freezes (read from Copper River Census Area, the closest normal to Slana) — 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
MeasuredSlana sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a.
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 Slana
Plants matched to Slana's USDA zones 3a, 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 Slana?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 7 — 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 Slana
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Slana. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Unnamed OccurrenceMining · 0.7 mi
- Unnamed (northwest head of Caribou Creek)Mining · 1.3 mi
- Sportmens ParadiseUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Gakona Lodge & Trading PostUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- FAA SlanaUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- FAA GulkanaUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- Unnamed (east of upper Trail Creek)Mining · 7.1 mi
Measured from Slana'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 Slana.
Total Sites
8
within ~10 miles of Slana
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
4 mining sites (prospects, none worked)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Slana
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Slana
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 Slana average
Your land is one point inside Slana
Everything above resolves to Slana as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 162K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Copper River 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 Slana Average
Slana Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a, averaged across Slana
- ●One soil character for all of Slana
- ●Frost dates read at Slana's scale: May 21 to Sep 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Slana's 3a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Slana
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Slana, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Slana averages can't show:
We read public map data around Slana — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Slana average
How we know this about Slana
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 Copper River 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 Slana
When does frost risk typically end in Slana?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Slana typically lands around May 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Slana?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Slana typically arrives around Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 24, so the watching starts about Aug 8 — about 109 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Slana?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Slana sees about 109 frost-free days — roughly May 21 through Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 11 to Aug 24, about 74 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Slana?
The federal record around Slana is light — 8 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (4), the nearest Mining record about 0.7 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 Slana?
With about 109 frost-free days between hard freezes, Slana 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 137 to 165 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 21 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Slana's scale — its 3a band and its 109-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Slana'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 Slana’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Slana's own scale — the 161,808 acres it covers and 8 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Slana's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 8 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Slana, the closest Mining record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Slana's boundary and the 161,808 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Slana has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Copper River Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Slana's 161,808 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Copper River 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 Copper River 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 Copper River County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Slana's 161,808 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Slana you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 161,808 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 0.7 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 Slana-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaSlana sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides