Willow, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Willow, 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 Willow 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 Willow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Willow — the short answer
Willow, Alaska: USDA zone 5a, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 442K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 442K 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 Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5a is Willow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Willow's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Willow
Each reading below is measured for Willow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWillow runs about 145 days between hard freezes (read from Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the closest normal to Willow) — 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
MeasuredWillow sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Willow
Every plant below cleared Willow's own zone 5a and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Willow?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 28 — 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 Willow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Willow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Little Willow CreekMining · 4.1 mi
- WolverineMining · 9.8 mi
- Lucky ShotMining · 9.8 mi
Measured from Willow'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 Willow.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Willow
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Willow
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 Willow average
Your land is one point inside Willow
Everything above resolves to Willow as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 442K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Matanuska-Susitna Borough’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 Willow Average
Willow Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Willow
- ●One soil character for all of Willow
- ●Frost dates read at Willow's scale: May 6 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Willow's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Willow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Willow, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Willow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Willow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Willow average
How we know this about Willow
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 Matanuska-Susitna 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 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 Willow
When does frost risk typically end in Willow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Willow typically lands around May 6, 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 May 27.
When is the first frost in Willow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Willow typically arrives around Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 14, so the watching starts about Aug 29 — about 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Willow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Willow sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 14, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Willow?
The federal record around Willow shows 3 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (3), the nearest Mining record about 4.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Willow?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Willow 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 173 to 201 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 6 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Willow's scale — its 5a band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Willow'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 Willow’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Willow's own scale — the 441,856 acres it covers and 3 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Willow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 3 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Willow, the closest Mining record about 4.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Willow's boundary and the 441,856 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Willow has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Matanuska-Susitna Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Willow's 441,856 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Matanuska-Susitna County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Matanuska-Susitna 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 Matanuska-Susitna County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Willow's 441,856 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Willow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 441,856 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 4.1 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 Willow-wide figureread your own land →