Willow Creek, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Willow Creek, 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 Creek 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 Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Willow Creek — the short answer
Willow Creek, Alaska: USDA zone 2b, about 109 days between hard freezes, across 24K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 2b
- 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
- 24K 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 2b is Willow Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Willow Creek's 109-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Willow Creek
Each reading below is measured for Willow Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWillow Creek runs about 109 days between hard freezes (read from Copper River Census Area, the closest normal to Willow Creek) — 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 Creek 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 Willow Creek
Plants matched to Willow Creek'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 Willow Creek?
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. 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 Creek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Willow Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CA00100128ACDD1 002Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- CD00100111CBAA1 001Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- Willow MountainMining · 3.9 mi
- Willow Mountain OccurrenceMining · 3.9 mi
- COPPER CENTER AIRPORT ROAD DUMP SITESuperfund · 7.7 mi
- CA00200118DBAB1 003Nitrate · 9.0 mi
- CA00200118DBAB2 003Nitrate · 9.0 mi
- CA00200118DBBC1 002Nitrate · 9.0 mi
- CA00200118AACC1 004Nitrate · 9.1 mi
- Mountain View Liquor & GasUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
- CA00200118CBAA1 006Nitrate · 9.2 mi
- CD00200202BACB1 001Nitrate · 9.4 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Willow Creek'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 Creek.
Total Sites
22
within ~10 miles of Willow Creek
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Willow Creek
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Willow Creek
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Willow Creek
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 Creek average
Your land is one point inside Willow Creek
Everything above resolves to Willow Creek as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 24K 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 Willow Creek Average
Willow Creek Average
- ●USDA Zones 2b, averaged across Willow Creek
- ●One soil character for all of Willow Creek
- ●Frost dates read at Willow Creek's scale: May 21 to Sep 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Willow Creek's 2b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Willow Creek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Willow Creek, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Willow Creek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Willow Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Willow Creek average
How we know this about Willow Creek
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 Willow Creek
When does frost risk typically end in Willow Creek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Willow Creek 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 Willow Creek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Willow Creek 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 Willow Creek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Willow Creek 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 Willow Creek?
The federal record around Willow Creek is a meaningful one — 22 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Nitrate 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 Willow Creek?
With about 109 frost-free days between hard freezes, Willow Creek 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 Willow Creek's scale — its 2b band and its 109-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Willow Creek'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 Creek’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Willow Creek's own scale — the 23,712 acres it covers and 22 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Willow Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 22 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Willow Creek, the closest Nitrate record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Willow Creek's boundary and the 23,712 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Willow Creek 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 Willow Creek's 23,712 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 Willow Creek's 23,712 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Willow Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 23,712 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Willow Creek-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaWillow Creek sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides