The Catskills spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A rugged southern-New-York highland of acidic forest soils, cold winters, and short seasons where hardy fruit, root crops, and forest foods do best. Growers here do well with garlic, kale, tomato, and apple — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
The Catskills spans New York.
Your yard isn't all of the Catskills.
The Catskills spans USDA zones 5b-6a, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 The Catskills — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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The Catskills — the short answer
The Catskills: USDA zones 5b-6a, 152–185 frost-free days depending where in it you stand, in New York.
- USDA zones
- 5b-6a
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Shortest season here
- 152 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020 — Delaware County
- Counties
- 4
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- County cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. The season figure is this region's own record, measured across its 4 member counties, not a state or national average.
Hardiness Zone Range
The Catskills is not one growing season
One answer for the Catskills averages 4 counties whose growing seasons are 33 days apart — from 152 frost-free days in Delaware County to 185 in Ulster County. That is the same region, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your land sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 4 counties runs 156–181 days, with a median of 168 days — a 33-day span end to end.
Measured across 4 member counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. A member with no own record is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the region. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where the line runs inside the Catskills
The middle half of the Catskills runs 156–181 frost-free days, and 2 of its 4 counties sit outside that — 1 on the short side, 1 on the long. A regional planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 156 frost-free days
1 county
- Delaware County · 152 days
The end of the region that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
156–181 frost-free days
2 counties
0 of 2 shown
The middle half of the region, and the part a single regional season describes well.
Over 181 frost-free days
1 county
- Ulster County · 185 days
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its OWN 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a site within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
What Grows in the Catskills
All 2 of the plants below that publish a season requirement clear even Delaware County’s 152 frost-free days — so on season alone, this grid works at both ends of the region. The 33-day spread still decides how far past this list you can push, and how early you can start.
Plants matched to the Catskills' USDA zones 5b-6a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the Catskills
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in this region’s state, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the Catskills’s USDA zones 5b-6a — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground across the Catskills
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across four member counties — this region’s own profile, not a state figure.
The ground is predominantly Inceptisols, at 94% of mapped acres, followed by Alfisols (3%), Entisols (2%) and Histosols (1%). The most extensive named soils are Arnot, Vly, and Willowemoc.
47% of those acres are well drained, and another 21% moderately well drained, 14% somewhat excessively drained. Topsoil pH runs 4.6–5.5 between the lowest and the highest county on record. 6% of the footprint is classed prime farmland.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Topsoil pH
4.6–5.5
Hydric soils
4%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. Ulster County holds the most wetland ground here, at 7% — soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the Catskills
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are those records summed across the Catskills. Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records47% of the mapped acres across the Catskills are well drained — ground that drains quickly. That is area-weighted across all four of its mapped counties.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
From county recordsTopsoil across the Catskills runs pH 4.6–5.5 — acidic in all four of them.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the Catskills — and how to grow with it.
Across the Catskills' 4 counties the federal record holds 2,656 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks (1,598), Brownfields (553) and Nitrate (378). The heaviest single county is Ulster County, with 1,082.
That is a regional count, not a reading of any one lot — proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis. Open the map outlined to the Catskills to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the 4 counties in the Catskills
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the Catskills, two things run higher than the national average across the 4 counties in the Catskills — CAFO (23 sites) and PFAS (22 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Your land is one point inside the Catskills
Everything above resolves to the Catskills as a whole — a footprint whose own counties record seasons 33 days apart, and hardiness across zones 5b-6a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the Catskills Average
Catskills Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b-6a, averaged across Catskills
- ●One soil character for all of Catskills
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Catskills' 5b-6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the Catskills
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the Catskills — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Catskills averages can't show:
We read public map data around The Catskills — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Catskills average
How we know this about the Catskills
The boundary: a cluster of neighboring counties. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the counties inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the Catskills
What hardiness zone is the Catskills?
The Catskills spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-6a, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's counties. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the Catskills?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the Catskills' counties mostly run 156 to 181 frost-free days, median 168 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 4 member counties). That 25-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 4 counties, and each county guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the Catskills?
Across the Catskills, the middle half of member counties see their last 28°F hard freeze between Apr 22 and May 7 (median Apr 30), and their first fall freeze between Oct 10 and Oct 20. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about May 21, and elevation decides which end of a 15-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the Catskills?
The Catskills' conditions suit plants such as Garlic, Kale, Tomato, Apple, Sugar Maple, Blueberry. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the Catskills defined?
The Catskills is defined here as a curated cluster of 4 neighboring counties that share a growing character. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one — every county in it is named on this page.
Which states does the Catskills cover?
The Catskills spans New York. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
Appalachia, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Champlain Valley, Mohawk Valley, and The Adirondacks share at least one state with the Catskills. Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the Catskills’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the Catskills' own scale — the zone 5b-6a band across its footprint, a median 168-day season across its 4 counties and 2,656 documented federal contamination records across its 4 counties, 1,082 of them in Ulster County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 5b-6a aggregated across all 4 counties in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 4 counties this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 4 counties run 156 to 181 frost-free days, median 168NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 2,656 documented federal contamination records across its 4 counties, 1,082 of them in Ulster County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 94% Inceptisols, topsoil pH 4.6–5.5, area-weighted across its 4 mapped countiesUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — its state's curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 5b-6afrom New York
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 25-day range your ground sits at — 156 days at one extreme, 181 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the Catskills
State growing guides
Counties in this region
Other growing regions across New York
The vast eastern mountain region of steep hollows, thin acidic soils, and short upland seasons — apples, brambles, ramps, and forest crops on hard-won ground. (Union of the core Appalachian ecoregions.)
Deep glacial lakes moderate New York's premier cool-climate wine region, where lake-effect slopes favour grapes, apples, and other tree fruit.
The Hudson River corridor's fertile valley floors and benched hillsides have grown orchards, vineyards, and market vegetables since the colonial era.
The lake-tempered lowland on both shores of Lake Champlain — clay and silt plains that make the warmest, driest, and most productive farm ground in Vermont, with apple and cold-climate wine country on the New York shore.
New York's east–west Mohawk River corridor, where cold 4a highland gives way to milder 5b valley-floor farmland across a roughly 168-day median frost-free season (last frost near the end of April, first frost around mid-October).
New York's vast northern mountain wilderness — very cold winters, thin acidic soils, and the state's shortest growing seasons.