Hawaii spans USDA hardiness zones 10a-13a, with a growing season of about 350 frost-free days — a calendar that barely closes, trading frost worries for heat management and near-continuous harvests.
Behind the zone label sits the real climate engine: 10-400 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 6,500 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 150 winter chill hours for tree fruit. Dig almost anywhere and you'll meet volcanic, laterite, coral sand, and peat; how quickly they shed water is the first thing to learn about them. Expect taro, mango, macadamia, and coffee to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM 2023•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD aggregate (Cornell CALS)•Chill-hour aggregate (MSU Extension)•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Hawaii spans zones 10a-13a, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. Enter your address and we'll score 1,112 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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USDA Zones
10a-13a
USDA PHZM 2023
Last Frost
None
NOAA 30-yr Normals
First Frost
None
NOAA 30-yr Normals
Annual Rainfall
10-400 inches
NOAA Climate Normals
Zone maps are averages across Hawaii. Your yard's slope, trees, and frost pockets shift what actually grows — see your land's exact reading.
The soil types that dominate Hawaii — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it.
Drainage
Excellent and unusual: ash soils drain freely yet hold remarkable amounts of plant-available water in their porous structure — the best of both habits.
What thrives
Volcanic regions grow celebrated crops the world over: orchards, berries, vegetables, coffee, and wine grapes all prosper on ash-derived soils.
Drainage
Generally good — the oxide-rich structure stays open — though hardened layers shed water where the surface has baked.
What thrives
Tropical perennials adapted to leached ground: mango, banana, pineapple, cassava, and taro are grown on lateritic soils throughout the tropics.
No verified open-license photo yet — see the shell-rock image for the coral/limestone chemistry.
Drainage
Extremely fast, like all sands, with the added quirk that the lime chemistry never washes out.
What thrives
Tropical plants adapted to limestone coasts: coconut palm, sea grape, papaya, and many bougainvilleas and natives of coral shorelines. Vegetables grow well in imported-soil or compost-filled beds.
Drainage
Saturated by default — peat forms precisely because water excludes the oxygen decomposition needs. Drained peat holds moisture beautifully but can stay cold late into spring.
What thrives
Acid-lovers are at home: blueberries and cranberries are the classic peatland crops, with rhododendrons, azaleas, and bog natives alongside.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to Hawaii's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
The plants Hawaii put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Hawaiian hibiscus (maʻo hau hele)
Hibiscus brackenridgei
Designated 1988.
Candlenut tree
Aleurites moluccanus
Designated 1959.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in Hawaii — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps Hawaii’s USDA zones 10a-13a but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Extreme rainfall variation — desert on one side, rainforest on the other
Your side of the island decides everything — check your exact spot's rainfall before choosing crops.
Volcanic soil is nutrient-poor in young flows
A soil test shows what young lava ground is missing — compost and targeted amendments close the gap fast.
Invasive species pressure is severe
Source clean plant material and learn the current watch list — your extension office is the authority on what to keep out.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to Hawaii, the UH Mānoa CTAHR Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across Hawaii — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Hawaii — 4,542 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 86 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Hawaii carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across Hawaii
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hawaii, two things run higher than the national average — Superfund (86 sites) and PFAS (40 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
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.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,112 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources analyzed in seconds
Hawaii spans USDA hardiness zones 10a-13a, per the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 weather data.
The last spring frost in Hawaii is typically around None, and the first fall frost around None, per NOAA 30-year climate normals (1991–2020). Your specific site may differ — frost dates vary by elevation, proximity to water, and local microclimate.
Hawaii's zones 10a-13a support a wide range — strong performers include Taro, Mango, Macadamia, Coffee, and Plumeria. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, Hawaii spans USDA zones 10a-13a (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,112 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Hawaii runs heavier than most — 4,542 documented sites — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Start with three facts. Hawaii spans USDA zones 10a-13a, which sets what survives winter; the statewide frost window runs about None to None (NOAA 30-year climate normals); and 4,542 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything on this page is a Hawaii average. Your yard writes its own version — we read soil, sun, drainage, and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
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