Paauilo, Hawaii, sits in USDA hardiness zone 12a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cassava, starfruit, allspice, and eggplant, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paauilo, 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 Paauilo 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 Paauilo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Paauilo — the short answer
Paauilo, Hawaii: USDA zone 12a, no 28°F killing freeze in Hawaii County’s record — the season is year-round, across 768 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 12a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Killing freeze
- None on record
- Hawaii County normal — NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 768 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. The year-round finding is measured — Hawaii County’s 30-year record, the closest to this town, contains no 28°F killing freeze — never inferred from missing dates.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 12a is Paauilo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paauilo's no killing freeze on record, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paauilo
Each reading below is measured for Paauilo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPaauilo has no station of its own, and Hawaii County’s 30-year record — the closest to it — carries no 28°F killing freeze at all — year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredPaauilo sits in USDA hardiness zone 12a.
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 Paauilo
Every plant below cleared Paauilo's own zone 12a and its 365-day season. Each card opens that plant's Hawaii profile. How we score.
What's on the federal record near Paauilo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paauilo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PAAUILO CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- PAAUILO STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- U.S. ARMY BRANCH EXCHANGE- POHAKULOA TRAINING AREAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA, LRCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- PAPAALOA GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SEICHI HONMA STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- HAMAKUA SUGAR CO INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.5 mi
- PAAUILO GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- HAINAPFAS · 2.2 mi
- UMI KOA VILLAGE - MAUNA KEA RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- FUJIMOTO SUPER SERVICE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- HI DOT Honokaa Base yardUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paauilo'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 Paauilo.
Total Sites
36
within ~10 miles of Paauilo
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paauilo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paauilo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paauilo, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Paauilo — Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (27 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Paauilo
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 Paauilo average
Your land is one point inside Paauilo
Everything above resolves to Paauilo as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 768 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hawaii County’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 Paauilo Average
Paauilo Average
- ●USDA Zones 12a, averaged across Paauilo
- ●One soil character for all of Paauilo
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paauilo's 12a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paauilo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paauilo, Hawaii — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paauilo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paauilo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paauilo average
How we know this about Paauilo
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 Hawaii County’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 Paauilo
Is it too late to plant in Paauilo?
No — Paauilo has no station of its own, and Hawaii County's 30-year record, the closest to it, holds no 28°F killing freeze, so the growing season is year-round and there is no last-frost date to wait for. Planting is paced by rainfall, heat and daylength instead of by frost: start heat-lovers any month, and time cool-season crops (lettuce, brassicas, peas) for the cooler, wetter half of the year or for higher ground. Succession sowing every few weeks works all year, so the limit is what you can keep watered and harvested, not the calendar.
When does frost risk typically end in Paauilo?
It doesn't — Paauilo has no station of its own, and the 1991–2020 record for Hawaii County, the nearest to it, carries no 28°F killing freeze at all, so there is no spring frost date to plant after. Cold still matters with elevation: the higher you garden, the cooler the nights, and a few tropical crops sulk below about 60°F even where they never freeze.
How long is the growing season in Paauilo?
Year-round — Paauilo has no station of its own, and the 1991–2020 record for Hawaii County, the closest to it, contains no 28°F killing freeze, so there is no season to measure between freezes. What paces planting instead is heat, rainfall and daylength: the hottest, wettest stretch is the hard part for cool-season crops, not winter. Elevation is the one real exception — the higher you garden, the colder the nights get.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paauilo?
The federal record around Paauilo is light — 36 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (27), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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.
Everything above is measured at Paauilo's scale — its 12a band and its no killing freeze on record. Your yard writes its own version of Paauilo'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 Paauilo’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Paauilo's own scale — the 768 acres it covers and 36 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paauilo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 12aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 36 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paauilo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paauilo's boundary and the 768 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 12a and a ~365-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The frost finding — Paauilo has no station of its own, and its county's 30-year record contains no 28°F killing freeze at allfrom Hawaii County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Paauilo's 768 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hawaii County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hawaii County
- The growing challenges every Hawaii grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Hawaii
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hawaii County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paauilo's 768 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paauilo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 768 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Paauilo-wide figureread your own land →