Howland, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Howland, 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 Howland 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 Howland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Howland — the short answer
Howland, Maine: USDA zone 5a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5a is Howland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Howland's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Howland
Each reading below is measured for Howland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHowland runs about 170 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredHowland 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
The kind of country Howland is in
Howland sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Howland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Penobscot County.
What Grows in Howland
Every plant below cleared Howland's own zone 5a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Howland?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Howland
Spotted lanternfly documented 28 miles from Howland, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Howland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Howland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ENFIELD GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BROOKFIELD FACILITY - WEST ENFIELDBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- PVHSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- NE RENEWABLE POWER WEST ENFIELD, LLCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- WEST ENFIELD IRVINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- KING BROTHERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- J & M CORNER STORE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- WESTFIELD TOWN GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- CUMMINGS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- ENFIELD CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- J & M 95ER LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- MAINE NATIONAL HIGH ADVENTUREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Howland'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 Howland.
Total Sites
78
within ~10 miles of Howland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Howland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Howland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Howland, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 55 sites within ~10 miles of Howland. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Howland
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 Howland average
Your land is one point inside Howland
Everything above resolves to Howland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K acres. 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 Howland Average
Howland Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Howland
- ●One soil character for all of Howland
- ●Frost dates read at Howland's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Howland's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Howland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Howland, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Howland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Howland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Howland average
How we know this about Howland
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 Howland’s own record; 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 Howland
When does frost risk typically end in Howland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Howland typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Howland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Howland typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Howland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Howland sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 29, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Howland?
The federal record around Howland is a meaningful one — 78 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (55), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 I protect my plants from frost in Howland?
From about Sep 13 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Howland's scale — its 5a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Howland'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 Howland’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Howland's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,772 acres it covers and 78 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Howland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Howland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 13 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 78 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Howland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Howland's boundary and the 4,772 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Howland's own centroid, the Acadian Plains and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Howlandlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Howland's 4,772 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Penobscot County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Penobscot County
- The growing challenges every Maine grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Maine
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Penobscot County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Howland's 4,772 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Howland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,772 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Howland-wide figureread your own land →
More in Maine
Wider growing context
What grows across MaineHowland sits outside our named growing regions, so Maine as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides