Rumson, New Jersey, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rumson, 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 Rumson 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 Rumson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rumson — the short answer
Rumson, New Jersey: USDA zone 7b, about 249 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~249
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 7b is Rumson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rumson's 249-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rumson
Each reading below is measured for Rumson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRumson runs about 249 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRumson sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Rumson is in
Rumson sits in the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rumson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monmouth County.
What Grows in Rumson
Every plant below cleared Rumson's own zone 7b and its 249-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Jersey profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rumson?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Rumson
Spotted lanternfly documented 0 miles from Rumson, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Rumson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rumson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RUMSON-FAIR HAVEN REGIONAL H SUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- RUMSON COUNTRY DAY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- RUMSON CHINA & GLASSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- RUMSON POLICE HEADQUARTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BOND ELECTRIC COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 89 EAST RIVER ROADUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BOROUGH OF RUMSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- RUMSON SERVICE CENTER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 1 WEST RIVER RD LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BARNICLE BILLS RESTAURANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- OCEANIC MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- TIGHE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rumson'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 Rumson.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rumson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rumson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rumson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Rumson — Underground Storage Tanks (684 sites) and Superfund (12 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Rumson
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 Rumson average
Your land is one point inside Rumson
Everything above resolves to Rumson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Rumson Average
Rumson Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Rumson
- ●One soil character for all of Rumson
- ●Frost dates read at Rumson's scale: Mar 23 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rumson's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rumson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rumson, New Jersey — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rumson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rumson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rumson average
How we know this about Rumson
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 Rumson’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 Rumson
When does frost risk typically end in Rumson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rumson typically lands around Mar 23, 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 Apr 13.
When is the first frost in Rumson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rumson typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 249 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rumson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rumson sees about 249 frost-free days — roughly Mar 23 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 13 to Nov 13, about 214 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rumson?
The federal record around Rumson is a meaningful one — 972 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (684), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Rumson?
From about Oct 28 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 Nov 27 (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 Nov 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rumson's scale — its 7b band and its 249-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rumson'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 Rumson’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Rumson's own scale — its own ~249-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,243 acres it covers and 972 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rumson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rumson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 23 and Nov 27 and the ~249-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 972 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rumson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rumson's boundary and the 3,243 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~249-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rumson's own centroid, the Atlantic Coastal Pine BarrensUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Rumsonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rumson's 3,243 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monmouth County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monmouth County
- The growing challenges every New Jersey grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Jersey
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Monmouth County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rumson's 3,243 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rumson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,243 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Rumson-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Jersey
Wider growing context
What grows across New JerseyRumson sits outside our named growing regions, so New Jersey as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides