Greenwich, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Greenwich, 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 Greenwich 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 Greenwich — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Greenwich — the short answer
Greenwich, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 941 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~178
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 941 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 5b is Greenwich's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greenwich's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Greenwich
Each reading below is measured for Greenwich itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreenwich runs about 178 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
MeasuredGreenwich sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Greenwich is in
Greenwich sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Greenwich's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Greenwich
Every plant below cleared Greenwich's own zone 5b and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Greenwich?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Greenwich
Spotted lanternfly documented 13 miles from Greenwich, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Greenwich
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Greenwich. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NATIONAL GRID - MIDDLE FALLS SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 150 ft
- BATTENKILL RR CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- U S POSTAL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- M & H AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LINDSAY'S GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- W 527Nitrate · 1700 ft
- CARMODY FORDBrownfields · 2000 ft
- THE FORT MILLER SERVICE CORP.Brownfields · 2100 ft
- WHALEN CHEVROLET OLDSMOBILEBrownfields · 2100 ft
- SKYBEL TISSUE MILLSSuperfund · 2200 ft
- MARK IV, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- GREENWICH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBrownfields · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greenwich'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 Greenwich.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Greenwich
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Greenwich
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greenwich, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Greenwich — CAFO (31 sites) and Superfund (7 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Greenwich
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 Greenwich average
Your land is one point inside Greenwich
Everything above resolves to Greenwich as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 941 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 Greenwich Average
Greenwich Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Greenwich
- ●One soil character for all of Greenwich
- ●Frost dates read at Greenwich's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greenwich's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Greenwich
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greenwich, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greenwich averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greenwich — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greenwich average
How we know this about Greenwich
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 Greenwich’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 Greenwich
When does frost risk typically end in Greenwich?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greenwich typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Greenwich?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Greenwich typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 178 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Greenwich?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greenwich sees about 178 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 5, about 143 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greenwich?
The federal record around Greenwich is a meaningful one — 188 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (83), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Greenwich?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Greenwich's scale — its 5b band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greenwich'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 Greenwich’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Greenwich's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 941 acres it covers and 188 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greenwich's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greenwich's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 19 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 188 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Greenwich, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Greenwich's boundary and the 941 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Greenwich's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Greenwichlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Greenwich's 941 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington County
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Greenwich's 941 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Greenwich you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 941 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Greenwich-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkGreenwich sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides