Haines Falls, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Haines Falls, 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 Haines Falls 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 Haines Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Haines Falls — the short answer
Haines Falls, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 524 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- 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
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 524 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 Haines Falls's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Haines Falls's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Haines Falls
Each reading below is measured for Haines Falls itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHaines Falls runs about 165 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
MeasuredHaines Falls 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 Haines Falls is in
Haines Falls sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Haines Falls's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Greene County is mostly Northern Allegheny Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Haines Falls
Every plant below cleared Haines Falls's own zone 5b and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Haines Falls?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (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. 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 Haines Falls
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Haines Falls, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Haines Falls
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Haines Falls. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HAINES FALLS AUTO SERVICES & SALES INCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1017980Brownfields · 1700 ft
- TRAVELERS RESTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BRAHMA KUMARIS WORLD SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATION DBAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- RAINBOW OPERATION INC.(DBA SKI CORTINA)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- NYSDOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TOWN OF HUNTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- STEWART'S SHOP #362Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- AGWAY ENERGY PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- NEW YORK TELEPHONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- THORPE'S PONTIAC LANEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- BYRNE'S GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Haines Falls'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 Haines Falls.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Haines Falls
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Haines Falls
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Haines Falls, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Haines Falls — PFAS (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (95 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Haines Falls
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 Haines Falls average
Your land is one point inside Haines Falls
Everything above resolves to Haines Falls as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 524 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 Haines Falls Average
Haines Falls Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Haines Falls
- ●One soil character for all of Haines Falls
- ●Frost dates read at Haines Falls's scale: May 1 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Haines Falls's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Haines Falls
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Haines Falls, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Haines Falls averages can't show:
We read public map data around Haines Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Haines Falls average
How we know this about Haines Falls
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 Haines Falls’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 Haines Falls
When does frost risk typically end in Haines Falls?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Haines Falls typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Haines Falls?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Haines Falls 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 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Haines Falls?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Haines Falls sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 29, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Haines Falls?
The federal record around Haines Falls is a meaningful one — 148 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Brownfields 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 Haines Falls?
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 Haines Falls's scale — its 5b band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Haines Falls'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 Haines Falls’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Haines Falls's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 524 acres it covers and 148 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Haines Falls's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Haines Falls's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 13 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 148 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Haines Falls, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Haines Falls's boundary and the 524 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Haines Falls sits in the Northeastern Highlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Haines Fallslydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Haines Falls's 524 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Greene County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Greene 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 Greene County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Haines Falls's 524 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Haines Falls you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 524 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Haines Falls-wide figureread your own land →