University at Buffalo, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in University at Buffalo, 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 University at Buffalo 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 University at Buffalo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
University at Buffalo — the short answer
University at Buffalo, New York: USDA zone 6b, about 213 days between hard freezes, across 864 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~213
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 864 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 6b is University at Buffalo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against University at Buffalo's 213-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in University at Buffalo
Each reading below is measured for University at Buffalo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredUniversity at Buffalo runs about 213 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
MeasuredUniversity at Buffalo sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 University at Buffalo is in
University at Buffalo sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at University at Buffalo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Erie County.
What Grows in University at Buffalo
Every plant below cleared University at Buffalo's own zone 6b and its 213-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in University at Buffalo?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around University at Buffalo
Spotted lanternfly documented 8 miles from University at Buffalo, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near University at Buffalo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of University at Buffalo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUNY AT BUFFALO - NORTH CAMPUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK-SUNY-BUFFALO NORTH CAMPUSBrownfields · 750 ft
- ECWA DIRECTPFAS · 1200 ft
- TANTE'S PIZZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DAVES AGWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SUNY AT BUFFALO-NORTH CAMPUS-ALUMNI ARENA POOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RN AND BN ENTERPRISES INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DIMIEN INC.Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- ONY BIOTECHBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- FERRIC CONTRAST INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- OLEVE ERICKSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from University at Buffalo'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 University at Buffalo.
Total Sites
3,009
within ~10 miles of University at Buffalo
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
58 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of University at Buffalo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of University at Buffalo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around University at Buffalo, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of University at Buffalo — Superfund (58 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (200 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in University at Buffalo
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 University at Buffalo average
Your land is one point inside University at Buffalo
Everything above resolves to University at Buffalo as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 864 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 University at Buffalo Average
University at Buffalo Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across University at Buffalo
- ●One soil character for all of University at Buffalo
- ●Frost dates read at University at Buffalo's scale: Apr 12 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not University at Buffalo's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in University at Buffalo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in University at Buffalo, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that University at Buffalo averages can't show:
We read public map data around University at Buffalo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the University at Buffalo average
How we know this about University at Buffalo
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 University at Buffalo’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 University at Buffalo
When does frost risk typically end in University at Buffalo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in University at Buffalo typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in University at Buffalo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in University at Buffalo typically arrives around Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 28, so the watching starts about Oct 12 — about 213 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in University at Buffalo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, University at Buffalo sees about 213 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 28, about 178 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in University at Buffalo?
The federal record around University at Buffalo runs heavier than most — 3,009 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,499), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in University at Buffalo?
From about Oct 12 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at University at Buffalo's scale — its 6b band and its 213-day season. Your yard writes its own version of University at Buffalo'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 University at Buffalo’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at University at Buffalo's own scale — its own ~213-day season between 28°F freezes, the 864 acres it covers and 3,009 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- University at Buffalo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- University at Buffalo's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Nov 11 and the ~213-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 3,009 documented contamination sites on the federal record near University at Buffalo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- University at Buffalo's boundary and the 864 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~213-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at University at Buffalo's own centroid, the Eastern Great Lakes LowlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of University at Buffalolydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so University at Buffalo's 864 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Erie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Erie 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 Erie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among University at Buffalo's 864 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of University at Buffalo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 864 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 University at Buffalo-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkUniversity at Buffalo sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides