Vermont spans USDA hardiness zones 4a-6a, with a growing season of about 163 frost-free days — a true four-season rhythm: spring greens, a full summer main crop, and a fall window that rewards planning.
The growing year is built on 34-44 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 1,746 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 2,500 winter chill hours for tree fruit, and every crop choice answers to them. Dig almost anywhere and you'll meet glacial till, clay, silt loam, and rocky loam; how quickly they shed water is the first thing to learn about them. The state line hides real variety: Champlain Valley, The Green Mountains, and The Northeast Kingdom each keep their own zone band and frost dates. A short list that earns its place here — sugar maple, apple, garlic, and blueberry — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•Chill hours (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Vermont spans zones 4a-6a, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Vermont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Distinct growing regions within Vermont — each has its own zones, soils, and signature crops.
Vermont: USDA zones 4a-6a, 146–190 frost-free days depending on the county, 14 counties.
The middle half of this state’s counties. Tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks past the last hard freeze. The shortest-season figure is Vermont's own county record — Essex County's measured 28°F normal, not a modeled floor.
Vermont does not have one growing season. Across all 179 of its towns that carry their own 30-year record, the shortest measured season is West Burke's at 139 days and the longest is South Hero's at 189 — a 50-day spread inside one state.
Neither end is a lone reading — another 5 towns measure within 10 days of West Burke and 21 sit within 10 days of South Hero. These are real pockets, so the number to plant against is your own town's, not the state average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record
Zone 4a-6a is Vermont's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Vermont's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One answer for Vermont averages 14 counties whose growing seasons are 44 days apart — from 146 frost-free days in Essex County to 190 in Grand Isle County. That is the same state, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your county sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 14 counties runs 158–173 days, with a median of 161 days — a 44-day span end to end.
Measured across 14 counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. A county with no record of its own is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the state. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
The middle half of Vermont runs 158–173 frost-free days, and 6 of its 14 counties sit outside that — 3 on the short side, 3 on the long. A statewide planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 158 frost-free days
3 counties
The end of the state that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
158–173 frost-free days
8 counties
0 of 8 shown
The middle half of the state, and the part a single statewide date describes well.
Over 173 frost-free days
3 counties
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its own 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a yard within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
The soil types that dominate Vermont — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it. Each photo is a representative profile of that soil type; the named series is where it was documented, which is often another state.
Drainage
Variable by the shovelful. Sandy till drains freely; dense, compacted till (hardpan) can perch water above it after snowmelt and heavy rain.
What thrives
Apples, stone fruits, brambles, and the whole northern vegetable garden do well on till — much of New England and the upper Midwest farms it. Deep-rooted perennials work through the stony structure happily.
Drainage
Slow. Water enters clay reluctantly and leaves it the same way, so wet springs keep it cold and unworkable longer than lighter soils.
What thrives
Once established, heavy feeders prosper — brassicas, beans, corn, and many fruit trees ride clay’s nutrient supply and summer moisture reserve. Daylilies, roses, and prairie perennials handle it without complaint.
Drainage
Moderate. Silt holds water well and releases it steadily, though the fine particles can crust after hard rain and compact under traffic.
What thrives
The full vegetable garden does well here, and small grains, corn, and leafy greens are classic silt-loam crops. Its steady moisture suits shallow-rooted plants that dislike drought stress.
Loam threaded with stones — the signature of ground where glaciers, mountains, or shallow bedrock keep feeding rock into the topsoil. Every New England stone wall started as a rocky-loam garden bed.
Drainage
Good. The stones keep channels open through the profile, and rocky ground rarely waterlogs.
What thrives
Fruit trees, brambles, asparagus, herbs, and deep-rooted perennials thread between the stones happily. Root crops that need clean, straight runs — long carrots, parsnips — prefer a picked-over or raised bed.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to Vermont's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Across Vermont, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near May 3, with the middle half of counties between Apr 27 and May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 10 and Oct 17 — 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.
The plants Vermont put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Trifolium pratense
Designated 1894. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Acer saccharum
Designated 1949. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Gilfeather Turnip
Designated 2015.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in Vermont — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Ordered by how closely each plant’s published hardiness range matches Vermont’s zones 4a-6a, so this is a shortlist by climate fit, not a ranking of which plants matter most here. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps Vermont’s USDA zones 4a-6a but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Short growing season (100-130 frost-free days)
Indoor starts, fast varieties, and a cold frame on each shoulder — the Vermont formula for making 110 days feel like 150.
Rocky soils throughout the Green Mountains
Raised beds spare you the stone harvest — build up over cleared ground and plant the same weekend.
Heavy clay in the Champlain Valley
Champlain clay holds spring water late — raised or mounded beds dry out and warm up weeks earlier for planting.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to Vermont, the UVM Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across Vermont — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Vermont — 6,987 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 41 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Vermont carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across Vermont
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Everything above resolves to Vermont as a whole — a state whose own counties record seasons 44 days apart, and hardiness across zones 4a-6a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 state 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 statewide average.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,086 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your lot that Vermont averages can't show:
We read public map data around Vermont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Vermont average
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read per county and aggregated to the state band; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each county’s own record; rainfall from NOAA Climate Normals; soils from USDA NRCS SSURGO; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above. Where a county carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Vermont spans USDA hardiness zones 4a-6a — which is to say winter's coldest night runs from about −30°F to −5°F depending where in Vermont you are, averaged over 1991–2020 (USDA PHZM 2023).
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Across Vermont, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near May 3, with the middle half of counties between Apr 27 and May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 10 and Oct 17 — 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.
Across Vermont, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Apr 27 and May 5, with a county median near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). 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 24.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across Vermont's counties mostly run about 158 to 173 days, with a county median near 163 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender crops get a somewhat shorter practical window, since lighter frosts reach a few weeks past the hard-freeze dates on both ends.
Vermont's zones 4a-6a support a wide range — strong performers include Sugar Maple, Apple, Garlic, Blueberry, and Kale. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, Vermont spans USDA zones 4a-6a (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,086 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Vermont runs heavier than most — 6,987 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (3,521) — 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.
Start with three facts. Vermont spans USDA zones 4a-6a, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Apr 27 to May 5 across its counties (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and 6,987 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything above is measured at Vermont's scale — its 4a-6a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Vermont's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
6 of the readings below were taken at Vermont's own scale — the full zone 4a-6a span inside its borders, the 4 soil types that dominate its ground and 6,987 documented sites on its federal record; anything it cannot resolve at this scale is named below.
Measured here
What this page can’t tell you
Explore growing conditions by county — each has its own zone range and land area.
Explore growing conditions by city or town in Vermont.
Vermont shares its dominant growing region with these states — a useful comparison if you're weighing where a crop will behave the same way.
