Rutland County, in Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Rutland County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Rutland County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Rutland County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rutland County — the short answer
Rutland County, Vermont: USDA zone 5a, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 596K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 596K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 5a is Rutland County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rutland County's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Rutland County
Across a year, Rutland County accumulates about 2,040 growing degree days above 50°F, about 267 more than the middle Vermont county — ahead of 10 of Vermont’s 14 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Rutland County
Across Rutland County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Taconic, Macomber, and Tunbridge are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.8–5.4, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
7%
Hydric soils
6%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Rutland County
The USDA soil survey maps 42% of Rutland County as well drained — but another 56% drains differently: 22% moderately well drained, 20% somewhat excessively drained.
Taconic is the most extensive named soil at 10% of mapped acres, then Macomber (9%) and Tunbridge (7%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Rutland County
Each reading below is measured for Rutland County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Rutland County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Rutland County runs about pH 4.8–5.4, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredRutland County runs about 173 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
MeasuredRutland County sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Rutland County is in
Rutland County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Northeastern Highlands (91%) and Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands (10%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Rutland County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Rutland County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 173-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Vermont profile.
Is it too late to plant in Rutland County?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Rutland County
Spotted lanternfly documented 30 miles from Rutland County, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle7 documented records
- monarch butterfly523 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Rutland County
USGS estimates 2,999 lb of Glyphosate on Rutland County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (2,963 lb) and Atrazine (2,404 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Rutland County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Rutland County — 754 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Rutland County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Rutland County
Closest first, across Rutland County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- S. E. Smith Co.Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Edward Fabian Earth MovingUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- EDWARD FABIAN EARTH MOVINGBrownfields · 2600 ft
- OMYA VERPOL PLANTBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- CASTLETON CORNERS DENTALBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Fuel Stop/Auto Repair ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- former Czachor's Auto Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- WINDWARD PETROLEUMBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- KEYSER ENERGYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- Killington Wood ProductsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- WEST RUTLAND SCHOOLBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- HHWC RCSWD WEST RUTLAND TOWN GARAGEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rutland County'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 Rutland County.
Total Sites
754
across Rutland County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Rutland County
Severity Distribution
across Rutland County
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Rutland County
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 Rutland County average
Your land is one point inside Rutland County
Everything above resolves to Rutland County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 596K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Rutland County Average
Rutland County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Rutland County
- ●One soil character for all of Rutland County
- ●Frost dates read at Rutland County's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rutland County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Rutland County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rutland County, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rutland County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rutland County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rutland County average
How we know this about Rutland County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Rutland County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Rutland County
When does frost risk typically end in Rutland County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rutland County typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
How long is the growing season in Rutland County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rutland County sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 2, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rutland County?
The federal record around Rutland County is a meaningful one — 754 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (401), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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.
Everything above is measured at Rutland County's scale — its 5a band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rutland County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Vermont's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Rutland County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Rutland County's own scale — its own ~173-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 754 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rutland County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rutland County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Rutland CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 754 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Rutland County's boundary and the 595,552 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Rutland County spans, Northeastern Highlands the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Rutland County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Rutland County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Vermont grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Vermont
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Rutland County — the ~173 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rutland County's 595,552 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 754 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Rutland Countyread your own land →