What Grows in Huntington Center, Vermont

USDA Zones 5a · 192 acres

Huntington Center, Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.

The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Huntington Center, 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 Huntington Center 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 Huntington Center — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Huntington Center — the short answer

Huntington Center, Vermont: USDA zone 5a, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 192 acres of town.

USDA zone
5a
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Apr 30
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Oct 15
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~168
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
192 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

5a5a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 5a is Huntington Center's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Huntington Center's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Huntington Center

Each reading below is measured for Huntington Center itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Huntington Center runs about 168 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

Measured

Huntington Center 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 Huntington Center is in

Huntington Center sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Huntington Center's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chittenden County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Huntington Center

Every plant below cleared Huntington Center's own zone 5a and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's Vermont profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in VermontZones 2–11Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
cranberry, photograph
Vermont cranberry guideZones 2–7Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
Lavender in VermontZones 5–8Huntington Center's 5a is its exact cold limit.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Vermont growing notesZones 2–11Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Growing hazelnut in VermontZones 4–9Huntington Center's 5a — 1 zone of cold margin.
French tarragon, photograph
Vermont french tarragon guideZones 3–7Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in VermontZones 2–10Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
blueberry, photograph
Blueberry: Vermont growing notesZones 3–8Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
St. Johns wort, photograph
Growing st. johns wort in VermontZones 3–8Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
kale, photograph
Vermont kale guideZones 2–11Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
blackberry, photograph
Blackberry in VermontZones 5–8Huntington Center's 5a is its exact cold limit.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: Vermont growing notesZones 2–11Huntington Center's 168 days clear the ~70 it needs.
okra, photograph
Growing okra in VermontZones 2–12Huntington Center's 168 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Vermont potato guideZones 2–11Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
pumpkin, photograph
Pumpkin in VermontZones 3–11Huntington Center's 168 days clear the ~40 it needs.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Vermont growing notesZones 3–8Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in VermontZones 2–11Huntington Center's 168 days clear the ~70 it needs.
azalea, photograph
Vermont azalea guideZones 4–8Huntington Center's 5a — 1 zone of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in VermontZones 3–8Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Vermont growing notesZones 3–10Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in VermontHuntington Center's 168 days clear the ~50 it needs.
lilac, photograph
Vermont lilac guideZones 4–10Huntington Center's 5a — 1 zone of cold margin.
American bittersweet, photograph
American bittersweet in VermontZones 3–8Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
Canada anemone, photograph
Canada anemone: Vermont growing notesZones 3–8Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
American elm, photograph
Growing american elm in VermontZones 3–9Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
alfalfa, photograph
Vermont alfalfa guideZones 2–10Huntington Center's 168 days clear the ~100 it needs.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in VermontZones 2–7Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
blue spruce, photograph
Blue spruce: Vermont growing notesZones 2–8Huntington Center's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
annual ryegrass, photograph
Growing annual ryegrass in VermontZones 3–10Huntington Center's 168 days clear the ~90 it needs.
Canada wild rye, photograph
Vermont canada wild rye guideZones 3–8Huntington Center's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Huntington Center?

Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.

Documented around Huntington Center

Survey cells within 31 miles of Huntington Center checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 48 miles off. What to watch for.

What's on the federal record near Huntington Center

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Huntington Center. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. KENS AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1700 ft
  2. HUNTINGTON TOWN GARAGEBrownfields · 2300 ft
  3. Huntington Town GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
  4. HHWC CSWD HUNTINGTON FIRE DEPTBrownfields · 2400 ft
  5. TAFT MILK AND MAPLEBrownfields · 1.6 mi
  6. Shattuck ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
  7. Jaques Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
  8. Cummin Residence/frmr Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
  9. BEAUDRYS INCBrownfields · 2.7 mi
  10. Beaudry's StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
  11. SCOTT JOHN EXCAVATING INCBrownfields · 3.4 mi
  12. Decosta PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Huntington Center'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 Huntington Center.

Total Sites

149

within ~10 miles of Huntington Center

Risk Level

Moderate

Highest-severity

2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Huntington Center

High0Moderate26Low123

Highest-Severity Sites

Beaudry'S Store
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Bolton Store
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Cumberland Farms #4016
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Hart &Amp; Mead Texaco
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Hinesburg General Store
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)

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.
  • TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Huntington Center

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 Huntington Center average

Your land is one point inside Huntington Center

Everything above resolves to Huntington Center as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 192 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 Huntington Center Average

Huntington Center Average

  • USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Huntington Center
  • One soil character for all of Huntington Center
  • Frost dates read at Huntington Center's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 15

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Huntington Center's 5a
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Huntington Center

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Huntington Center, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Huntington Center averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Huntington Center averages 168Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Huntington Center — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Huntington Center average

How we know this about Huntington Center

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 Huntington Center’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 Huntington Center

When does frost risk typically end in Huntington Center?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Huntington Center typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.

When is the first frost in Huntington Center?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Huntington Center typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Huntington Center?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Huntington Center sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Oct 1, about 133 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Huntington Center?

The federal record around Huntington Center shows 149 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.

How do I protect my plants from frost in Huntington Center?

From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Huntington Center's scale — its 5a band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Huntington Center'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 Huntington Center’s own scale

7 of the readings below were taken at Huntington Center's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 192 acres it covers and 149 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Huntington Center's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Huntington Center's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 15 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 149 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Huntington Center, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Huntington Center's boundary and the 192 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Huntington Center's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
  • Lanternfly survey cells around Huntington Center checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Huntington Center's 192 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chittenden County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chittenden County
  • The growing challenges every Vermont grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Vermont
  • Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Chittenden County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Huntington Center's 192 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Huntington Center you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 192 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 Huntington Center-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address