South Burlington, Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in South Burlington, 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 South Burlington 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 South Burlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
South Burlington — the short answer
South Burlington, Vermont: USDA zone 5a, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 11K 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 5a is South Burlington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Burlington's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Burlington
Each reading below is measured for South Burlington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Burlington runs about 181 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
MeasuredSouth Burlington 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 South Burlington is in
South Burlington sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Burlington's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Chittenden County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in South Burlington
Every plant below cleared South Burlington's own zone 5a and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Vermont profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Burlington?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around South Burlington
Survey cells within 31 miles of South Burlington checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 62 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Burlington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Burlington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Scollins ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- VERMONT NATIONAL COUNTRY CLUBBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Bartlett FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MARATHON HEALTH CENTER @ SOUTH BURLINGTONBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- CATAMOUNT FAMILY DENTAL PLCBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- EVERHART & PINTO PLC DBA CATAMOUNT FAMILY DENTALBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- DR KAREN SPERRY DDSBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- City of South Burlington-Mun.BldgUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- City of South Burlington PoliceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SOUTH BURLINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOLBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- South Burlington High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Vermont Gas Systems IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Burlington'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 South Burlington.
Total Sites
1,152
within ~10 miles of South Burlington
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Burlington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Burlington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Burlington, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 616 sites within ~10 miles of South Burlington. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in South Burlington
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 South Burlington average
Your land is one point inside South Burlington
Everything above resolves to South Burlington as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 11K 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 city 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 South Burlington Average
South Burlington Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across South Burlington
- ●One soil character for all of South Burlington
- ●Frost dates read at South Burlington's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Burlington's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Burlington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Burlington, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Burlington averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Burlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Burlington average
How we know this about South Burlington
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at South Burlington’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 South Burlington
When does frost risk typically end in South Burlington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Burlington typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in South Burlington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Burlington typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Burlington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Burlington sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 7, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Burlington?
The federal record around South Burlington is a meaningful one — 1,152 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (616), 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in South Burlington?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Burlington's scale — its 5a band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Burlington'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 South Burlington’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Burlington's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 10,518 acres it covers and 1,152 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Burlington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Burlington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 21 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,152 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Burlington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Burlington's boundary and the 10,518 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- South Burlington sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around South Burlington 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 South Burlington's 10,518 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 South Burlington's 10,518 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Burlington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,518 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 South Burlington-wide figureread your own land →
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