USDA hardiness zone
Zone 7a
Rolled up from the 4,905 ZIP codes in our data that are classified zone 7a, covering 3,804 nurseries and garden centers across 851 cities we track in this zone.
Average minimum winter temperature
0°F
Last spring frost range
Mar 4–Jun 17
First fall frost range
Sep 5–Dec 11
Average frost-free growing season
191 days
Average monthly temperature
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32.8° | 35.9° | 43.7° | 53.6° | 62.8° | 71.2° | 75.8° | 74.4° | 67.4° | 55.9° | 44.8° | 36.3° |
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, averaged across this zone's member ZIPs.
Crops by frost hardiness
What grows here, and when
This zone's own last-frost dates range across Mar 4–Jun 17. Hardy and semi-hardy crops can go in before that date; tender and very-tender crops need to wait until after it. See each crop's own guide for exact windows at a specific location in this zone.
Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.
Hardy (49)
- Apple (bare-root fruit tree)
- Apricot (bare-root fruit tree)
- Asparagus
- Bachelor's Button (Cornflower)
- Bare-root rose
- Blackberry
- Blueberry
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Calendula
- Catnip/Catmint
- Cherry (sweet/tart, bare-root fruit tree)
- Chives
- Collards
- Currant
- Deciduous shade tree (generic, e.g. maple/oak, bare-root or B&B)
- Elderberry
- Evergreen shrub (B&B/potted, e.g. arborvitae, boxwood)
- Flowering deciduous shrub (generic, e.g. lilac/forsythia)
- Garden Peas
- Garlic
- Gooseberry
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Larkspur
- Lavender
- Lettuce
- Mint
- Onion (bulb)
- Oregano
- Peach (bare-root fruit tree)
- Pear (bare-root fruit tree)
- Plum (bare-root fruit tree)
- Radish
- Raspberry
- Rhubarb
- Rutabaga
- Sage
- Snapdragon
- Snow Peas
- Spinach
- Strawberry
- Sweet Alyssum
- Sweet Pea
- Table/Bunch Grape
- Tarragon
- Thyme
- Turnip
Semi-hardy (16)
Tender (20)
Zone 7a means an average annual extreme minimum winter temperature of 0°F to 5°F on the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (USDA/ARS with the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University, 1991-2020 records), cold enough for a real winter and mild enough for a long growing season. Every ZIP in this rollup carries its zone matched by centroid against the map, not by its polygon boundary, through phzmapi.org's ZIP-level derivation, since USDA publishes no official ZIP list.
A gardener in Boise, ID and a gardener in Frederick, MD can both be reading this exact page. That's real, and it means zone 7a tells you about winter cold tolerance alone, nothing about summer humidity, rainfall, or day length; the frost figures above are accurate for both places, but which of this zone's crops actually thrive still depends on regional climate a hardiness zone doesn't measure.
We track nurseries across 30 states in zone 7a, from Massachusetts to New Mexico, with Louisville, KY carrying the most, followed by Lexington, KY and Frederick, MD.
Cities we track in zone 7a
- Louisville, KY (98)
- Lexington, KY (83)
- Wichita, KS (48)
- Frederick, MD (44)
- Saint Louis, MO (43)
- Boise, ID (41)
- Amarillo, TX (39)
- Calverton, NY (36)
- Cookeville, TN (35)
- Cutchogue, NY (34)
- Warwick, RI (34)
- Riverhead, NY (33)
Nearby zones
All zones
USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map (zone boundaries, via the phzmapi.org ZIP-level derivation) and NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals (frost dates, growing season, monthly temperatures).