About
Growing Calendar works out when to plant where you live, and explains how to grow what you plant.
Most planting calendars give one date for a whole state or zone. Frost does not work that way: within a single hardiness zone, the typical last spring frost can differ by a month from one town to the next. Growing Calendar starts from the frost records of the NOAA weather station nearest to your ZIP code, and works out planting dates for 96 vegetables, herbs, flowers and bulbs from the timing that university Cooperative Extension services recommend, such as "start indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost".
What you will find here
- Growing guides for 125 plants, in vegetables, herbs, fruit, flowers & bulbs, houseplants, lawn.
- Planting calendars for every state and for 819 cities, with frost dates shown as risky, typical and safe dates rather than a single average.
- Pages for every USDA hardiness zone, a ZIP code frost and zone lookup, and tools for seed starting and companion planting.
Where the information comes from
Frost dates are NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991 to 2020, which give the chance of a freeze before or after each date at thousands of weather stations. Hardiness zones are the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, prepared by the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University. Planting times, spacing, care and harvest advice come from land-grant university Extension services, which are cited on every plant page. The methodology page explains how the dates are calculated and where they can mislead.
Independence
Growing Calendar shows no ads and publishes no sponsored content. Plant photos come from Wikimedia Commons and are credited on each page.
Get in touch
Corrections, questions and suggestions for plants to add are welcome. The contact page explains how to reach us.
The company that publishes Growing Calendar is identified in our privacy policy. You can reach us at [email protected].