What USDA hardiness zone is Greene County, New York?

Greene County, New York spans USDA hardiness zones 5b to 6a. 70% of its ZIP codes are zone 5b, so there is no single zone for the county.

When is the last spring frost in Greene County, New York?

The median last spring freeze runs April 25 – May 20 across the 8 NOAA weather stations serving Greene County, New York, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

New York

Planting zones in Greene County, New York

This county spans USDA zones 5b to 6a, so there is no single zone for Greene County and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 70% of its ZIP codes are zone 5b; the rest are not.

USDA zones 5b–6a 2 zones across 37 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 37 37 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 8 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 647 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Greene County, New York as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.

The growing season in Greene County is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives September 27 – October 18 across the 8 NOAA stations serving this county .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around February 28 – March 25 — counted back from a last spring freeze of April 25 – May 20 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

These are ranges across the whole county. The ZIP lookup above gives the dates from your own nearest station instead.

All 8 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 8 NOAA stations serving this county counts May 20 – September 27 as growing season (130 days). Widening to any single station gives April 25 – October 18 (176 days).

That is a 46-day difference inside one county — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Which zone you are in depends where you are

Greene County covers 2 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the county one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — fine for the 70% in zone 5b and wrong for the other 30%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
5b	26	70%
6a	11	30%

Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the county's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze April 25 – May 20

First fall freeze September 27 – October 18

Across the 8 NOAA stations serving this county. These are medians — half of years freeze later than the date shown — so treat the later end of each range as the cautious one.

The growing season runs 129–176 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 72–83.2 °F in June–August. Summer rain over the same months runs 12.6–17.7" across those 7 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. At the middle station that is covered, so watering in Greene County is for the gaps between storms rather than the whole season. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 79 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

Every ZIP code in Greene County

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per county, so this is the exact answer rather than the county's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.

ZIP code	USDA zone	Nearest NOAA station	Distance
12015	6a	Hudson Correctional Facility, NY	5.5 km
12042	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	12.9 km
12051	6a	Hudson Correctional Facility, NY	11.6 km
12058	6a	Cairo 3 NW, NY	10.0 km
12083	5b	Alcove Dam, NY	9.6 km
12087	5b	Alcove Dam, NY	5.0 km
12124	6a	Valatie 1 N, NY	8.8 km
12176	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	9.3 km
12192	6a	Alcove Dam, NY	11.3 km
12405	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	5.7 km
12407	5b	Lansing Manor, NY	18.9 km
12413	6a	Cairo 3 NW, NY	1.1 km
12414	6a	Hudson Correctional Facility, NY	10.9 km
12418	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	11.5 km
12422	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	17.0 km
12423	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	9.5 km
12424	5b	E Jewett, NY	2.8 km
12427	5b	Platte Clove, NY	3.0 km
12430	5b	Slide Mtn, NY	21.6 km
12431	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	5.1 km
12436	5b	E Jewett, NY	5.9 km
12439	5b	E Jewett, NY	7.3 km
12442	5b	E Jewett, NY	8.2 km
12444	5b	E Jewett, NY	12.1 km
12450	5b	Platte Clove, NY	10.9 km
12451	6a	Cairo 3 NW, NY	7.1 km
12452	5b	E Jewett, NY	17.7 km
12454	5b	E Jewett, NY	5.9 km
12463	6a	Platte Clove, NY	9.0 km
12468	5b	Lansing Manor, NY	17.5 km
12470	5b	Cairo 3 NW, NY	5.1 km
12473	6a	Cairo 3 NW, NY	6.2 km
12480	5b	Slide Mtn, NY	13.4 km
12482	6a	Cairo 3 NW, NY	8.3 km
12485	5b	E Jewett, NY	3.4 km
12492	5b	E Jewett, NY	16.5 km
12496	5b	E Jewett, NY	15.5 km

ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.

When to start seeds in Greene County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 8 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	February 28 – March 25	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	February 28 – March 25	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	March 14 – April 8	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	March 21 – April 15	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	March 21 – April 15	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	March 21 – April 15	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	March 28 – April 22	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	April 4 – April 29	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	April 11 – May 6	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	April 11 – May 6	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	April 11 – May 6	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	April 11 – May 6	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	April 11 – May 6	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	April 11 – May 6	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	April 11 – May 6	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	April 18 – May 13	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	May 2 – May 27	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	May 9 – June 3	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	May 9 – June 3	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	May 9 – June 3	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	May 9 – June 3	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	May 9 – June 3	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	May 9 – June 3	2 wk after

Offsets are published guidance; the dates they land on are computed from measured NOAA normals. The seed-starting tool does this for your own ZIP code and counts the days.

What survives the winter changes across Greene County

Zone 6a carries 51 of 74 perennial edibles; zone 5b carries 48. The best number is not always the warmest zone — the count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat, not to cold.

Hardiness ranges are a judgement, published by growers rather than measured; the zone they are compared against is measured. On a warm-end verdict, check with your local extension service — a coastal zone 8 and an inland zone 8 are not the same summer.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to June 2 to be careful. Median April 25 – May 20 across 8 stations; April 12 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to September 13 to be careful. Median September 27 – October 18 across 8 stations; November 1 is the optimistic end.

NOAA publishes these as probabilities, not averages — the middle figure is a median, so half of years fall either side of it. The cautious end is the 10% tail: in roughly nine years in ten the freeze falls on the safe side of it.

The 8 stations behind these numbers

All 8 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 50 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole county.

A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.

These are the stations this county's ZIP codes actually cite as nearest — not a claim that each one sits inside its boundary, since a rural ZIP legitimately reaches over it. Every figure above comes from them, and each is named so you can check it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Alcove Dam, NY	USC00300063	May 3	October 12	160 days
Cairo 3 NW, NY	USC00301095	April 29	October 14	169 days
E Jewett, NY	USC00302366	May 20	September 27	129 days
Hudson Correctional Facility, NY	USC00304025	April 25	October 18	176 days
Lansing Manor, NY	USC00304575	May 18	October 2	137 days
Platte Clove, NY	USC00306649	May 9	October 4	147 days
Slide Mtn, NY	USC00307799	May 6	October 7	154 days
Valatie 1 N, NY	USC00308746	April 27	October 14	171 days

These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

This page describes a whole county. Every tool below answers for one ZIP code, which is the grain the underlying data is published at.

Other places to compare

Greene County sits in New York. That page carries the whole state's zone spread, its metro areas, and every other county in it with a page here.

More of New York

Counties with the same zones — 5b–6a

Matched on the exact zone set, not a dominant zone, so the winter answer on these pages really is the same one as here.

Gear

If you want to act on this

Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.

Trunk wrapZone 5b is cold enough that winter sun on a young trunk does more damage than the cold does.
Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
MulchFor the perennials nearest their cold limit in zone 5b, where an insulated crown is what decides whether they come back.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.

Sources

Where these numbers come from

Hardiness zones are the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. Freeze dates and growing-season lengths are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, taken per station and cited above by name and NOAA ID.

County boundaries come from the Census ZCTA-to-county relation, which is what places each ZIP code — and which treats parishes, boroughs and census areas as county equivalents. No station is chosen to represent this county: every range above is taken across all of them and the count is stated, because picking one would be a judgement dressed as a measurement.