What USDA hardiness zone is Tulsa, OK?

Tulsa, OK spans USDA hardiness zones 7a to 7b. 73% of its ZIP codes are zone 7b, so there is no single zone for the metro.

When is the last spring frost in Tulsa, OK?

The median last spring freeze runs March 29 – April 12 across the 17 NOAA weather stations serving Tulsa, OK, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

Place guide

Planting zones in Tulsa, OK

This metro spans USDA zones 7a to 7b, so there is no single zone for Tulsa, OK and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 73% of its ZIP codes are zone 7b; the rest are not.

USDA zones 7a–7b 2 zones across 92 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 92 92 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 17 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 6,270 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Tulsa, OK 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 Tulsa, OK is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives October 21 – November 5 across the 17 NOAA stations serving this metro area .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around February 1 – February 15 — counted back from a last spring freeze of March 29 – April 12 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

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

All 17 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 17 NOAA stations serving this metro area counts April 12 – October 21 as growing season (192 days). Widening to any single station gives March 29 – November 5 (221 days).

That is a 29-day difference inside one metro area — 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

Tulsa, OK covers 2 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the metro one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — which is fine for the 73% in zone 7b and wrong for the other 27%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
7b	67	73%
7a	25	27%

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

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze March 29 – April 12

First fall freeze October 21 – November 5

Those are the earliest and latest medians among the 17 stations serving this metro — not an average, and not one station standing in for the rest. Half of years freeze later than a station's own median.

The spread is the point. Even in a metro that is one hardiness zone throughout, its stations disagree about the last spring freeze. Hardiness zone and frost date measure different things — a zone is the average annual coldest night, a freeze date is when the season turns — and a place can be uniform in one and varied in the other. Use the tools below with your own ZIP rather than the ends of this range.

Your growing season

NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 17 stations serving Tulsa, OK it runs 192–223 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 89–92 °F , at or above the 90 °F point where cool-season crops bolt and tomato and pepper pollen fails — so midsummer sowings of lettuce and its relatives are worth holding here. Summer rain over the same months runs 11.3–14.8" across those 11 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. The middle station covers about 93% of it, so expect to make up the rest. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 91 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

When to start seeds in Tulsa, OK

Every spring job for 63 crop dates, counted from this metro's own last spring freeze. Each is a range across all 17 stations — the earliest and latest that job falls anywhere in the metro — because no one station speaks for the whole area.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
Green Onions	Start indoors	February 1 – February 15	8 weeks before
Peppers	Start indoors	February 1 – February 15	8 weeks before
Broccoli	Start indoors	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Cabbage	Start indoors	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Collards	Start indoors	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Kale	Start indoors	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Peas	Direct sow	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Spinach	Direct sow	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Sweet Potato	Start indoors	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Tomatoes	Start indoors	February 15 – March 1	6 weeks before
Bok Choy	Start indoors	February 22 – March 8	5 weeks before
Kohlrabi	Start indoors	February 22 – March 8	5 weeks before
Swiss Chard	Start indoors	February 22 – March 8	5 weeks before
Arugula	Direct sow	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Beets	Direct sow	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Green Onions	Direct sow	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Mustard Greens	Direct sow	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Okra	Start indoors	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Radishes	Direct sow	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Turnips	Direct sow	March 1 – March 15	4 weeks before
Cabbage	Set out	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Carrots	Direct sow	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Collards	Direct sow	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Collards	Set out	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Cucumbers	Start indoors	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Green Onions	Set out	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Kale	Direct sow	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Kale	Set out	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Kohlrabi	Direct sow	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Kohlrabi	Set out	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Pumpkins	Start indoors	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Summer Squash	Start indoors	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Winter Squash	Start indoors	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Zucchini	Start indoors	March 8 – March 22	3 weeks before
Bok Choy	Direct sow	March 15 – March 29	2 weeks before
Bok Choy	Set out	March 15 – March 29	2 weeks before
Broccoli	Set out	March 15 – March 29	2 weeks before
Cilantro	Direct sow	March 15 – March 29	2 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce	Set out	March 15 – March 29	2 weeks before
Swiss Chard	Direct sow	March 15 – March 29	2 weeks before
Swiss Chard	Set out	March 15 – March 29	2 weeks before
Dill	Direct sow	March 22 – April 5	1 week before
Bush Beans	Direct sow	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Cucumbers	Set out	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Pumpkins	Direct sow	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Pumpkins	Set out	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Summer Squash	Direct sow	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Summer Squash	Set out	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Sweet Corn	Direct sow	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Tomatoes	Set out	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Winter Squash	Direct sow	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Winter Squash	Set out	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Zucchini	Direct sow	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Zucchini	Set out	April 5 – April 19	1 week after
Cucumbers	Direct sow	April 12 – April 26	2 weeks after
Okra	Direct sow	April 12 – April 26	2 weeks after
Okra	Set out	April 12 – April 26	2 weeks after
Peppers	Set out	April 12 – April 26	2 weeks after
Southern Peas	Direct sow	April 12 – April 26	2 weeks after
Sweet Potato	Set out	April 12 – April 26	2 weeks after

The week offsets are conventional extension guidance and vary by variety; the freeze dates they are counted from are measured. For a single date rather than a range, run when do I start my seeds? with your own ZIP code.

What survives the winter changes across Tulsa, OK

Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 58 come through the winter in zone 7a and only 56 in zone 7b. That is a different garden at each end of the same metro.

Zone	ZIPs	Survive	Fail for being too warm
7a	25	58 of 74	1
7b	67	56 of 74	3

The last column is the counterintuitive one, and it is why the totals do not simply rise as the winters get milder. Most temperate fruit needs a documented number of hours below about 45 °F to break dormancy and set a crop, so an apple fails in a winter that is too warm; currants and rhubarb cook in the summer heat that comes with it. See the full list with reasons.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to April 28 to be careful. Median March 29 – April 12 across 17 stations; March 10 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to October 5 to be careful. Median October 21 – November 5 across 17 stations; November 22 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 17 stations behind these numbers

All 17 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 141 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 metro area.

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.

Every figure above comes from these, and each is named so you can check it. Which station serves a given ZIP code, and how far away it is, varies across the metro — the table below gives it per ZIP code rather than this page averaging it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Barnsdall, OK	USC00340535	March 31	October 31	212 days
Bartlesville F P FLD, OK	USW00003959	April 12	October 21	192 days
Bixby, OK	USC00340782	April 1	November 1	212 days
Bristow, OK	USC00341144	April 9	October 25	196 days
Claremore 2 Ene, OK	USC00341828	April 7	October 30	205 days
Cushing, OK	USC00342318	April 1	November 5	217 days
Mannford 6 NW, OK	USC00345522	April 6	October 29	207 days
Muskogee, OK	USC00346130	April 7	October 30	208 days
Newkirk 8E Mesonet, OK	USC00346282	April 6	October 30	206 days
Nowata, OK	USC00346485	April 4	November 1	210 days
Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	USC00346670	April 8	October 28	203 days
Pawhuska, OK	USC00346935	April 6	October 29	204 days
Ponca City Muni AP, OK	USW00013969	April 10	October 27	200 days
Ralston, OK	USC00347390	April 11	October 24	196 days
Tulsa INTL AP, OK	USW00013968	March 31	November 4	220 days
Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	USW00053908	March 30	November 4	220 days
Wagoner, OK	USC00349247	March 29	November 5	223 days

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

Every ZIP code in Tulsa, OK

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per metro area, so this is the exact answer rather than the metro area'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
74001	7a	Barnsdall, OK	12.6 km
74002	7a	Barnsdall, OK	2.0 km
74003	7a	Bartlesville F P FLD, OK	5.8 km
74008	7b	Bixby, OK	6.6 km
74010	7b	Bristow, OK	3.6 km
74011	7b	Bixby, OK	6.7 km
74012	7b	Bixby, OK	10.3 km
74014	7b	Bixby, OK	21.2 km
74015	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	15.2 km
74016	7a	Nowata, OK	23.7 km
74017	7a	Claremore 2 Ene, OK	7.6 km
74019	7a	Claremore 2 Ene, OK	4.7 km
74020	7a	Mannford 6 NW, OK	8.2 km
74021	7a	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	20.3 km
74028	7b	Bristow, OK	12.2 km
74030	7b	Cushing, OK	19.0 km
74033	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	10.5 km
74034	7a	Mannford 6 NW, OK	12.5 km
74035	7a	Barnsdall, OK	26.0 km
74036	7b	Claremore 2 Ene, OK	19.4 km
74037	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	4.6 km
74038	7a	Mannford 6 NW, OK	10.6 km
74039	7b	Bristow, OK	16.1 km
74041	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	13.1 km
74044	7b	Mannford 6 NW, OK	11.6 km
74045	7a	Mannford 6 NW, OK	23.6 km
74046	7a	Bristow, OK	18.4 km
74047	7b	Bixby, OK	19.6 km
74050	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	8.2 km
74052	7a	Mannford 6 NW, OK	16.5 km
74053	7a	Claremore 2 Ene, OK	18.1 km
74054	7b	Mannford 6 NW, OK	15.6 km
74055	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	10.6 km
74056	7a	Pawhuska, OK	14.1 km
74058	7a	Ralston, OK	15.8 km
74060	7b	Mannford 6 NW, OK	19.5 km
74063	7b	Mannford 6 NW, OK	22.0 km
74066	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	17.4 km
74068	7b	Bristow, OK	18.9 km
74070	7b	Barnsdall, OK	19.6 km
74071	7b	Bristow, OK	12.7 km
74073	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	15.6 km
74080	7a	Nowata, OK	19.1 km
74081	7a	Mannford 6 NW, OK	1.7 km
74084	7a	Barnsdall, OK	15.5 km
74103	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	10.9 km
74104	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	8.4 km
74105	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	6.8 km
74106	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	8.8 km
74107	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	9.4 km
74108	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	11.0 km
74110	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	6.0 km
74112	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	6.0 km
74114	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	9.7 km
74115	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	1.9 km
74116	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	4.2 km
74117	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	5.3 km
74119	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	11.2 km
74120	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	9.7 km
74126	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	12.5 km
74127	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	14.6 km
74128	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	6.7 km
74129	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	8.3 km
74130	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	7.8 km
74131	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	8.1 km
74132	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	3.1 km
74133	7b	Bixby, OK	6.2 km
74134	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	12.8 km
74135	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	8.5 km
74136	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	4.6 km
74137	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	5.2 km
74145	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	10.6 km
74146	7b	Tulsa INTL AP, OK	11.5 km
74171	7b	Tulsa R L Jones Jr AP, OK	3.1 km
74421	7b	Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	15.5 km
74429	7b	Bixby, OK	22.9 km
74431	7b	Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	20.0 km
74437	7b	Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	22.6 km
74445	7b	Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	17.8 km
74446	7b	Muskogee, OK	8.2 km
74447	7b	Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	3.1 km
74454	7b	Muskogee, OK	17.3 km
74456	7b	Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	10.1 km
74458	7b	Wagoner, OK	21.5 km
74460	7b	Okmulgee Wtr Wks, OK	14.3 km
74467	7b	Wagoner, OK	1.7 km
74477	7b	Wagoner, OK	10.5 km
74604	7a	Ponca City Muni AP, OK	11.3 km
74633	7a	Ralston, OK	23.1 km
74637	7a	Ralston, OK	14.1 km
74650	7a	Ralston, OK	3.4 km
74652	7a	Newkirk 8E Mesonet, OK	24.1 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.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.

What survives my winter?
Runs on the hardiness zone, so it answers for all of Tulsa, OK at once — zone across 74 perennial fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs.
When do I start my seeds?
Dates every spring job from your own last freeze — sow indoors, set out, direct sow.
When do I sow the next round?
How often each crop is worth re-sowing, and when the next sowing is due.
What can I still plant?
Counts the growing days left before your first fall freeze, crop by crop.

Other places to compare

These metros span exactly the same zones — 7a–7b — so the same plants are in and out of range across them. The freeze dates and the spring calendar are their own.

Gardening in Oklahoma — zones 6b– 8a covers the whole state: how its 662 ZIP codes divide between 4 hardiness zones, and the freeze dates across every NOAA station in it.

Other metro areas in OK:

Lawton, OK Zones 7b–8a
Enid, OK Zone 7a
Oklahoma City, OK Zones 7a–7b

All 388 metro areas, by state

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.

Shade clothSummer highs here average 91 °F, at or above the 90 °F point where lettuce and spinach bolt and tomato pollen fails.
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 7a, 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

The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station whose normals cover a ZIP code in this metro. Nothing here is estimated, and no station stands in for another.

This page names no single station on purpose. Picking one to represent a metro sounds reasonable and is not: the station serving the most ZIP codes is an artifact of where ZIP centroids happen to fall, and it selects a lock on the Monongahela for Pittsburgh and a far southern suburb for Chicago. A range across every station is true; a single cited date for a whole metro is not.

All metro areas