About PlantZoneFinder

What this is

PlantZoneFinder answers one question well: what can I plant here, and when? Enter a ZIP or pick a city and you get your USDA plant hardiness zone, average frost dates, growing-season length, growing degree days, and a printable per-crop planting calendar — no account, no signup, no paywall.

It is an independent gardening-data project, not a store and not a content mill. There is nothing to buy here and no sponsored placements; the value is turning authoritative public data into a fast, honest planning tool.

Where the data comes from

Frost, freeze, growing-season, and growing-degree-day figures are NOAA's public-domain U.S. Climate Normals (1991–2020), read straight from the nearest weather station with a full 30-year record. Hardiness zones are the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023. Planting windows are computed by counting from the average frost dates using per-crop offsets synthesized from U.S. Cooperative Extension guides.

Every figure is traceable to its source, and the exact datasets, formulas, and current limits are laid out on the methodology page.

How it stays honest

The method behind every planting window is documented on the page that uses it, so you can check the reasoning rather than take it on faith. Numbers are presented as planning estimates with their probability and basis stated, never as guarantees. Nothing on the site is pay-to-rank: no crop, product, or location gets favorable treatment for money.

Corrections are the priority. If a value looks wrong, it is checked against the primary source before anything changes — see the contact page.

Privacy and independence

The planner runs entirely in your browser; a ZIP or city you type is used only to show your result and is never sent to a server. The site sets no cookies and collects no personal information. It is run independently as a data project; there is no company storefront, newsletter, or lead-capture behind it.