GARDENGAY
A structured garden at first frost with red stems, dormant perennials, and a warmer protected pocket.
Hardiness begins with cold. Your garden adds the rest.
USDA hardiness zone and plant finder

COLD
TRUTH.

Start with winter

YOUR ZONE IS
A BEGINNING.

Enter a United States ZIP code to find its 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone. Cold Truth will show the official half zone, the average annual extreme minimum temperature range, and what that number can reasonably tell you.

Then use the plant finder to account for sun exposure, soil drainage, water, available size, maintenance, containers, and the job the plant needs to do. Zone matters. It is never the whole garden.

FIND YOUR HARDINESS ZONE

Official national map

2023 USDA PLANT
HARDINESS ZONE MAP.

This official map is displayed without changes. Use the ZIP code finder for the half zone assigned to your location.

Official 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map showing zones across the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023. Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mapping by the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University.
PLANT FINDER

ZONE FOUND.
NOW TELL US THE TRUTH.

Your zone filters winter survival. These questions filter whether a plant belongs in the actual site.

Use the ZIP finder above or choose the zone printed on a trusted local source.

Sun exposure
Soil drainage
Planting place
Available mature size
Water after establishment
Maintenance
Main job
Exposure

What hardiness zone means

COLD SURVIVAL.
NOT TOTAL COMPATIBILITY.

MEASURE

One winter number

USDA zones describe the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature over the 1991 to 2020 period. They do not describe the average winter day.

HALF ZONE

Five degree bands

Each numbered zone covers ten degrees Fahrenheit. The A and B subdivisions split that range into colder and warmer five degree bands.

MICROCLIMATE

Your yard can disagree

Walls, pavement, low ground, elevation, wind, and nearby water can create warmer or colder pockets too small for a national map to show.

PLANT

Labels need context

A listed zone range is evidence of observed cold tolerance, not a warranty. A plant at its coldest listed edge carries more risk during an unusual freeze.