Local conditions still matter
Rankings use ZIP-based hardiness, light, soil, water, and goal fit. Microclimates, drainage, soil pH, heat, chill hours, and local invasive lists can change the final answer.
Enter a ZIP code and garden goal to get climate-aware plant picks, planting windows, and practical next steps for your place.
Ranked picks
Not sure about soil defaults to loam. Recommendations are practical starting points, not local extension advice.
Before you plant
Rankings use ZIP-based hardiness, light, soil, water, and goal fit. Microclimates, drainage, soil pH, heat, chill hours, and local invasive lists can change the final answer.
The matcher does not ask for an account or save a garden profile. ZIP codes are used in the browser to look up a USDA hardiness zone for the current search.
Some seed and supply links may be affiliate links. Source links do not affect rankings, and native cues are not yet a county-level native-range database.
ZIP planting planner
Enter a ZIP code to turn the plant database into estimated seed-starting, transplanting, direct-sow, and nursery planting windows for your hardiness zone.
Right now
Build a calendar to see what overlaps this week.
Current planting windows will appear here after lookup.
Year at a glance
A horizontal view will appear after ZIP lookup.
Month detail
Frost-based windows will appear here after lookup.
No planting windows match those filters.
Planning dates are approximate. Use local extension guidance, seed packet directions, soil temperature, and the near-term forecast before planting.
USDA zone explorer
Look up a ZIP, scan the national hardiness pattern, and translate the USDA zone into frost timing, heat load, chill-hour risk, moisture pattern, and practical plant choices.
Map view
Click a region or use ZIP lookup. The colored bands show colder-to-warmer USDA hardiness patterns; your ZIP pin is approximate on this interpretive garden map.
Zone selector
Click any zone to see its winter-low range and what it means in the garden.
Garden next steps
After ZIP lookup, this panel shows zone-fit starters from the plant database and links into the matcher or calendar.
Enter a ZIP code to see useful plants and planning moves for that zone.
This is a Plant by ZIP decision map, not the official USDA GIS layer. Use the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for exact boundary inspection; use this tab to interpret what your ZIP-based zone means for planting.
Plant research table
Screen the full Plant by ZIP database like a compact market table: filter by growing needs, sort by useful signals, and jump into any plant profile.
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No plants match those filters.
Field notes
Practical growing notes for matching plants to real yards, real weather, and the space you actually have.
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