We rate every variety by the coldest night it has actually come through, at our two Montana sites in Missoula and Florence or with trusted growers farther north, not by a catalog average. A bare zone number means the whole zone, colder half included. A b, like 8b, means the warmer half only. For zone 8 the number that matters is the warm end of each range, and every plant on this page is rated up to zone 8.

The plants that drop off are mostly the far-north specialists: honeyberries, sea buckthorn, and many of the prairie apples, apricots and bush cherries bred for the Canadian Plains. They're adapted to long, steady winters, and mild ones can wake them up too early.

What does well: Lapins, Gold and Black Gold sweet cherries, Blushingstar and Risingstar peaches, Honeycrisp apple, Bartlett pear, Italian plum, Trader mulberry, Somerset Seedless grape and Native American plum. Our ripening maps can show when each one ripens at your place.

Other zones: Zone 7. Find your zone with our cold hardiness calculator.