Fruit Trees for Bennington, Shaftsbury and the Battenkill, Vermont

On January 31, 1948, the old NOAA station on the Bennington valley floor read −33°F, while the one at Somerset, about 1,400 feet higher on the Green Mountain plateau, read −21°F. That 12°F gap is most of what you need to know about fruit trees for Bennington, Shaftsbury and the Battenkill. On a clear, still night the cold slides off the mountains and settles on the floors of the Walloomsac, the Hoosic and the Batten Kill, and a tree a couple hundred feet up the valley side lives in a different climate than one by the river.

The map covers the southern Valley of Vermont, the south end of the Shires of Vermont: Pownal north through Bennington, Shaftsbury and Arlington to Sunderland and Sandgate, the Green Mountain plateau towns of Woodford, Stamford and Somerset, and the New York side from Hoosick and White Creek to Shushan. Manchester is just north of the map's top edge, so it only gets a short note below. Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The big number at any spot is its 30-year planning low, the bad winter night we'd plan a tree around. It runs conservative, so treat it as a safe number to plan for, not a forecast of how often it comes. The MFTC zone is the same number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of number USDA's map uses. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than downtown Bennington on a still, clear night at bloom.

The middle of the growing ground in this airshed plans for −26°F; the coldest 5 percent for −29°F or colder and the warmest 5 percent for −23°F or warmer. Downtown Bennington, the reference town, plans for −27°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −15°F). That's colder than anything the Bennington airport station has recorded since its record began in 1999, which is −23°F on January 7, 2018. The cold end is the Battenkill floor, where West Arlington and Shushan, New York plan for −30°F, just into zone 3b. The warm end is the hillsides a few hundred feet above the floors.

Why the map looks the way it does

The Valley of Vermont is a trough between the Taconics (Mount Anthony, West Mountain, Grass Mountain) and the steep western face of the Green Mountains, drained by three rivers that all run west to the Hudson: the Walloomsac, the Hoosic and the Batten Kill. On a calm, clear night most of the cold is made right on those floors as the ground loses heat to the sky, and more slides off the slopes after sunset. The Walloomsac shows the path. It comes out of Woodford Hollow, crosses the gravel outwash flat under downtown, then drops through North Bennington and Paper Mill Village (old lake clay below 600 feet, the lowest named ground in the town of Bennington) to the Walloomsac hamlet and the Hoosic. Two glacial ridges cross the valley (the Harwood Hill moraine just north of Bennington and the Hale Mountain loop moraine about a mile north of South Shaftsbury), and a ridge across a valley can hold cold air back above it.

The Battenkill side runs colder. Its floors at Arlington, Sunderland and Sandgate plan for −28°F to −29°F, and West Arlington, where the Green River joins below the gap the Batten Kill cut between Red Mountain and West Mountain, plans for −30°F. Two cold streams meet there on low ground. The old NOAA station at Salem, New York (490 feet), in the same town as Shushan, averaged a −24°F yearly low against −18°F at the old Bennington station, as cold as Somerset nearly 1,600 feet higher, and it hit −35°F in 1943 and again in 1994. A low valley station that matches a mountain plateau is the classic signature of a cold-air pool.

Above the floors sits the thermal belt, where cold drains past and a layer of warmer air rides over the pool. Go up the west side of Bennington: downtown, on the floor, plans for −27°F. Old Bennington, 160 feet up, plans for −26°F and runs 8°F warmer at bloom. Whipstock Hill, 630 feet up, plans for −23°F and runs 15°F warmer. Then it fades: the top of Mount Anthony, 1,570 feet up, is only 4°F warmer at bloom, and the summits of Grass Mountain and Red Mountain, more than 2,000 feet up, run 6°F colder than downtown. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaging 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet higher. The old glacial lakes left terraces in this band, at about 900 and 1,100 feet, roughly 200 to 400 feet above the Bennington floor.

The records also show when the pattern breaks. On some arctic mornings the floors went far colder than the plateau, the way they do on still nights: January 31, 1948 (Bennington −33°F, Somerset −21°F) and January 11, 1968 (Salem −33°F, Bennington −29°F, Somerset −19°F). When the air mass itself is that cold, height doesn't help. On February 16, 1943, Somerset hit −39°F, the coldest reading on record in this area, while Bennington read −32°F. Over 33 shared winters Somerset's coldest night ran a median 4°F colder than Bennington's, and neither modern station inside the map sits on the plateau, so the plateau's mild planning lows are the least proven part of this map.

No big water helps here. People ice fish Lake Paran all winter, and Lake Shaftsbury is only 3 to 4 feet deep, so both are frozen when it counts. Downtown's buildings buy only a little warmth: −27°F against a −28°F median for the floor around it. Snow matters more. Arlington averages 75.1 inches a year and Somerset holds Vermont's greatest recorded snow depth, 78 inches on March 5, 1947, so roots often winter under a blanket, even though the air over snow runs colder. The ground differs too: outwash gravels drain well, while the lake clays around Paper Mill Village and Lake Paran, the clay till north of North Pownal and the peat of Pownal Bog sit low and wet, and UVM's fruit program says poorly drained soil raises winter injury.

Downtown Bennington and Old Bennington

Downtown sits on the Walloomsac floor at about 684 feet, on roughly 30 feet of outwash gravel over about 80 feet of lake clay. It plans for −27°F, MFTC 4a, typical winter −15°F. Within 3 miles the floor runs a median −28°F, the benches 100 to 700 feet up −25°F, and the warmest tenth of the growing ground −23°F. In town, put your most tender tree within a few feet of a south or west wall, and expect town trees to bloom a little early.

Old Bennington, the 1761 settlement on the hill west of downtown, is some of the best-sited ground in the valley: 808 feet, about 160 feet above the floor, −26°F, typical winter −13°F, and 8°F warmer than downtown at bloom. The historic district around the Battle Monument and the Old First Church reads the same. The airport station, 3 miles west of downtown at 791 feet, also sits above the floor, and its own 30-year number and the map agree at −26°F. Old Bennington is where I'd put stone fruit in Bennington: Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (−35°F), Rainier and Stella (−30°F), and Westcot and Sungold apricots, on the upper part of the lot with no hedge across the slope below.

North Bennington, Paper Mill Village and Lake Paran

The North Bennington village center and historic district (643 feet) plan for −27°F, typical winter −14°F, even with downtown at bloom. Just south, Paper Mill Village sits in the river's drainage channel at 547 feet on lake clay: −28°F, and 6°F colder than downtown at bloom. Climb Bingham Hill, where those clays come to the surface, and 150 feet above the floor it's −26°F and 11°F warmer. That's a 17°F spread on a spring night in less than a mile. Lake Paran doesn't soften the floor; its shore reads −27°F and 3°F colder at bloom. Within 3 miles the floor runs a median −28°F and the benches −25°F. Look for the Paran Creek outwash (15 to 25 feet of gravel over the lake beds) and the slopes above the creek. In Paper Mill Village and along Lake Paran I'd plant Haralson, Honeycrisp, Luscious pear and Honeyberry, and save plums and apricots for Bingham Hill.

Shaftsbury: South Shaftsbury and Shaftsbury Center

Shaftsbury has West Mountain on its west side and Trumbull Mountain east of Shaftsbury Center. South Shaftsbury (753 feet, outwash over lake clay) plans for −27°F, typical winter −14°F, and 4°F warmer than downtown Bennington at bloom. Shaftsbury Center and the Center Shaftsbury Historic District, at about 1,090 feet and 230 to 240 feet above the floor, are bench ground: −25°F, and 6°F to 7°F warmer at bloom. North toward Hidden Valley, a draw that carries cold down at night, it's back to −27°F with no spring edge. The warmest ground is the slope east of the Center, where Trumbull Mountain, 580 feet above the floor, plans for −22°F and runs 15°F warmer at bloom. Within 3 miles of Shaftsbury the floor runs a median −28°F and the benches −25°F. Treat the wet ends of Lake Shaftsbury as low ground, and watch the land just above the Hale Mountain moraine. At Shaftsbury Center, Italian and Superior plums (−35°F), D'Anjou pear (−30°F) and Harlayne apricot (−30°F) all clear the number.

Arlington, Sunderland and Sandgate in the Battenkill valley

Arlington village and its historic district (643 feet) plan for −28°F, MFTC 4a, typical winter −17°F, and run 1°F to 2°F colder than downtown Bennington at bloom. West Arlington, at 561 feet where the Green River meets the Batten Kill, is the coldest named spot in Vermont on the map: −30°F, just into 3b, typical winter −18°F, and 4°F colder at bloom. East Arlington plans for −27°F but runs 3°F colder at bloom. The warm ground is up the sides: Chiselville, Kansas and East Kansas (up to 160 feet above the floor) plan for −26°F to −27°F and run 3°F to 5°F warmer at bloom. Sunderland village, on the Batten Kill floor at 657 feet, and Sandgate, up the Green River at 808 feet, both plan for −29°F, with benches around −25°F to −26°F.

Manchester sits just north of this map, where the Batten Kill comes south out of East Dorset, so the map doesn't give a number there. The records point cold, though: a short-lived Manchester station logged −30°F in eight years, the Dorset 2 SE station (930 feet) near the map's north edge hit −35°F on January 27, 1994, and in the May 18, 2023 freeze East Dorset's weather station dropped to 27.2°F while Bennington's read 31.3°F. On the Manchester floor I'd plan at least as cold as West Arlington and put apricots and plums on the benches above the river.

Pownal, North Pownal and the Hoosic

The Hoosic side runs a little milder. Pownal's floor plans for a median −26°F and its benches −23°F, 2°F warmer than Bennington's on both counts, and the North Adams airport station just over the line averages a −10°F yearly low to the Bennington airport's −13°F. Pownal village (588 feet) plans for −25°F, typical winter −12°F, and 1°F colder than downtown Bennington at bloom. North Pownal, lower on the river at 520 feet, plans for −26°F but runs 5°F colder at bloom. Pownal Center, on a hillside 310 feet above the floor, is the standout: −23°F, MFTC 4b, typical winter −10°F, and 11°F warmer at bloom. Pownal Bog (9 to 14 feet of peat over marl) and Barber Pond are the hollows to keep fruit out of. Around Pownal Center, Contender peach (−30°F), Blushingstar peach (−25°F; it came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage), Tomcot apricot and Stanley plum (−30°F) all fit. If you're over the line in Williamstown or North Adams, the Pittsfield and the Berkshires map covers you.

The New York side: Hoosick, White Creek and Shushan

West of the state line the rivers cut through low country; the Hoosic leaves Hoosick Falls at 380 feet. Hoosick (478 feet) plans for −27°F and runs 1°F warmer than downtown Bennington at bloom. North Hoosick and the Walloomsac hamlet, where the Battle of Bennington was actually fought, plan for −28°F and run 2°F to 3°F colder, and Petersburg Junction runs 5°F colder at bloom. Climb out and it changes fast: East Hoosick, 330 feet above the floor, plans for −24°F, MFTC 4b, and runs 10°F warmer at bloom. In White Creek, the White Creek point on our map (657 feet) plans for −28°F, Ash Grove on the floor to the north has the worst spring reading of any town or hamlet on the map (7°F colder than downtown), and Pumpkin Hook, on a hillside 200 feet up, plans for −26°F and runs 5°F warmer.

Shushan, in the town of Salem where the Battenkill turns north (478 feet), is the coldest town on the map: −30°F, just into 3b, typical winter −17°F, and 3°F colder at bloom. Its floor runs a median −30°F and even its benches only reach −26°F. Eagleville, also on the Battenkill, plans for −29°F. Here I'd stick to the hardiest list and put anything that blooms early as high as you can.

The Green Mountain plateau: Woodford, Stamford and Somerset

East of the escarpment the land jumps to 1,700 to 2,250 feet. Woodford, on the crest at 2,208 feet, reads −23°F, MFTC 4b, and 4°F warmer than downtown at bloom, and Somerset reads −20°F. The plateau has its own floors, though. Heartwellville, at the bottom at 1,782 feet, reads −25°F and 5°F colder at bloom, and Readsboro Falls and Searsburg, in their stream valleys, run 2°F to 3°F colder. Stamford's village sits in the North Branch valley of the Hoosic at 1,110 feet, at the old Lake Bascom beach level: −24°F, and 1°F colder at bloom. Given the old Somerset record and no modern station to check these numbers, I'd pick for downtown Bennington's −27°F up here, and colder in a closed hollow like the Mud Pond depression on the Stamford and Woodford line. East of Woodford and Somerset the water runs to the Deerfield; down in Greenfield, the Northampton, Greenfield and the Pioneer Valley map covers you.

Spring frost and bloom in the Valley of Vermont

At the Bennington airport (791 feet, 1991 to 2020) the median last 32°F in spring is May 14 and the last 28°F is April 29, and one year in ten the last 32°F comes after May 23. The first fall 32°F lands around October 5, for a 143-day frost-free season. The North Adams airport in the Hoosic valley gets 148 days, with its first fall frosts 2 to 4 days later. Frost pockets run later in spring and earlier in fall than either.

On May 17 and 18, 2023, most Vermont orchards fell below 32°F by midnight and stayed there until about 8 in the morning. The state's disaster request, which included Bennington County, cited lows down to 20°F and at least 95 percent loss at most orchards. Position mattered. Cornell's NEWA station at Bennington bottomed out at 31.3°F, the mildest reading on the statewide list, while East Dorset, at the head of the Battenkill, hit 27.2°F. UVM found that orchards with dips and low spots ran colder than the weather stations, and that trees still at tight cluster to pink came through better than trees in full bloom.

The spring layer follows the winter drainage, only sharper. The lowest floors read 3°F to 7°F colder than downtown, benches 150 to 330 feet up read 5°F to 11°F warmer, and open hillsides 550 to 650 feet up read 15°F to 16°F warmer. Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying around 28°F, so a few degrees decide the crop. Apples forgive a lot (Minnesota's fruit people figure about 15 percent of blossoms need to set), and haskap flowers take 19°F. Apricots are the hard case; UVM says they're hardy enough in winter but bloom early and get frosted.

So apricots, peaches and sweet cherries go on the highest, best-drained bench you have, plums and pears a step lower, and apples, haskap and bush fruit can take the floor. Bob Purvis's rule fits this valley: an east slope warms quickly on a frosty morning, and a north slope holds early bloomers back. Through bloom, mow under 2 inches, don't till, and water a day or two before a forecast frost. Frost cloth of 0.5, 0.9 and 1.5 ounces per square yard buys about 4°F, 6°F and 8°F by Alabama Extension's figures. In a windy freeze the benches lose their edge.

Fall matters too. Michigan tart cherry buds that died at about −12°F in November survived about −20°F in January, so we taper water from mid-August in zone 4 country, and UVM warns against pruning before about January 1. UVM calls under 135 frost-free days short-season country; with 143 at the airport and fewer in the frost pockets, keep late-ripening kinds on the benches.

What the weather records say

The coldest reading on record in this area is −39°F at Somerset (2,080 feet) on February 16, 1943, when Salem hit −35°F. Salem matched that on January 28, 1994, a day after Dorset 2 SE hit −35°F, and the old Bennington 2 NNW station on the valley floor (669 feet, 1897 to 1968) bottomed out at −33°F on January 31, 1948. The modern stations read milder: the Bennington airport −23°F (January 7, 2018), Sunderland 2 −24°F (January 28, 2005) and Buskirk (499 feet, on the New York side) −25°F (January 8, 2018), the coldest at any modern station here. The airport's average yearly low is −13°F against −18°F at the old Bennington station, but the records don't overlap, so part of that gap is warming between eras.

UVM counts 1993-94 and 2003-04 as the winters that killed many trees in Vermont. Cornell's fruit people saw the same two winters from the rootstock side: Geneva rootstocks came through −40°F unhurt under about 6 inches of snow in 1994, while in 2004, after a thaw took the snow, nights near −25°F killed many Malling rootstocks.

USDA's zones are built on the average of each winter's coldest night, and NOAA station records show the worst night in about 30 winters runs a median 13°F below that average. That's why zone guides put Bennington in USDA 5a or 5b while we plan downtown for −27°F, MFTC 4a. Plant for the 4a number.

What you can grow here

Every plant we sell is zoned to the coldest temperature it has actually come through, so hold its number right up against your planning low.

Benches and hillsides that plan for −26°F or warmer (Old Bennington, Bingham Hill, Center Shaftsbury, Pownal, Pownal Center, East Hoosick, Pumpkin Hook). Apples: Liberty, Northern Spy and Cox Orange Pippin (−30°F), Ashmead's Kernel (−35°F). Pears: D'Anjou (−30°F), Seckel (−35°F). Plums: Stanley (−30°F), Italian and Superior (−35°F). Cherries: Rainier, Stella and Lapins. Apricots: Harlayne, Tomcot and Westcot. Peaches: Contender and Veteran (−30°F), plus Blushingstar (−25°F) where the number reads −25°F or warmer. Grapes: Marquette (−35°F).

The valley floor and village lots, −27°F to −29°F (downtown Bennington, North Bennington, South Shaftsbury, Hoosick, Arlington village, Sunderland, Sandgate, White Creek, Eagleville, and the frost pockets at Paper Mill Village and Ash Grove). Apples: Haralson and Honeycrisp (−45°F), Zestar!®, Red McIntosh and Cortland (−40°F), Macoun (−35°F), Liberty (−30°F). Pears: Luscious and Summercrisp (−40°F), Bartlett (−35°F). Plums: Toka (−45°F), Mount Royal (−40°F), Superior (−35°F). Cherries: Evan's Bali (−45°F), Meteor (−40°F), and Lapins (−35°F) on any rise you've got. Peaches: Siberian C (−35°F), the hardiest peach we think is out there, but very late ripening, so give it your longest-season corner. In the frost pockets, stick to the apples, pears and bush fruit.

The coldest floors, around −30°F (West Arlington and Shushan). Apples: Haralson, Honeycrisp, Frostbite and Wolf River (−45°F). Applecrabs: Kerr (−50°F) and Trailman (−60°F); if you only plant one tree, make it one of these. Pears: Ure and Summercrisp (−40°F). Plums: Toka (−45°F), Pipestone (−40°F). Cherries: Evan's Bali (−45°F), Romeo dwarf cherry (−50°F). Worth a try in a good spot (higher ground, out of the draw, snow over the roots): Liberty and Contender (−30°F).

Bush fruit fits everywhere: Montana Black Currant (−50°F; we've never seen winter damage on it), Red Lake currant, Pixwell gooseberry, Boyne raspberry and the Cold Climate Blueberry Bundle (all −40°F), and Honeyberry (−50°F).

Plums and pears need a pollenizer nearby. Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior, and the pollination maps show who pairs with whom. Snow is your friend for roots: at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no damage. Plant on a slope (Montana State likes a 4 to 8 percent grade), off the valley bottom and the windswept top, with at least 6 hours of sun, and clear brush that dams cold air at the foot of the slope. Test drainage before planting (dig 2 feet, fill, let it drain, refill; under 10 hours is well drained), especially on the lake clays and the clay till near North Pownal. Watch for codling moth, now widespread in Vermont, and fire blight, which ran moderate to sometimes severe statewide in 2023.

Fruit history here

The old gazetteers talk about sheep, not orchards. The orchard story we can trace starts in 1912, when Southern Vermont Orchards was first planted on Route 7 south of Bennington; by 2004 it covered about 300 acres with 45 apple varieties plus pears, plums and cherries, and it's been described as once the largest privately owned orchard in the country. The Apple Barn, directly across Route 7 about two miles south of downtown, still gets its apples there. For pick-your-own there's Terry's Orchard, West Mountain Road in Shaftsbury and Mad Tom Orchard (McIntosh) in East Dorset, and picking usually starts Labor Day weekend.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Bennington, Vermont?

Zone guides list Bennington as USDA 5a or 5b, built on an average winter, and our typical winter for downtown, −15°F, sits right on that line. On the bad night we plan for, downtown Bennington is −27°F, MFTC zone 4a, and the map runs from 3b on the Battenkill floor to 4b on the hillsides.

When is the last frost in Bennington, Vermont?

At the Bennington airport the median last 32°F frost is May 14 and the last 28°F is April 29 (1991 to 2020), and one year in ten the last 32°F comes after May 23. Floor spots like Paper Mill Village run colder on still spring nights, so expect frost there later than at the airport, and earlier fall frost too.

Can you grow peaches in southern Vermont?

Yes, with the right variety in the right spot. UVM says peaches aren't hardy in most of Vermont, but Siberian C has come through −35°F and Contender −30°F, which clears downtown Bennington's −27°F. Plant them on a bench or hillside that reads warm at bloom, like Old Bennington or Pownal Center, not on the floor.

Where are the frost pockets around Bennington?

The low floors along the Walloomsac below town: Paper Mill Village (−28°F, and 6°F colder than downtown at bloom), the Lake Paran shore and the Walloomsac hamlet. The Battenkill floor at West Arlington and Shushan is colder still at −30°F, and Ash Grove in White Creek reads 7°F colder than downtown on a bloom night.

Why is Salem, New York so cold?

The old NOAA station at Salem (490 feet) averaged a −24°F yearly low, as cold as Somerset at 2,080 feet, and hit −35°F in 1943 and 1994. We haven't found anyone who's written up the site, but that's the signature of a cold-air pool on a low valley floor. Our map puts Shushan, in the town of Salem, at −30°F, the coldest town on the map.

What fruit trees grow in Arlington, Vermont?

Arlington village plans for −28°F, MFTC zone 4a (typical winter −17°F), and West Arlington, where the Green River meets the Batten Kill, plans for −30°F, MFTC 3b. On the floor, Haralson, Honeycrisp and Cortland apples, Luscious and Summercrisp pears, Toka and Mount Royal plums and Evan's Bali cherry all clear the number, even at West Arlington, and Kerr and Trailman applecrabs give you extra margin. Save apricots and sweet cherries for the warmer ground up the sides at Chiselville, Kansas and East Kansas, which run 3°F to 5°F warmer at bloom.

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.