Fruit Trees for Columbus, Dublin, Westerville and Delaware, Ohio

In the January 1961 cold snap the Westerville station read −21°F, while the old Columbus city station 11 miles away read −5°F. That 16°F gap is the place to start with fruit trees for Columbus, Dublin, Westerville and Delaware: where your yard sits, between the warm old city, the river bottoms and the high ground east, matters more than which suburb it's in.

This map covers Columbus and nearly all of Franklin County, southern Delaware County, Plain City and West Jefferson on the west, Johnstown and Pataskala on the east, and Pickerington, Canal Winchester and Lockbourne on the south. 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 is the 30-year planning low, the same one our cold hardiness calculator uses, nudged a little for the lay of the land around you. It leans cold on purpose and it isn't the record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night, which is what USDA's map is built on and why USDA's zones read warmer than ours. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than downtown Columbus on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown plans for −14°F, MFTC zone 5b, with a typical winter of 1°F. The middle of the growing ground plans for −18°F, and half of it falls between −19°F and −16°F. The warm end is the old east side, where King-Lincoln Bronzeville, Livingston Park and Old Oaks plan for −13°F. The cold end is out east: Alexandria at −22°F, Pataskala at −21°F, Johnstown and Centerburg at −20°F. By our standards that's mild. All but a handful of the plants we sell have come through colder than −22°F, so in Central Ohio the winter low sorts out a few tender ones and the spring layer does most of the deciding.

Why the map looks the way it does

The biggest warm spot here is the city itself. Brick and pavement give back the day's heat at night and close-set buildings hide the sky, so a dense neighborhood cools slower on a still, clear night. The old city station (725 feet) ran warmer than its neighbors: the Valley Crossing station 6 miles off and the airport 7 miles off each run a median 4°F colder in the year's coldest reading, the Rickenbacker station near Lockbourne 4°F colder, and Westerville 8°F colder. The city's 2022 Heat Watch study with Ohio State, done in summer, found downtown, Franklinton and the West Side hottest, and stored heat shows most on the calm, clear nights that set winter lows and freeze blossoms.

Under that warmth the land drains south to the Scioto. The Olentangy joins it at Confluence Park in the Arena District, Alum Creek and Blacklick Creek join Big Walnut Creek at Three Creeks Metro Park near Obetz, and Big Walnut meets the Scioto near the Pickaway County line. On a still night cold air follows that same grain downhill to the widest, lowest ground in the south of the county, where the Scioto leaves Franklin County at 670 feet near Lockbourne. Lockbourne plans for −19°F and runs 5°F colder than downtown at bloom.

The valleys cut into the flat till sort the ground out. The Scioto has cut a limestone gorge through Dublin and Columbus, the Olentangy runs under shale bluffs about 100 to 110 feet high at Highbanks Metro Park, and six glacial ravines run through Clintonville to the river. Historic Dublin, down in the gorge, plans for −20°F while the benches within 3 miles plan for −16°F. Upper Arlington, up on the till 100 to 110 feet above the floor, plans for −14°F. That's the thermal belt: ground a little way above the floor stays milder because the cold slides past it and pools below.

The cold end of the map is the higher, open country to the north and east, climbing past 1,000 feet around New Albany, Johnstown and Pataskala and past 1,200 feet at Centerburg. The Centerburg 2 SE station (1,205 feet) runs a median 10°F colder in the yearly low than the old city station, and Delaware runs 5°F colder over 73 years of overlap. We haven't found a published explanation. That ground is out past the city's heat and higher, and when arctic air pours in on a wind, higher ground runs colder. In the January 1994 cold snap Centerburg 2 SE hit −29°F, Delaware and Valley Crossing −28°F, Westerville −27°F and the airport −22°F.

One calm night fits the drainage pattern. On October 10, 2016, under clear skies and calm, dry air, Delaware dropped to 32°F and Sunbury to 34°F while the airport and Johnstown held at 41°F. The spring layer agrees: Delaware runs 6°F colder than downtown at bloom, Sunbury 2°F and Johnstown 1°F. Water doesn't help much: the big water is all reservoir, and Alum Creek Lake freezes well enough for ice fishing in at least some winters, and frozen water does nothing for its shore. Most Ohio soils drain poorly, Ohio State's extension people say, and the typical till-plain soil carries a perched water table 0.5 to 2 feet down in winter and spring, while the gravelly stream terraces drain well.

Downtown, German Village and the Near East Side

Columbus was laid out in 1812 on the High Banks across from Franklinton. Downtown plans for −14°F, MFTC zone 5b, with the floor within 3 miles at −16°F and the warmest tenth of the ground at −13°F. King-Lincoln Bronzeville, Livingston Park and Old Oaks plan for −13°F, the Brewery District, German Village and Italian Village −14°F, and Victorian Village and the University District −15°F. Bexley plans for −15°F, and Whitehall and Linden −14°F. Franklinton, "the Bottoms," the flood-prone river ground the 1913 flood devastated, plans for −16°F and runs 4°F colder than downtown at bloom.

In the core, bloom is the question. City trees bloom earlier than country trees, which means less winter risk and more spring risk, and plenty of the inner neighborhoods read colder than downtown on a bloom night: German Village 4°F, Bexley 5°F, Whitehall 4°F. Chicago Hardy Fig (−10°F) is worth a try here, within a few feet of a south or west wall where the map reads −14°F or warmer, with the dry strip at the foot of the wall watered.

Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights and the Hilltop

Upper Arlington sits on glacial till between the Scioto and the Olentangy, and the map puts most of it on a bench 100 to 110 feet above the floor. It plans for −14°F, MFTC zone 5b, with a typical winter of 2°F, against −16°F on the floor within 3 miles, and North Arlington and Brandon Heights plan for −13°F. The bench top is flat, though, and Upper Arlington reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. Marble Cliff, just south on a toe slope 70 feet above the floor, plans for −14°F and reads 2°F warmer than downtown, one of the better spring readings in the city. Cold air has somewhere to go from a slope like that. Grandview Heights plans for −15°F and reads about even. Quarry Trails, down in a draw at 749 feet, plans for −18°F and runs 6°F colder.

Across the Scioto, the Hilltop rises west of Franklinton, but the map reads the spots we checked as flat ground 60 to 70 feet above the floor: the Hilltop −16°F, Westgate −17°F, Georgian Heights −18°F, Lincoln Village −17°F. Valleyview, on the West Side, plans for −17°F and runs 7°F colder than downtown at bloom. Farther west, Galloway plans for −20°F, MFTC zone 4b.

Clintonville, Worthington and the Olentangy ravines

Clintonville runs north from Glen Echo Creek with the Olentangy on its west edge. Six glacial ravines (Glen Echo, Walhalla, Overbrook, Beechwold, Delawanda and Bill Moose Run) run east to west through it and carry cold air down to the river on still nights. The high side reads warm: Glen Echo plans for −14°F and Walhalla Park Place −15°F, both on benches about 100 feet up, and both read 1°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Down toward the river it's colder. Northmoor plans for −17°F and reads 4°F colder, and Old Clintonville −16°F and 3°F colder.

Worthington was settled in 1803 on the Whetstone, as settlers called the Olentangy. It plans for −17°F, MFTC zone 5a, and reads 1°F warmer than downtown at bloom; the floor within 3 miles plans for −19°F and the benches −16°F. Riverlea, on the low ground next door, plans for −19°F and runs 5°F colder. North toward Highbanks the spring readings spread out. The bluff top at Olentangy High Bluffs, 110 feet up, reads 2°F warmer than downtown, Northwoods, on the slope, 5°F warmer, and Mount Air, down at the floor, 3°F colder. That's about 8°F on a bloom night between a hillside and the bottom below it.

Dublin, Hilliard and Powell

Dublin runs from 780 feet where the Scioto leaves the city to 1,000 feet at Glacier Ridge Metro Park, and the river has cut deep limestone gorges through it. Historic Dublin and Bridge Park sit at the bottom, 0 feet above the floor by the map's reckoning, and plan for −20°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −5°F. Climb out onto the till and it eases fast: the benches within 3 miles plan for −16°F, Dublin Village −17°F and Tuttle Crossing −18°F.

The gorge drains, though, so Dublin reads only 2°F colder than downtown at bloom, while the wide, flat till to the west pools: Lowell Trace and Ash Grove read 6°F colder. A shallow flat with no outlet can pool harder on a still night than a deep valley that drains. Hilliard, on the upland between Big Darby Creek and the Scioto, plans for −17°F and reads 4°F colder on nearly dead-flat ground. Powell plans for −17°F and reads 2°F colder. Jerome, on a toe slope 70 feet above its floor, plans for −16°F and reads 1°F warmer than downtown, and Plain City, on its river bottom, plans for −18°F.

Westerville, Gahanna and New Albany

Westerville sits between Alum Creek and Big Walnut Creek, and the map finds no bench ground within 3 miles. It plans for −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, and Uptown reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. The Westerville station, at 802 feet and lower than Uptown, runs a median 8°F colder in the yearly low than the old city station and hit −27°F in 1963 and again in 1994. Minerva Park, in a creek draw, plans for −17°F and runs 5°F colder at bloom.

Gahanna was founded in 1849 on Big Walnut Creek. The town spot, on the creek bottom, plans for −16°F and runs 6°F colder than downtown at bloom, though the benches within 3 miles plan for −15°F. Taylor Station, nearby on a toe slope 80 feet above its floor, plans for −13°F and reads 2°F warmer than downtown. New Albany, at 1,021 feet near the county's 1,132-foot high point, plans for −17°F and runs 5°F colder at bloom.

Delaware, Sunbury and Galena

Delaware sits on the Olentangy, and the town spot is river bottom. It plans for −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −4°F, and runs 6°F colder than downtown at bloom; the warmest tenth of the ground within 3 miles plans for −16°F. The Delaware station, with a record back to 1898, read −27°F in the December 1989 cold snap and −28°F on January 19, 1994, and by the Weather Service's count Delaware's normal first fall freeze comes October 14, well ahead of the Columbus airport's. Stratford, on its river bottom south of town, reads 8°F colder than downtown at bloom, the coldest spring reading of any named place we checked.

Sunbury plans for −19°F and reads 2°F colder than downtown at bloom, and Galena plans for −19°F and reads 2°F colder too. Kilbourne, on its river bottom up north, plans for −20°F, MFTC zone 4b. Shawnee Hills, at the O'Shaughnessy dam, plans for −18°F, about what the rest of the north side plans for. Keep apricots and peaches off the river bottoms up here.

Grove City, Canal Winchester and the south bottoms

South of downtown the land flattens into the widest, lowest ground on the map. Obetz plans for −16°F and runs 4°F colder than downtown at bloom, Groveport (736 feet) −18°F and 5°F colder, and Edgewater Park, on the river bottom, −17°F and 6°F colder. The Valley Crossing station (760 feet) read −28°F in January 1994 and −22°F in January 1977, colder than the airport both times.

Two spots break the pattern. Spangler Hill, a 16 percent slope 100 feet above its floor, plans for −15°F and reads 5°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Lithopolis, on a bench 170 feet up south of Canal Winchester, plans for −15°F and reads 5°F warmer too, while Canal Winchester, on the floor, plans for −17°F and reads 4°F colder. Nearly 9°F across a few miles on a spring night is the best case on this page for putting peaches and apricots up the hill. Grove City plans for −18°F and reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom, with its floor at −19°F and its benches at −17°F. Pickerington plans for −17°F and reads 3°F colder.

Reynoldsburg, Pataskala and the high ground east

Reynoldsburg, the self-styled Birthplace of the Tomato, sits on Blacklick Creek. It plans for −15°F, MFTC zone 5b, and reads 2°F colder than downtown at bloom. Past it the ground climbs over 1,000 feet and the numbers drop: Etna −19°F, Pataskala −21°F (MFTC zone 4b), Jersey and Johnstown −20°F, Alexandria −22°F, the coldest named place we checked, and Centerburg, at 1,224 feet, −20°F. The Centerburg 2 SE station's frost-free season runs 173 days to the airport's 188.

The spring layer is kinder out here than the winter low. Johnstown and Centerburg read just 1°F colder than downtown at bloom, Beavers Hill, on a bench 140 feet up, 2°F warmer, and Rich Hill, a hillside 180 feet above its floor near Centerburg, 8°F warmer, the best spring reading of any named place we checked. Wagram, on the flats west of Etna, runs 6°F colder. In nearly two weeks of April 2016 frost and snow, Lynd Fruit Farm, a family apple and peach farm in rural Pataskala, lost most of its early plum blossoms and took uneven peach damage, while apples statewide had only small pockets of damage.

Spring frost and bloom around Columbus

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 show how far the season moves. The airport's median last 32°F frost comes April 16 and its first fall frost October 25, a 188-day season, and its last 28°F comes April 4. Westerville runs April 26 to October 20, 177 days, and one year in ten it frosts as late as May 15. Those thermometers sit about 5 feet up; on a clear night the ground can run 4°F to 8°F colder.

The freezes that hurt come after warm spells. In 2012 a record-warm February and March pushed the buds and a brief April freeze did considerable damage to Ohio fruit. February 2017 ran nearly 10°F above normal in central Ohio, some fruit buds were opening by March 9, and lows in the teens and 20s°F followed. An early spring doesn't cut your frost risk; it pulls bloom into weeks that still freeze.

Open blossoms start dying near 28°F. Ohio State's Thomas deHaas ranks apricots most at risk because they bloom first, then peaches, then apples. Apples forgive a lot, since only about 15 percent of the blossoms need to set for a crop, and haskap (our honeyberry) flowers take 19°F wide open.

Site comes first; the FAO's frost manual calls it the single most important frost protection. Put apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and plums on the warmest spring ground you've got, off the bottoms, with somewhere for the cold to drain below, and open a gap in any hedge or fence across the slope beneath them so it can't back cold air up into the trees. Keep pears off frosty low ground; they bloom early. Through bloom, mow the grass under 2 inches, don't till, and water a day or two before a frost night.

What the weather records say

NOAA station records put the coldest readings here in the January 1994 cold snap: −30°F at Fredericktown 4 S, at the map's edge, on January 18, then −29°F at Centerburg 2 SE, −28°F at Delaware and Valley Crossing and −22°F at the airport on January 19. The airport is the official Columbus station, and that −22°F is its coldest since its record began in 1948; the old city station (1890 to 1972) bottomed out at −20°F on February 10, 1899. The airport plans for −14°F on our map, colder than anything it has read since 1995 (−11°F), though it hit −22°F in 1994.

USDA's map puts Columbus in zone 6b, and Ohio State's climate office notes the 2023 update shifted Ohio warmer. USDA's zones are built on an average winter's coldest night and ours on the bad night we plan for, so downtown reads MFTC zone 5b, most suburbs 5a and the high ground east 4b.

What you can grow here

Most of the list clears winter anywhere here, so choose by site and bloom.

The core, the bluffs and the warm east side, −13°F to −15°F

Downtown and the old neighborhoods around it, Bexley, Upper Arlington, Marble Cliff, Grandview Heights, Reynoldsburg, Lithopolis and Spangler Hill. Nearly the whole list fits, even the tender end: Bing cherry, Santa Rosa plum, St. Edmund's Pippin apple, Flavortop nectarine and Javid's Iranian Seedling almond (all −20°F), Glohaven peach, Persimmon (Montana Trial) and Rhodes Seedling heartnut (all −25°F), and Montana Trial Pawpaw (−30°F). Chicago Hardy Fig is worth a try against a south wall in the warmest of it. The cherries, almonds and peaches still want the best spring spot on the lot.

The suburbs and the river floors, −16°F to −20°F

Most of the suburbs, from Clintonville, Worthington and Hilliard to Westerville, Dublin, Delaware, Gahanna and Grove City. The −20°F trees still fit, though at −19°F to −20°F they're right at the line. With room to spare: Blushingstar peach (−30°F; it came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage), Hardired nectarine (−25°F), Contender peach (−30°F; Tom McCamant grows it at Forbidden Fruit Orchard in Paradise, Montana, and it's the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F), Harlayne apricot (−30°F), Lapins cherry (−35°F), Italian (−35°F) and Stanley (−30°F) plums, Seckel (−35°F) and Harrow Sweet (−30°F) pears, and Honeycrisp (−45°F), Northern Spy and Newtown Pippin (−30°F) apples. Keep the pears and stone fruit off the bottoms.

The high ground east and the coldest bottoms, −20°F to −22°F

Pataskala, Alexandria, Jersey, Johnstown, Centerburg, Galloway and Kilbourne. The −25°F trees fit here: Glowingstar and Redstar peaches, Hardired and Red Gold nectarines, and Glockenapfel apple. Bing, Santa Rosa, Flavortop and Baldwin (−20°F) are worth a try on your best spot, out of the bottoms. Blushingstar and Siberian C peaches (−30°F and −35°F) and Sungold apricot (−40°F) have room to spare.

Picking by the spring layer

Where your spot reads at or above downtown at bloom, that's ground for apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and plums. Apples need a second variety that blooms at the same time, and for the plums, Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior; our pollination maps show the rest. Where it reads 4°F or more below downtown (the Olentangy and Big Walnut bottoms, Valleyview, the flats west of Dublin, the south bottoms), lean on apples, honeyberry, Montana Black Currant, Red Lake currant, Hinnomaki Red gooseberry, Boyne raspberry and aronia. At our place in Montana, raspberries, honeyberries, currants and gooseberries all came through the hard bloom-time frost of spring 2026 well, and Red Lake and Montana Black Currant fruited after their flower buds saw about 22°F.

Site, roots and local problems

Bob Purvis's rule from our grower manual: an east-facing slope is ideal; plant on a slope, but not on a windswept top or in the valley bottom. With soils this slow to drain, test first: dig 2 feet, fill it, let it drain, fill it again, and if it empties in under 10 hours it's well drained. Roots are the weak link in winter, and bare frozen ground is what kills them, so mulch young trees ahead of a snowless cold snap. The bigger fight here is pests and disease. Ohio State's extension people list apple scab, cedar apple rust and fire blight, plus apple maggot, codling moth, plum curculio, San Jose scale, European red mite and aphids, and OSU's Mike Hogan says growing apples in Ohio with no spraying at all is very difficult. Hail is a constant risk too.

Fruit history here

The Columbus Horticultural Society first met in 1845, and the Columbus Nursery printed a catalogue of fruit and ornamental trees in 1857. North of Worthington, at 8225 North High Street, orchards planted around 1901 became Brown Fruit Farm, which by 1925 had 100 acres and 4,000 fruit trees and billed itself the largest fruit farm in central Ohio, until it closed in 1958. In 2017 the Fallen Fruit project, with the Wexner Center, OSU Extension and the city, planted the South Side Fruit Park, about 40 trees at South Washington and Reeb avenues, and the Weinland Park Berry Patch. If you're up toward Lake Erie, the Cleveland, Akron and Cuyahoga Valley map covers you.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Columbus, Ohio?

USDA's map puts Columbus in zone 6b. Downtown plans for −14°F on our map, MFTC zone 5b. USDA's zone is based on an average winter's coldest night; ours is built on the bad night we plan for. Most suburbs plan for −16°F to −20°F, MFTC zone 5a, and the high ground east around Pataskala is 4b.

When is the last frost in Columbus, Ohio?

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the airport's median last 32°F frost on April 16 and its first fall frost on October 25, a 188-day season. Westerville's last frost comes April 26, and one year in ten as late as May 15. River bottoms like Delaware's and Gahanna's run about 6°F colder than downtown on a still bloom night.

Can you grow peaches in Columbus?

Yes. Lynd Fruit Farm in Pataskala grows them, and every peach we sell has come through colder than any town on this map plans for: Redstar at −25°F, Blushingstar and Contender at −30°F, Siberian C at −35°F. The risk is bloom, not winter. Plant them on a slope that reads warm on the spring layer, like Lithopolis or the Highbanks bluff, not in a creek bottom.

Why does my yard frost before the Columbus airport?

The airport, 6 miles east of downtown, is one of the mildest stations in the metro. On the calm night of October 10, 2016 it read 41°F while Delaware read 32°F. Low ground, creek bottoms and open flats collect cold air on still nights, and the thermometer sits 5 feet up, so the ground runs colder still.

What zone are Dublin and Westerville?

Both are MFTC zone 5a. Historic Dublin, down in the Scioto gorge, plans for −20°F, while the benches around it plan for −16°F. Westerville plans for −19°F, and its NOAA station runs a median 8°F colder in the yearly low than the old city station.

What fruit trees grow in Columbus, Ohio?

Nearly everything we sell clears winter here. In the core and on the Upper Arlington bench (−13°F to −15°F) even Bing cherry and Santa Rosa plum (−20°F) fit. In the suburbs (−16°F to −20°F), Contender and Blushingstar peaches, Harlayne apricot, Lapins cherry, Stanley plum, Seckel pear and Honeycrisp apple all fit.

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.