Fruit Trees for Hanover, Lebanon, White River Junction and the Upper Valley, New Hampshire and Vermont

On the night of May 17, 2023, the wind dropped around midnight and cold air slid off the hills into the Upper Valley. By 6:30 the next morning Poverty Lane Orchards in Lebanon read 21°F and lost every eating apple it had, and Riverview Farm, down on River Road in Plainfield, lost nearly all its apples. Patch Orchards, up at 1,400 feet in Lebanon, kept a big share of its crop. That's fruit trees for Hanover, Lebanon, White River Junction and the Upper Valley in one night: where the cold settles counts as much as which town you're in.

This map covers the Connecticut River valley where New Hampshire and Vermont meet, from Windsor and Cornish north to Lyme and East Thetford, and up the side valleys: the White River to Royalton, the Ottauquechee to Woodstock and the Mascoma to Enfield. 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 number our cold hardiness calculator uses, plus a small nudge for the ground right around you. It's a safe number to plan for that leans cold, not the record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night at your spot, the kind of number USDA's map is built on. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than downtown Lebanon on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Lebanon plans for −31°F, MFTC zone 3b, with a typical winter of −18°F. The middle of the valley's growing ground plans for −28°F, and half of it falls between −29°F and −27°F. The cold end is the river bottoms and the narrow side valleys: Royalton −33°F, South Royalton and North Hartland −32°F, White River Junction and Woodstock village −31°F, all zone 3b. The warm end is the hills: Balch Hill above Hanover and Flanders Hill above Norwich plan for −25°F, and the high slopes toward Croydon Mountain −19°F. The spring layer runs from 10°F colder than downtown Lebanon at Brownsville and Olcot Falls to 14°F warmer on Crafts Hill and Home Hill.

Why the map looks the way it does

The Connecticut runs down the middle of the map as the state line. Above Wilder Dam it's a pool held at 380 to 385 feet; below the dam it drops to about 330 feet where the Mascoma comes in at West Lebanon, the lowest ground here. Everything drains to it: the White River out of the Green Mountains through Royalton and Sharon, the Ottauquechee past Woodstock and through Quechee Gorge, the Mascoma through Lebanon, the Ompompanoosuc through Thetford, and Mink Brook and Blow-me-down Brook off the New Hampshire hills. On a clear, calm night cold air slides down every one of them and settles on the floors.

The benches are the old lake's shores and floor. Glacial Lake Hitchcock filled this valley after the last ice age, and as it drained it left a staircase: delta terraces near 657 feet at Etna and Sand Hill, the clay plain near 545 feet that Dartmouth sits on, and lower stream terraces by the river. Hanover's Plain, about 150 feet above the Connecticut, sits in the thermal belt, the band that stays mildest on still nights because the cold slides past it and pools below. NOAA station records show what that's worth: the old Wilder station, by the river at 365 feet, ran 6°F colder on the year's coldest night than the Hanover station 3 miles away, the median over 17 winters. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaged 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet higher.

The narrow side valleys pool harder. Woodstock village sits on a narrow, flat floor in a bend of the Ottauquechee. Its station has run 4°F colder than Hanover's, the median over 102 winters, and it was the coldest station, or tied for it, in the cold snaps of 1933, 1943, 1957 and 1967. The Union Village Dam station in the Ompompanoosuc valley also runs 4°F colder than Hanover. The White River bottoms hold the two coldest named places on the map, Royalton at −33°F and South Royalton at −32°F. Quechee, just upstream of the 165-foot slot of Quechee Gorge, plans for −30°F with its floor at −31°F, which fits the way cold air backs up above a narrows.

Get up out of the pool and it turns around. Most hills 450 to 650 feet above their floors plan for −25°F to −27°F, and toward Grantham and Croydon the high ground runs milder still. The Mount Sunapee station, at 1,275 feet just southeast of the map, averages a yearly low of −12°F against −21°F at the Lebanon airport. In the January 2009 cold snap it read −5°F while the airport read −26°F, and in January 1994 it read −8°F while the Newport station, at 770 feet, hit −40°F. The deepest arctic air fills everything, though: in February 1943 Hanover hit −40°F, only 2°F warmer than Wilder.

Water does little here in winter. Mascoma Lake freezes hard enough to ice-fish, and a lake only shelters its shore while it's open. The map credits built-up ground with up to 2.5°F, but downtown Lebanon and White River Junction sit on the floor and still plan for −31°F. Snow helps the roots: 4 to 10 inches insulates the soil well, even though the air above it runs colder.

The spring layer is the same drainage at full strength. The hills read 8°F to 14°F warmer than downtown Lebanon on a still bloom night, and the draws and bottoms as much as 10°F colder. East Wilder, on a hillside 80 feet up, reads 6°F warmer than downtown, 16°F ahead of the low ground at Olcot Falls well under a mile away. NC State's fruit people note that 3°F to 4°F can be the difference between no crop and a full one.

Hanover, the Plain and Etna

Dartmouth and downtown Hanover sit on the Plain, the old floor of Lake Hitchcock, where varved silt and clay lie under a sandy layer 2 to 3 feet thick. Occom Ridge is a gravel esker, and Occom Pond an old iceberg hollow. Downtown, 110 feet above its floor, plans for −28°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −15°F, and reads 6°F warmer than downtown Lebanon at bloom. Within 3 miles the floor plans for −30°F and the benches −27°F, and the Hanover station's own 30-year number, −26°F, is the mildest of any station in the valley. Rivercrest, on the slope above the river, plans for −28°F and reads 5°F warmer at bloom. Etna sits on the old delta, but right on Mink Brook, a cold-air channel at night: −29°F and only 2°F warmer. Climb and it improves. Hanover Center plans for −27°F and reads 8°F warmer, and Balch Hill, 490 feet up, −25°F (zone 4b) and 14°F warmer.

On the Plain, Lapins (−35°F) and Rainier (−30°F) sweet cherries, Contender peaches (−30°F), Stanley plums (−30°F) and D'Anjou pears (−30°F) all clear −28°F; on Balch Hill add Harlayne apricots (−30°F). In Etna's draw, stick with apples like Macoun (−35°F) and Northern Spy (−30°F).

Lebanon, West Lebanon and the hills above the Mascoma

Downtown Lebanon sits on the Mascoma floor about 3 miles east of West Lebanon and the Connecticut: −31°F, MFTC zone 3b. Within 3 miles the floor plans for −31°F and the benches −28°F. West Lebanon, along the river and the NH 12A strip, plans for −31°F too and reads 1°F warmer than downtown at bloom.

The Lebanon airport station is the odd one. It sits up on Slack Hill west of downtown, well above the river, yet it runs 3°F colder than Hanover on the year's coldest night (the median over 59 winters), its last spring frost comes a week later, and its 30-year number, −33°F, is the coldest of any station here. We haven't found a published explanation. The map reads that ground about 3°F warmer than the station does, so out by the airport, plan for −33°F.

The hills are Lebanon's best fruit ground. Storrs Hill plans for −27°F and reads 9°F warmer than downtown at bloom, and Colburn Hill, Mount Support and Crafts Hill, north and northwest of downtown, plan for −27°F and read 13°F to 14°F warmer. East Wilder's hillside plans for −29°F and 6°F warmer, while the low ground at Olcot Falls, just west of it, plans for −31°F and 10°F colder. Poverty Lane's high, rocky fields south of West Lebanon read −28°F and 9°F warmer on the map, and they still hit 21°F in May 2023. A freeze that deep, after a warm April pushed bloom early, beats any site short of real height.

On the hills, plant Siberian C (−35°F) and Contender peaches and Harlayne apricots. On the floor, go with Honeycrisp (−45°F), Cortland and Red McIntosh (−40°F), and Superior plums (−35°F) with Toka (−45°F) as the pollenizer, on your highest corner (our pollination maps show which plums pair up).

White River Junction, Wilder, Quechee and the Hartford villages

White River Junction sits where the White River meets the Connecticut, on the bottom at 365 feet: −31°F, zone 3b, typical winter −18°F, and 4°F colder than downtown Lebanon at bloom. The floor within 3 miles plans for −31°F and the benches −28°F. Wilder, just upriver at the dam, plans for −30°F; its old station read −42°F in February 1943. Up the White River, West Hartford plans for −31°F and reads 9°F colder at bloom, and Centerville, in a draw, −31°F and 7°F colder. Up the hillsides, Russtown plans for −28°F and 6°F warmer, Jericho −27°F and 8°F warmer, and Dothan, 510 feet up, −26°F and 9°F warmer.

The bottoms want Wolf River (−45°F) and Zestar!® (−40°F) apples, Honeyberry (−50°F) and Red Lake currants (−40°F). Dothan and Jericho can carry Gold sweet cherries (−35°F) and Sungold apricots (−40°F).

Norwich, Thetford and Lyme

Norwich village, across the Ledyard Bridge from Hanover and 70 feet above its floor, plans for −29°F, MFTC zone 4a, and reads 3°F warmer than downtown Lebanon at bloom; within 3 miles the floor plans for −31°F and the benches −27°F. Lewiston, by the river, plans for −30°F, and Pompanoosuc, where the Wilder pool backs into the Ompompanoosuc flats, −31°F. Flanders Hill, 520 feet up, plans for −25°F and reads 14°F warmer. In 2023 Sweetland Farm in Norwich got about 15 percent of a normal crop, all from summer apples whose bloom timing dodged the freeze.

Up the Ompompanoosuc in Thetford, Union Village plans for −30°F and reads 8°F colder at bloom, and the Union Village Dam station's frost-free season is 133 days to Hanover's 156. Thetford Hill, 450 feet above its floor, plans for −27°F and reads 9°F warmer. East Thetford, on the Connecticut bottom by Cedar Circle Farm, plans for −31°F and 5°F colder. Lyme village, around Lyme Common 90 feet above its floor, plans for −29°F and 3°F warmer, and Lyme Hill −25°F and 14°F warmer.

Thetford Hill and Lyme Hill suit Contender and Siberian C peaches. In the bottoms go with Haralson (−45°F) and Honeycrisp apples, the Cold Climate Blueberry Bundle and Boyne raspberries (−40°F), and Yellow Transparent Seedling (−40°F) for a Sweetland-style summer apple.

Woodstock, Pomfret and the Ottauquechee

Woodstock village sits in a narrow, flat valley bounded by a bend of the Ottauquechee and a small creek, under Mount Tom. It plans for −31°F, MFTC zone 3b, typical winter −17°F, and reads 4°F colder than downtown Lebanon at bloom; within 3 miles the floor plans for −31°F and the benches −27°F. Taftsville and West Woodstock plan for −31°F and read 6°F colder at bloom, and South Woodstock, in a draw at about 1,050 feet, −30°F and 9°F colder. Height doesn't help at the bottom of your own hollow: East Barnard, at 1,021 feet in its valley bottom, plans for −32°F. The slopes are the warm ground. Mount Peg, just southeast of the village, plans for −27°F and reads 13°F warmer, and Pomfret village, 250 feet above its floor, −27°F and 3°F warmer, while South Pomfret, in a draw, plans for −30°F and 8°F colder. Over the Green Mountains, our Rutland and Otter Creek valley map covers Rutland.

In the village, plant Honeycrisp, Cortland, Empire (−35°F) and Kerr or Chestnut applecrabs (−50°F); on the slopes toward Mount Peg, Lapins cherries and Siberian C peaches.

Sharon, Royalton and the White River bottoms

The White River runs 60 miles out of the Green Mountains, picks up its branches at Bethel and Royalton, and turns southeast through Sharon. Its bottoms hold the coldest named places on this map. Royalton plans for −33°F, MFTC zone 3b, typical winter −19°F, and reads 5°F colder than downtown Lebanon at bloom; within 3 miles the floor plans for −32°F and even the benches only −28°F. South Royalton plans for −32°F and Sharon −31°F. A station just north of Bethel, past the map's edge, was the coldest in the January 2009 cold snap at −30°F, and its median last spring frost is May 21. Baxter Mountain above Sharon plans for −27°F and Elephant Hill above South Royalton −28°F, both 13°F warmer at bloom.

Plant the bottoms like the coldest country we ship to: Trailman (−60°F) and Centennial (−50°F) applecrabs, Haralson and Wolf River apples, Montana Black Currant (−50°F) and Honeyberry. Evan's Bali tart cherries (−45°F) take the winter but bloom early, so put them up the valley walls.

Enfield, Mascoma Lake, Grantham and Croydon

Enfield village sits where the Mascoma River runs into Mascoma Lake: −31°F and 7°F colder than downtown Lebanon at bloom, with the floor within 3 miles at −31°F and the benches −27°F. Enfield Shaker Village, on the southwest shore, plans for −30°F, and Montcalm, 330 feet up the hill to the south, −28°F.

Grantham drains south to the Sugar River, and the high ground around it and Croydon runs the mildest of any named place on the map. Grantham and Croydon villages sit at the bottoms of their valleys and plan for −29°F, 5°F to 6°F colder at bloom, but within 3 miles the benches plan for −24°F to −25°F and the warmest tenth of the ground −21°F. North and East Grantham plan for −26°F, the Eastman community's bench about −25°F, and Stowell Hill, on the flank of the Croydon Mountain ridge at 2,048 feet, −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, in line with Mount Sunapee's mild record. Stations rarely sit on hillsides like these, so treat those numbers as the right direction more than gospel. Farther east, our Concord, Manchester and Merrimack Valley map picks up.

On the Eastman and North Grantham benches, Harlayne apricots and Stella cherries (−30°F) fit, and Blushingstar peaches (−25°F) are worth a try. Around Enfield and the lake, stick with Wolf River, Kerr and Honeycrisp.

Plainfield, Cornish, Hartland and Windsor

Plainfield village, on NH 12A near the river, plans for −30°F and reads 1°F warmer than downtown Lebanon at bloom; within 3 miles the floor plans for −31°F and the benches −28°F. Meriden, at 926 feet by Kimball Union Academy, still sits on its own floor: −31°F and 5°F colder. Home Hill, north of the village, plans for −26°F and reads 14°F warmer. In Cornish, Cornish Flat plans for −30°F, Cornish Center, Cornish City and Cornish Mills −28°F, and Dingleton Hill −25°F.

Across the river, Hartland village sits on a bench 170 feet above its floor: −29°F and 2°F warmer at bloom. Hartland Four Corners plans for −29°F but reads 6°F colder, and North Hartland, near the Ottauquechee's mouth, −32°F. Windsor plans for −29°F, typical winter −16°F, and of the Upper Valley ZIP codes we looked up, it's the one USDA puts in zone 5b. Brownsville in West Windsor, on the bottom at 682 feet, plans for −29°F but reads 10°F colder at bloom, while Sheddsville, on the hillside 2 miles northwest, plans for −26°F and 4°F warmer.

Hartland's bench, Windsor and the Cornish hills fit Italian plums and Seckel pears (−35°F), Montmorency tart cherries (−30°F), and Liberty and Pristine apples (−30°F), two of UNH's scab-resistant picks. Plums and tart cherries bloom early, so give them the highest ground you've got.

Spring frost and bloom in the Upper Valley

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F frost on May 7 at Hanover, May 13 at Woodstock, May 14 at the Lebanon airport and May 17 at Union Village Dam, and the last 28°F on April 23 at Hanover and May 3 at the airport. One spring in ten the last 32°F comes as late as May 19 at Hanover and June 1 at the airport. Up at 1,275 feet, the Mount Sunapee station's last frost comes April 29.

In 2023 a warm April, on top of warm spells in February and March, pushed the trees early, and Connecticut Valley orchards were heading into bloom when the freeze came the night of May 17. The Lebanon airport read 23°F, its lowest May reading in about 50 years (UNH Extension gives 22°F). New Hampshire lost nearly 75 percent of its apple crop, and most of the six or so Grafton County farms that ran wind machines, fires and propane heaters were still damaged. UNH Extension's survey lead said higher orchards did much better because the cold settled in the lower valleys. Poverty Lane's cider apples bloomed after the freeze and partly came through.

Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying near 28°F (Michigan State's numbers), but only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, and haskap flowers take 19°F wide open. Put apricots, peaches, plums and sweet cherries where the spring layer reads 5°F or more warmer than downtown Lebanon, and give the floors and draws apples, haskap and currants. Through bloom, mow short, don't till, water a day or two before a frost night, and open up any hedge or tree line damming cold air below your trees. Frost cloth of 0.9 ounce per square yard gains about 6°F. None of it does much in a windy freeze.

What the weather records say

Most of the coldest readings on file, by NOAA station records, came in one cold wave: −43°F at Woodstock on February 16, 1943, −42°F at the old Wilder station the next morning, −40°F at Hanover and −38°F at West Lebanon and White River Junction. The Lebanon airport's record is −34°F on January 14, 1957. Since the 1995-96 winter the coldest has been −28°F at the airport (January 2011 and January 2018) and −22°F at Hanover, so the 30-year planning lows, −33°F at the airport station and −26°F at Hanover's, sit colder than anything either has read since. Winters have warmed, too: Hanover's average yearly low is −20°F over its whole record back to 1894 but about −14°F since 1995. Cold still comes, and timing hurts as much as depth: a February 2023 snap of about −20°F killed New Hampshire's peach crop.

USDA's 2023 map puts Hanover, Lebanon, Enfield, Plainfield, Grantham, Lyme, White River Junction, Norwich and Woodstock in zone 5a and Windsor in 5b. USDA's map is built on an average winter's coldest night and ours on the bad night we plan for, so MFTC zones read a zone and a half colder on the floors (3b) and a full zone colder on most benches (4a).

What you can grow here

Our ratings are each plant's coldest known survival, so compare them straight to your number.

Hills and high benches, −27°F or warmer (Balch, Flanders, Storrs and Crafts hills, Dothan, Thetford Hill, Mount Peg, Lyme Hill, the Grantham and Croydon benches): Contender (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) peaches, Harlayne and Tomcot apricots (−30°F), Rainier, Stella and Lapins sweet cherries, Stanley and Italian plums, D'Anjou pears and Cox Orange Pippin apples (−30°F). Blushingstar peaches and Baldwin apples (both −25°F) fit the −25°F hills and are worth a try at −26°F to −27°F.

The Plain, benches and toe slopes, −28°F to −30°F (Hanover, Norwich, Lyme, Hartland, Windsor, Cornish, Etna, East Wilder, Grantham, Croydon, Quechee, Plainfield): Macoun, Empire and Freedom apples (−35°F), Northern Spy, Liberty and Pristine (−30°F), Bartlett and Seckel pears (−35°F), Superior plums with Toka, Meteor (−40°F) and Montmorency (−30°F) tart cherries, and Lapins and Gold (−35°F) on your highest corner.

Floors, river bottoms and side valleys, −31°F to −33°F (downtown Lebanon, West Lebanon, White River Junction, Woodstock village, West Hartford, the Royaltons, Enfield, Meriden, East Thetford, North Hartland): Honeycrisp, Haralson and Wolf River (−45°F), Cortland, Red McIntosh, Zestar!® and Golden Russet (−40°F), Kerr and Centennial applecrabs, Honeyberry and Montana Black Currant (−50°F), and Red Lake currants, Invicta gooseberries, Boyne raspberries and the Cold Climate Blueberry Bundle (−40°F). UNH points to Underwood, Pipestone and Superior plums for the state's coldest areas; Underwood and Pipestone (−40°F) take the winter here, but plums bloom a week or more before apples, so give them your highest corner.

UNH Extension suggests M.26 and Bud 9 rootstocks for apples and OHxF 333, 40, 513 or 87 for dwarf pears. Roots are the weak link: M.26 and Bud 9 roots die around 7°F to 11°F and live through a −30°F night only because snow and soil keep them far warmer, so keep snow and mulch over them. At Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, Bud 118 has seen near −50°F under snow with no rootstock damage. Plant on a slope, out of the bottom and off the windswept top; UVM's Elena Garcia puts the ideal grade at 4 to 8 percent. On the lake-bed silts and clays, test drainage: dig 2 feet down, fill, let it drain, refill, and under 10 hours is well drained. Taper water from mid-August so trees harden off. Watch for fire blight, which has gotten worse at Poverty Lane as springs and summers warm, plus scab, plum curculio, black knot and southwest injury (paint trunks white). Voles call for 1/4-inch hardware cloth guards 18 inches tall, and deer for a 6 to 8 foot fence.

Fruit history in the Upper Valley

The Enfield Shakers farmed the southwest shore of Mascoma Lake and ran a seed-packaging trade from 1793. The Wood family has owned Poverty Lane Orchards since 1965. Around 1989, with cheap Red Delicious squeezing prices, Steve Wood began switching to English and French cider apples, and it became the largest planting of them in North America, sold as Farnum Hill Ciders. Walhowdon Orchards in Lebanon is on land one family has farmed since the 1770s, and Whitman Brook Orchard in Quechee, planted in the 1920s, was restored in 1995 with over 100 varieties, Red Gravenstein among them.

Questions people ask

What hardiness zone is Hanover or Lebanon, NH?

Hanover plans for −28°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −15°F; downtown Lebanon plans for −31°F, zone 3b, with a typical winter of −18°F. USDA's 2023 map puts both in 5a. USDA's zone is based on an average winter's coldest night; ours is built on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Lebanon and Hanover?

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F frost on May 7 at Hanover and May 14 at the Lebanon airport. One year in ten it comes as late as May 19 at Hanover and June 1 at the airport. Low spots run later than both.

Can you grow peaches in the Upper Valley?

On the hills, yes. Contender (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) clear the −25°F to −28°F numbers on the hills over Hanover, Lebanon and White River Junction, and Siberian C clears even Royalton's −33°F. Bloom is the bigger risk, so give them ground that reads 5°F or more warmer than downtown Lebanon on our spring layer. Tom McCamant grows Contender at Forbidden Fruit Orchard in Paradise, Montana, and it's the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F.

What happened to Upper Valley apples in 2023?

After a warm April pushed bloom early, a freeze the night of May 17 dropped the Lebanon airport to 22°F to 23°F and Poverty Lane Orchards to 21°F. Poverty Lane lost all its eating apples and Riverview Farm in Plainfield nearly everything, while Patch Orchards at 1,400 feet kept much of its crop. Height is what saved fruit.

Where are the frost pockets in the Upper Valley?

On a still spring night the coldest readings of any named place on our map are Brownsville in West Windsor and the low ground at Olcot Falls (10°F colder than downtown Lebanon), South Woodstock and West Hartford (9°F colder), and Union Village and South Pomfret (8°F colder). For winter cold, Royalton plans for −33°F and South Royalton, North Hartland and East Barnard −32°F.

Why is Hanover foggy on fall mornings?

Dartmouth meteorologist Eric Posmentier's explanation: cool air from the hills settles into the river valley over the long fall nights while the river is still warm and keeps adding moisture, and the fog takes a while to burn off. Hanover's median first fall frost, October 10, is the latest of any station in our tables.

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.