Fruit Trees for Keene, Brattleboro, Jaffrey and the Monadnock Region, New Hampshire and Vermont

In the January 1957 cold snap the Keene station read −30°F. The old Peterborough station, about 500 feet higher and 20 miles east, read −10°F. Over 44 years Keene runs a median 4°F colder than Peterborough in the year's coldest reading. Cold settles on the floors and the hills stay milder, so with fruit trees for Keene, Brattleboro, Peterborough and the Monadnock Region, your height above the nearest low spot counts for more than your town.

The map runs up the Connecticut River valley from Northfield and Vernon past Brattleboro, Hinsdale, Putney and Westmoreland to Walpole and Westminster, takes in the Ashuelot valley through Surry, Keene, Swanzey and Winchester, and climbs east over the Monadnock uplands through Marlborough, Dublin, Jaffrey and Rindge to the Peterborough edge. 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

Every spot gets a 30-year planning low: the cold night we'd plan a tree around, worked out the same way as our cold hardiness calculator and then adjusted a little for the ground right around it. It's set on the safe side and it isn't a record. The MFTC zone turns that number into half zones. Typical winter means the coldest night of an ordinary year, the sort of figure USDA works from, so USDA zones come out milder than ours. The spring layer is in degrees above or below downtown Keene on a calm, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Keene plans for −25°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −13°F. Half the growing ground on the map plans between −25°F and −22°F, with the middle at −23°F. The mild end is Townshend, up the West River, at −19°F, and the high ground: Prospect Hill above Dummerston and the slope of Wantastiquet Mountain at −20°F, and Rindge, Dublin and Sullivan at −21°F. The cold end is the floors: Brattleboro at −27°F, Bullardville and Blissville near the south edge at −27°F, and Troy, Surry and Westport at −26°F.

Why the map looks the way it does

Start with Keene. The Ashuelot runs south across a broad floor between about 480 and 610 feet, ringed by hills near 1,400 to 1,500 feet: Grays Hill, Franklin Mountain, the Pisgah ridges and Bigelow Hill. Surry Mountain Lake sits at the north end, and the river leaves down the Ashuelot past Winchester and Ashuelot village to Hinsdale. On a still, clear night the floor loses its heat straight to the sky, cold air slides in off those hills, and a basin like that fills to its outlet before it spills. We haven't found a published study of the Keene basin, but the NOAA station records read like one. Keene (511 feet) runs a median 4°F colder in the yearly low than Peterborough at 1,020 feet, and 3°F colder than Vernon at 226 feet, down on the Connecticut. The old Surry Mountain Lake station (560 feet) ran 7°F colder than Peterborough and 4°F colder than Vernon. Colder than the high ground and the lower valley both: that's what a cold-air pool looks like.

The ground above the pools is the warm side of this map, the thermal belt. The Walpole 3 station, at 930 feet, read −8°F in the January 2009 cold snap while Keene read −20°F, and its median frost-free season runs 159 days to Keene's 143. The map shows the same thing wherever a slope has somewhere to drain: Chesterfield's village, on a bench 230 feet above its floor, plans for −23°F, Dublin, 340 feet above its floor, −21°F, and on a bloom night most of the hill villages run 8°F to 11°F warmer than downtown Keene.

The Connecticut valley is the lowest ground in the region, down to 187 feet where the Ashuelot comes in at Hinsdale, and a river this size doesn't warm its floor on a still night. Putney Great Meadows, on the flat at 243 feet, plans for −26°F. The terraces and toe slopes above the river do better: Northfield, on a bench 100 feet up, plans for −23°F, Walpole, 150 feet up, −23°F. On the Vermont side the hills crowd the river. Brattleboro has little flat land, and downtown sits near the lowest ground in Vermont's part of the valley, with Whetstone Brook and the West River draining the town to it. The town spot is in a draw at the floor and plans for −27°F, the coldest town we checked. The Brattleboro 3N station has only 11 years on file, but its 30-year number, −27°F, ties the old Surry Mountain Lake station's as the coldest here.

East of Keene the land climbs onto the Monadnock uplands, mostly 1,000 to 1,500 feet, with Mount Monadnock on the Connecticut and Merrimack divide standing about 2,000 feet above the country around it. Up there the cold sinks are the small basins and stream bottoms. Troy, on its river bottom at 1,009 feet, plans for −26°F, and Pottersville, in a draw at 1,167 feet, −26°F, while Dublin and Rindge, on their slopes, plan for −21°F. Elevation alone doesn't decide it. Height above the nearest low ground does.

Water helps only while it's open. Surry Mountain Lake averages 5 feet deep, the kind that freezes early and does nothing for its shore by January, while Spofford Lake, 66 feet at its deepest, froze about six weeks after shallow Swanzey Lake in the 2022 to 2023 winter. In country this wooded (the West River's watershed is about 90 percent forest), a tree line across the foot of a clearing dams cold air uphill of it.

Keene, Surry and the Ashuelot floor

Keene is the region's only city, home to Keene State College and Antioch University New England, and it sits on the Ashuelot floor at about 480 to 510 feet. It plans for −25°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −13°F. Within 3 miles the floor plans for −25°F, the benches −22°F and the warmest tenth of the ground −21°F. South Keene plans for −23°F, and Roxbury, on a hillside 120 feet above the floor east of the city, −23°F and 2°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Downtown's −25°F is colder than anything the Keene station has read since 1995 (−21°F), and the airport station 2 miles south in Swanzey has bottomed out at −24°F in that time. The Keene station's record, from 127 years on file, is −35°F on February 20, 1936.

Surry, at the north end of the basin, plans for −26°F, MFTC zone 4a, on flat floor. Gilsum, north of Keene in a draw, plans for −24°F and runs 6°F colder than downtown Keene at bloom. The hillsides around the basin, at −22°F to −23°F, give the −25°F trees room.

Swanzey, Winchester and Hinsdale

Below Keene the Ashuelot winds south through Swanzey, then turns west past Winchester and Ashuelot village to Hinsdale. That's the basin's drain, and on still nights it's some of the frostiest ground we checked. Swanzey plans for −25°F, MFTC zone 4a. Westport, at the floor, plans for −26°F and runs about 5°F colder than downtown Keene at bloom, and Swanzey Station −26°F and 8°F colder, the coldest spring reading of any named place we checked. East Swanzey, in a draw, plans for −24°F and reads 2°F warmer. Winchester plans for −25°F and runs 5°F colder at bloom, and Ashuelot village −25°F and 7°F colder.

Hinsdale, where the Ashuelot meets the Connecticut, plans for −25°F and runs 7°F colder than downtown Keene on a bloom night. North Hinsdale, on a hillside 130 feet up, plans for the same −25°F but reads 6°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom. Same winter number, nearly 14°F apart on a spring night: that's the case for a slope in this valley.

Brattleboro, Putney and Dummerston

Brattleboro's town spot plans for −27°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −13°F, and the Downtown Historic District, on a toe slope 30 feet up, −26°F. Within 3 miles the floor plans for −27°F, the benches −23°F and the warmest tenth of the ground −21°F, so there's a 6°F spread to choose from without leaving town. West Brattleboro, on a hillside 100 feet above its floor, plans for −25°F and Mountain Home Park −24°F, and on a bloom night West Brattleboro reads 6°F warmer than downtown Keene and Fairview Village, on a bench 150 feet up, 7°F warmer. Across the river, the slope of Wantastiquet Mountain, 1,080 feet above the floor, plans for −20°F and reads 13°F warmer.

Dummerston is hill country above the West River. Dummerston Center, on a bench 380 feet up, plans for −22°F and reads 11°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom, and Prospect Hill, just west, −20°F, MFTC zone 5a, and 14°F warmer. West Dummerston, down at the floor, plans for −25°F. Scott Farm's rows climb a hillside off Kipling Road in the southeast of town. Putney grew up around the falls on Sacketts Brook, on a plain above the Connecticut. The village plans for −24°F and reads 3°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom, while Putney Great Meadows, on the river flat, plans for −26°F and reads 3°F colder. Up the West River, Newfane plans for −22°F and Townshend −19°F, MFTC zone 5a; south of Brattleboro, Guilford plans for −24°F.

Walpole, Westmoreland and Chesterfield

On the New Hampshire bank north of Hinsdale the river towns sit on terraces and slopes above the Connecticut, and the spring layer likes them. Walpole, on a bench 150 feet above the floor, plans for −23°F and reads 4°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom; Alyson's Orchard is there, with 50 acres of bearing trees. Westmoreland, old farm country with plenty of arable land, plans for −24°F on a toe slope 80 feet up and reads 5°F warmer. Park Hill, 230 feet above its floor, plans for −23°F and reads more than 13°F warmer than downtown Keene, and Poocham, 350 feet up, −22°F and 11°F warmer. East Westmoreland, on flat floor inland, plans for −26°F.

Chesterfield's village, on its bench 230 feet up, plans for −23°F and reads 10°F warmer at bloom. Spofford, at the lake's outlet, plans for −24°F, and West Chesterfield, in a draw down toward the river, −26°F. Across the river, Westminster plans for −24°F and reads 3°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom. Up on these terraces the −25°F trees have a little room, and the hardy peaches and apricots get the spring nights they need.

Peterborough, Dublin, Jaffrey and the Monadnock uplands

Dublin's village, at 1,447 feet on a hillside 340 feet above its floor, plans for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, and reads 9°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom. Orchards were common in Dublin's old farm economy, on hard, rocky soil that's workable. Harrisville plans for −23°F and reads 11°F warmer, Nelson −23°F and 9°F warmer, Hancock −23°F and 6°F warmer, and Sullivan −21°F. In the bottoms between them it's another story: Pottersville plans for −26°F and runs 6°F colder than downtown Keene at bloom.

Jaffrey village sits on the Contoocook in the east of town, in a draw: it plans for −25°F and reads a little colder than downtown Keene at bloom. Jaffrey Center, near the middle of town on a bench 120 feet up, plans for −23°F and reads 9°F warmer. Rindge, on a hillside 250 feet above its floor, plans for −21°F and reads 11°F warmer, and Fitzwilliam −23°F and 7°F warmer. Troy, on its river bottom, plans for −26°F, MFTC zone 4a, and Marlborough −25°F and 4°F colder at bloom. At the Peterborough edge, West Peterborough plans for −23°F, the MacDowell Colony grounds, on a bench 190 feet up, −23°F and 10°F warmer at bloom, and Noone, in a draw, −25°F and 4°F colder. The Jaffrey airport station, at 1,012 feet, hasn't read colder than −22°F (January 16, 2009) in its 28 years.

Northfield, Vernon and the Massachusetts line

Northfield's settlement runs mostly along the river, and the town spot sits on a bench 100 feet above the floor: −23°F, MFTC zone 4b, and 6°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom. East Northfield, 150 feet up, plans for −23°F and West Northfield −24°F. Vernon plans for −23°F; the old Vernon station at 226 feet ran a median 3°F warmer than Keene in the yearly low over 64 years, though it read −34°F in February 1943. Bernardston plans for −23°F, and Cold Spring nearby, on a bench 110 feet up, −21°F.

Along the Massachusetts line east of the river the ground climbs toward 1,000 feet, and its low spots are some of the coldest we checked: Winchendon Springs plans for −26°F, and Bullardville and Blissville −27°F. The Old Centre Historic District, 320 feet above its floor, plans for −22°F and reads 12°F warmer than downtown Keene at bloom, and Royalston's common, on a bench 290 feet up, −24°F and 10°F warmer.

Spring frost and bloom in the Monadnock Region

The spring layer follows the same drainage as winter, with a much bigger swing. On a still bloom night the hill villages and the slopes above the Connecticut run 6°F to 14°F warmer than downtown Keene, and the Ashuelot's drain below Swanzey runs 5°F to 7°F colder. In NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020, the Keene station's median last 32°F frost comes May 14 and its first fall frost October 5, a 143-day season, with the last 28°F on May 4; in one year of ten the last frost comes as late as May 28. Walpole 3, at 930 feet, gets its last frost May 1 and 159 days.

May 17 and 18, 2023 is the freeze everyone here remembers. A cold, dry air mass from Canada arrived at or near full bloom; Alyson's Orchard in Walpole was about 85 percent through it. The Putney weather station read 24.4°F, the second-lowest on UVM's Vermont list, High Meadows Farm's fields in Westminster 23°F, and Scott Farm's orchard station in Dummerston 25.7°F. Alyson's lost 99 percent of its apples, Scott Farm about 90 percent of its fruit, and Dwight Miller Orchards most of its apples. UNH Extension's Jeremy Delisle called it the most damaging freeze of his 18-year career and said damage ran lower at higher elevations but varied between farms and even within one farm. UVM's Vern Grubinger, after surveying 70 farms, said local microclimate made a major difference, though Scott Farm's highest rows were badly damaged too. Our spring layer is the calm, clear-night pattern; when a cold air mass comes in with wind, the benches lose much of their edge.

Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying near 28°F, but only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, which is why a few degrees of slope can save one. Haskap, sold as honeyberry, holds its open flowers to 19°F. Site is still the best protection there is, the FAO's frost manual says. Put apricots, peaches, plums and sweet cherries highest, apples and haskap lower, and pears, which flower early, belong off the frosty bottoms. Keep the grass short through bloom (under 2 inches), leave the soil untilled, and wet it a day or two ahead of a frost night. Scott Farm has used orchard bonfires in April, and frost cloth of 0.5, 0.9 and 1.5 ounces per square yard buys about 4°F, 6°F and 8°F.

What the weather records say

The Keene station, with 127 years on file, holds the coldest NOAA reading of any station inside the map: −35°F on February 20, 1936. Bellows Falls, at the map's north edge, also hit −35°F, on February 17, 1943, in the cold snap that took Vernon to −34°F and Keene to −32°F. In the February 1958 cold snap Vernon read −33°F and Keene and Surry Mountain Lake −31°F, while Peterborough, up high, read −12°F; its coldest in 46 years was −26°F, back in 1894.

February 2023 was the winter test for stone fruit. The Walpole 2S station read −17°F on February 5, its coldest in 15 years on file, and UNH reported lows to −21°F in New Hampshire's coldest spots, hurting peaches, sweet cherries and plums. Scott Farm lost most of its peaches and plums and its cherries, and Dutton Berry Farm in Newfane lost its peaches. Our ratings are for the tree coming through; the flower buds on stone fruit can go at milder temperatures than that.

We couldn't confirm USDA's 2023 zone for Keene or Brattleboro; secondary sources put them anywhere from 4b to 6a. UVM says Windham County is among Vermont's warmest on the 2023 map, with much of the old 5a now 5b. USDA's map rests on an average winter's coldest night, ours on the bad one, so downtown Keene and most of the hills read MFTC zone 4b and Brattleboro and the coldest floors 4a.

What you can grow here

Hillsides, benches and the high villages, −19°F to −23°F

Townshend, Prospect Hill, Dummerston Center, Dublin, Rindge, Sullivan, Harrisville, Nelson, Jaffrey Center, Fitzwilliam, Chesterfield, Walpole, Park Hill, Poocham, Northfield, the Old Centre and the MacDowell Colony ground. This is the stone fruit ground on the map, warm in winter and warm at bloom. The −25°F trees fit with room: Redstar peach, Hardired nectarine, Stella cherry, Persimmon (Montana Trial) and Rhodes Seedling heartnut. With more room: Blushingstar peach (−30°F; ours took −25°F on January 13, 2024 with no damage), 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 and Tomcot apricots (−30°F), Rainier cherry (−30°F), Shiro plum (−30°F) and Harrow Sweet and Concorde pears (−30°F). Bing cherry, Mericrest nectarine and Baldwin apple (−20°F) fit Townshend and Prospect Hill and are worth a try elsewhere on the warmest of this ground.

Keene, the river towns and the middle of the map, −24°F to −25°F

Downtown Keene, Swanzey, Winchester, Hinsdale, Putney, Westminster, Westmoreland, Spofford, Guilford, West Brattleboro, Gilsum, Jaffrey and Marlborough. The −25°F trees fit downtown Keene and the −24°F ground and are worth a try where it reads −25°F. The surer picks are the −30°F trees and hardier: Northern Spy, Roxbury Russet and Belle de Boskoop apples (−30°F), Liberty, Cox Orange Pippin and Black Oxford (−35°F), Lapins cherry (−35°F), Montmorency tart cherry (−35°F), Stanley (−30°F) and Italian (−35°F) plums, Seckel (−35°F) and D'Anjou (−30°F) pears, and Siberian C peach (−35°F). Give the stone fruit and pears the best slope you have; the Ashuelot bottoms below Swanzey are apple and berry ground.

The cold floors, −26°F to −27°F

Brattleboro's low ground, Surry, Troy, Westport, Swanzey Station, Putney Great Meadows, West Chesterfield, East Westmoreland, Pottersville, Winchendon Springs, Bullardville and Blissville. Plant −30°F trees and hardier here; the −25°F trees are only worth a try on the best spot you've got. The floors frost late, so lean on apples and bush fruit: Honeycrisp (−45°F), Zestar!® and Golden Russet (−40°F), Liberty (−35°F) and Northern Spy (−30°F), Evan's Bali tart cherry (−45°F), honeyberry, Red Lake currant, Montana Black Currant, Invicta gooseberry, Nova raspberry, aronia and American elderberry. The berries are tough at bloom, too: in the bad Montana frost of spring 2026 our raspberries, honeyberries, currants and gooseberries all came through fine; Red Lake and Montana Black Currant even set fruit after their flower buds saw about 22°F.

Site, roots and local problems

Our grower manual carries Bob Purvis's site rules, and they fit this country: an east-facing slope is ideal, plant on the slope but not on a windswept top and not down in the bottom, and clear out dense brush or woods that dam cold air at the foot of the slope. Montana State recommends a 4 to 8 percent grade where cold air won't settle. Test drainage before you plant (dig 2 feet, fill it, let it drain, refill it; under 10 hours is well drained). Roots are the weak link in winter and snow over them is their best protection; at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, Bud 118 apple rootstock saw near −50°F under snow with no rootstock damage. This is zone 4 country, so taper the water from mid-August to let trees harden off before the October freezes. Plant at least two apple varieties that flower together (our pollination maps help), and pair plums the same way: Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior. UNH Extension names scab, fire blight and black knot as the diseases to watch, and large hail is common east and northeast of Keene.

Fruit history here

Dublin's hill farms commonly kept orchards, and Brattleboro once had more than 170 farms. Scott Farm in Dummerston goes back to Rufus Scott, who bought the land in 1845 and ran a dairy; apples were planted by 1870, Boston lawyer Francis Holbrook developed it as an orchard after buying it in 1908 (Fedco dates the original orchard to 1911), and his heirs gave it to Landmark Trust USA in 1995. Today it grows 130 to 140 heirloom apples (sources differ) on nearly 3,000 trees, plus medlars, quince, pawpaws and stone fruit. Green Mountain Orchards in Putney has been family-run since 1914, Dwight Miller Orchards in Dummerston has been in one family for eight generations, and Alyson's Orchard in Walpole grows more than 50 apple varieties. If you're down the river around Greenfield and Northampton, the Pioneer Valley map covers you.

Questions people ask

What zone is Keene NH?

Downtown Keene plans for −25°F on our map, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −13°F. USDA works from an average winter's coldest night and we plan for the bad one; secondary sources put Keene anywhere from USDA 4b to 5b. The hills around the city plan for −22°F to −23°F, and Swanzey and Surry, down on the floor, for −25°F to −26°F.

What zone is Brattleboro VT?

Brattleboro's low ground plans for −27°F, MFTC zone 4a, the coldest town we checked, and the Downtown Historic District −26°F. The hills are milder: West Brattleboro plans for −25°F and Wantastiquet's slope across the river −20°F. UVM says Windham County is among Vermont's warmest on USDA's 2023 map, with much of the old 5a now 5b.

When is the last frost in Keene NH?

The Keene station's median last 32°F frost, 1991 to 2020, is May 14, and its first fall frost October 5, a 143-day season. In one year of ten the last frost comes as late as May 28. Walpole 3, at 930 feet, gets its last frost around May 1. Hill villages like Chesterfield and Harrisville run 10°F to 11°F warmer than downtown Keene on a still bloom night.

Can you grow peaches in southern New Hampshire?

Yes, on the right ground. Contender (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) have room at every place we checked, and Blushingstar (−30°F) and Redstar (−25°F) fit the hills and downtown Keene. Bloom and flower buds are the risk: the February 2023 cold took the peach crops at Scott Farm and Dutton Berry Farm. Give peaches the warm spring ground, like Chesterfield, Walpole or Dummerston Center, not the Ashuelot floor.

Why were there no apples around Keene and Putney in 2023?

A freeze on May 17 and 18, 2023 hit at or near full bloom; the Putney station read 24.4°F. Alyson's Orchard in Walpole lost 99 percent of its apples, and Green Mountain Orchards in Putney kept only 5 to 10 percent of its apple crop. UNH counted more than 1,000 acres of fruit lost across New Hampshire from that freeze and the February one.

What fruit trees grow in Keene NH?

Downtown Keene, at −25°F, fits the −25°F trees like Hardired nectarine with no room to spare, and Baldwin apple (−20°F) is worth a try. The surer picks are −30°F and hardier: Liberty, Northern Spy and Honeycrisp apples, Lapins cherry, Stanley and Italian plums, Seckel pear, Contender and Blushingstar peaches. On the hills around the basin, at −22°F to −23°F, the stone fruit gets warmer bloom nights too.

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.