Fruit Trees for Davenport, Moline, Bettendorf and the Quad Cities, Iowa and Illinois

NOAA's weather station at Lock and Dam 15, on the Mississippi at Rock Island, gets a median 198 frost-free days a year. The Moline airport station, 5 miles away at nearly the same height, gets 170, runs a median 4°F colder on the year's coldest night, and read −33°F on January 31, 2019, its coldest in 91 years on file. That's what growing fruit trees for Davenport, Moline, Bettendorf and the Quad Cities comes down to: where cold air goes on a still night, and where it sits. The map covers both sides of the river, eastern Iowa and western Illinois: Davenport, Bettendorf, Le Claire, Eldridge, Buffalo and Walcott in Scott County, Iowa; Rock Island, Moline, East Moline, Silvis, Milan, Coal Valley, Hampton and Port Byron in Rock Island County, Illinois; and Colona and Orion in Henry County.

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, nudged for the lay of the land: a safe number to plan on, not the record and not a promise of how often it comes. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night, 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 Davenport on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Davenport, our reference, plans for −26°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −11°F. The middle of the map's growing ground plans for −28°F, half of it between −29°F and −27°F, and only about 6°F separates the warm end from the cold end. The warm end is the bluff and bench ground above the river in Davenport and Rock Island, around −25°F, and upland benches like Jamestown and Oak Grove at −26°F. The cold end, MFTC zone 3b, is the open upland toward the Wapsipinicon (Hickory Grove and Buena Vista at −31°F) and low ground on the Rock River bottom and in the upland valleys south of it (Poplar Grove and Warner at −30°F).

Why the map looks the way it does

Here the Mississippi runs east to west, so Davenport and Bettendorf sit due north of Rock Island and Moline, in a trench about 150 feet below the loess upland at Davenport. Most of Scott County lies between 700 and 800 feet, and the Illinois upland south of the Rock runs 720 to 780 feet. On a clear, calm night that upland loses its heat to the sky, and the chilled, heavier air slides downhill: on the Iowa side down Duck Creek, Crow, Pigeon and Spencer creeks and the bluff ravines into the Mississippi trench, and on the Illinois side into the Rock River lowland.

The Rock River lowland is the cold sink: a broad, flat old valley (the Hennepin Canal follows a low there that was once a channel of the ancient Mississippi), where pooled cold drains away slowly. The Moline airport sits in it, south of the Rock, at 576 feet; the Lock and Dam 15 station sits beside the Mississippi at 568 feet. Same height, yet NOAA station records show the airport a median 4°F colder on the coldest night, and farther apart in the big cold snaps: −27°F against −18°F in January 2009, −26°F against −15°F in January 1999. That's pooling, not altitude.

The river stations are the mild ones: 198 frost-free days at Lock and Dam 15 and 188 at Le Claire's Lock and Dam 14, against 170 at both airports. The Mississippi stays unfrozen near both dams in winter, which is why bald eagles winter there, and in January 2024, after a week below 0°F, it was only beginning to ice over while the Rock and the Wapsipinicon were already iced. Open, moving water beside the lock stations is the likeliest reason they run mild, and town heat adds a little (an Augustana College study found the towns warmer than the countryside, most of all in Rock Island and Davenport near the river). But a river floor is still a floor. In the January 2019 cold snap Lock and Dam 15 read −32°F while Le Claire's dam read −25°F, and we haven't found a published explanation for that split.

Up off the floor is the warm ground. Within 3 miles of downtown Davenport, and of Rock Island, the benches and bluff slopes 100 to 700 feet up plan for −25°F against −27°F on the floor; at Le Claire and Port Byron it's −26°F over −29°F. That's the thermal belt: the cold slides past on its way down, and warmer air sits above the pool. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaging 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet higher. Wide River Winery set its vineyard on a bluff top 250 feet above the river near Clinton, just north of the map, so the cold would sink away from the vines. Aspect matters too. Davenport's and Bettendorf's land rises north from the river, so their bluffs face south into the winter sun and bloom early; the slopes down to the Mississippi in Rock Island and Moline face north and bloom later.

The upland isn't automatically warmer. The Davenport airport station, at 746 feet in open fields near Mount Joy, runs a median 3°F colder on the coldest night than Le Claire's dam and 4°F colder than Rock Island's, and Iowa Geological Survey mapping shows closed depressions on the upland around Davenport, where cold air has nowhere to go. Eldridge plans for −28°F, but the floor within 3 miles runs −30°F. Toward the Wapsipinicon it's colder again; the nearest station that way, Lowden, just off the northwest edge, read −37°F on January 16, 2009. Where the upland stands a little above its own floor it warms up: Jamestown, 110 feet up, plans for −26°F.

The spring layer follows the same drainage at full strength, and it's sharper, since spring frost pools usually top out 30 to 200 feet up: benches with a slope below them read warmest, and floors and bottoms coldest. On windy or cloudy nights the pattern flattens or flips and higher ground runs colder.

Downtown Davenport, the bluff neighborhoods and the west end

Downtown sits on the riverbank 30 feet above the floor, with no permanent flood wall or levee. It plans for −26°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −11°F, over a −27°F floor. The bluff neighborhoods, Davenport's bench number of −25°F, face south and are some of the warmest ground in the Quad Cities: Riverview Terrace (the old Burrow's Bluff, its park on a big, steep hill over the river), Hamburg sloping up to the bluffs northwest of downtown, Bridge Avenue climbing from River Drive, McClellan Heights running up to Middle Road through wooded hills and ravines, and Prospect Park at the edge of the Village. Where a ravine cuts the bluff, its bottom carries cold to the river, and the Village of East Davenport, a bowl-like valley above River Drive, plans for −27°F and reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. On the west side, Black Hawk plans for −27°F but reads 5°F colder at bloom on its valley floor, and Nahant, on the flats west of Credit Island, plans for −26°F and reads 3°F colder.

On the south-facing bluffs, plant the tender things: Contender and Veteran peaches, Rainier and Skeena sweet cherries, Harrow Sweet pear and Goldrich apricot (all −30°F). 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. Blushingstar (−25°F) is worth a try at the top of the bluff or by a south wall; it came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage. On the west-side flats, plant apples instead, like Liberty (−30°F) and Freedom (−35°F), two of Iowa State's disease-resistant picks.

Rock Island, Arsenal Island and the mouth of the Rock

Rock Island's town point, by the river at 564 feet, plans for −27°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −11°F, and reads 1°F colder than downtown Davenport at bloom, with the floor at −27°F and the benches at −25°F. The Lock and Dam 15 station sits at the northwest tip of Arsenal Island. Augustana's Old Main stands on a bluff over the Mississippi, and the Black Hawk State Historic Site on a bluff about 150 feet above the Rock. On the low river ground between downtown Davenport and Moline, the map's Eagle Point, East Circle and Deer Crossing points plan for −28°F.

Rock Island's old home orchards ripened a new apple about every two weeks, from Yellow Transparent through Wealthy, Maiden Blush and Grimes Golden to the prized Snow apple. Wealthy (−50°F) and Yellow Transparent Seedling (−40°F) are easy here. On the north-facing bluff, which blooms later, add Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (−35°F), the hardiest sweet cherries we've found (Iowa State says Gold needs a late-blooming partner), Seckel pear and Italian plum (−35°F), which did really well in the higher parts of the Missoula valley floor near my house.

Moline, East Moline and Silvis

Moline's town point, near the river at 576 feet, plans for −28°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −12°F, and reads 1°F colder than downtown Davenport at bloom, with the floor at −29°F and the benches at −26°F. Moline's bluff is split by deep wooded ravines that drain north to the Mississippi and south to the Rock; the ground between them runs like the benches and the ravine bottoms carry the cold, so it changes block to block. The south edge is the cold side: North Shore and South Shore drives and the Green Valley fields flood when the Rock jams with ice, and the airport lies beyond them. East Moline plans for −28°F with benches at −26°F, and Watertown, the riverside quarter east of town, −28°F and 3°F colder at bloom. Silvis plans for −27°F, and Carbon Cliff, on a steep toe slope, −27°F and 2°F warmer at bloom, while Barstow, on the low ground toward the Rock, reads 3°F colder.

Stone's Apple Barn on Hubbard Road in East Moline has grown fruit for more than 100 years, Honeycrisp, Jonathan, Grimes Golden and McIntosh among its apples and Bartlett and D'Anjou among its pears. For a yard at −28°F: Honeycrisp (−45°F, though Iowa State says it needs regular spraying), Red McIntosh and Zestar!® (−40°F); Bartlett (−35°F) and D'Anjou (−30°F) pears up on the bluff, not in a ravine bottom, since pears bloom early; and Superior plum with Toka (−45°F) as its pollenizer.

Bettendorf, Riverdale and Pleasant Valley

Bettendorf faces Moline across the river. Crow, Pigeon and Spencer creeks drain the upland behind town and run cold on a still night; the south-facing slopes between them are the fruit ground. The town point, on the riverfront at 573 feet, plans for −28°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −12°F, 1°F colder than downtown Davenport at bloom, with the floor at −28°F and the benches at −26°F. Riverdale, on a toe slope, plans for −27°F, as does Panorama Park, 40 feet up, which matches downtown at bloom. Pleasant Valley, east of town on terraces the 1915 survey mapped as Bremer silt loam, plans for −28°F; the survey also found poorly drained Bremer flats, and apples won't take wet soil, so test drainage first.

Good fits: Haralson, Snowsweet® and Spartan apples (−45°F), Summercrisp pear, Black Ice plum and Meteor tart cherry (−40°F), and on the slopes Black Gold sweet cherry (−35°F), one of three Iowa State lists for the southern two-thirds of the state.

Le Claire, Princeton and the river towns above the old rapids

Le Claire sits at the head of the old Rock Island Rapids, at Lock and Dam 14. Its town point, on a toe slope 10 feet above the floor, plans for −28°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −12°F, and reads 2°F colder than downtown Davenport at bloom; the benches above town plan for −26°F over a −29°F floor, and Port Byron, across the river, has the same numbers. Rapids City, 1.2 miles south of Le Claire on the Illinois shore, sits right on the floor: −27°F, but 6°F colder at bloom. Hampton, whose swampy riverfront was drained about 1900, plans for −27°F and reads 2°F colder.

At the mouth of the Wapsipinicon the Mississippi and Wapsi bottoms together run more than 3 miles wide, and that much flat floor pools. Princeton plans for −30°F, typical winter −14°F, and reads 5°F colder at bloom, with benches at −27°F; Cordova, on the bottom, plans for −29°F, McCausland −28°F and Folletts −30°F.

On those bottoms, plant for −30°F and cold bloom nights: Wolf River (−45°F) and Prairie Spy (−40°F) apples, honeyberry (−50°F), Red Lake currant and Pixwell gooseberry (−40°F). On the benches above Le Claire and Port Byron, try Sungold (−40°F) and Westcot (−45°F) apricots; Iowa State says to plant two varieties and expect a good crop about 1 year in 3, since they bloom early. Up there, La Crescent and Brianna grapes (−40°F) belong too.

Milan, Coal Valley, Colona and the Rock River lowland

Milan, on the Rock about 4 miles above its mouth, sits on the bottom at 564 feet and plans for −29°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −13°F, with the coldest tenth of the ground within 3 miles at −30°F and the benches at −26°F. Coal Valley shows how fast this ground changes. Its town point, on a bench 120 feet above the floor, plans for −28°F and reads 8°F warmer than downtown Davenport at bloom, while Poplar Grove, a mile north on the bottom, plans for −30°F and reads 4°F colder: 12°F of difference on a bloom night, in a mile. Homes along US 6 at Coal Valley are at risk when the Rock jams with ice. Colona plans for −27°F over a −29°F floor, and Green River, upstream on the bottom, −28°F and 3°F colder at bloom.

South of the lowland, the edges of the Illinois upland are the best fruit ground on this side of the river. Oak Grove and Coyne Center, on benches 120 feet above their floors, plan for −26°F, typical winter −10°F; Castle Junction, on a hillside 90 feet up, −26°F and 4°F warmer at bloom; Ginger Hill, just south of Milan and 80 feet up, −28°F and 5°F warmer; Orion −28°F and 3°F warmer. The upland's own valleys pool, though: Warner, at 645 feet on the floor of its little valley south of Colona, plans for −30°F and reads 8°F colder than downtown Davenport, the coldest spring reading of any named place on the map.

Put apricots and peaches on those edges: Hardy Iowa and Montana Mango apricots, Contender, and Siberian C peach (−35°F), the hardiest peach we think is out there (very late ripening). Down in the lowland, plan for −30°F and late frost: Norda and Mantet apples (−50°F), Trailman applecrab (−60°F), Montana Black Currant and Nanking Cherry (−50°F).

Eldridge, Blue Grass, Walcott, Buffalo and the Iowa upland

North Scott is flat farm upland. Eldridge, at 793 feet, plans for −28°F, MFTC zone 4a, typical winter −12°F, 1°F colder than downtown Davenport at bloom. There are no benches within 3 miles; the floor runs −30°F and the coldest tenth of the ground −31°F, so the lowest bits are the frost pockets and any rise helps. Park View, on a hillside 70 feet above its floor, plans for −28°F and reads 2°F warmer at bloom, and Long Grove, 70 feet up, −29°F and 2°F warmer. Toward the Wapsipinicon, Donahue and Dixon plan for −30°F, and Buena Vista and Hickory Grove −31°F, MFTC zone 3b, the coldest planning lows of any named place on the map.

West of Davenport, Blue Grass, 70 feet above its floor, plans for −26°F, and Jamestown, on a bench 110 feet up, −26°F and 3°F warmer at bloom. Walcott, on the flat at 724 feet, plans for −30°F, colder than most of the floor around it. On the river, Buffalo plans for −28°F with benches at −26°F; Andalusia, across the river, −29°F and 3°F colder at bloom; and Linwood, 2 miles east of Buffalo on an 11 percent slope, −27°F and 5°F warmer, since the cold slides right past. Downriver, the Muscatine, Washington and Mount Pleasant map takes over.

Blue Grass and Jamestown can take the Davenport bluff list, plus Stella sweet cherry, Stanley plum and Montmorency tart cherry (−30°F). For Walcott and North Scott, plan for −31°F: Kerr and Centennial applecrabs (−50°F; Ed Schultz saw zero winter injury on Centennial after a winter that hit −47°F), Frostbite apple and Evan's Bali tart cherry (−45°F), and the hybrid plums Iowa State recommends statewide, Pipestone, Underwood and Alderman (−40°F), with Toka as the pollenizer; our pollination maps show what pollenizes what. If you plant only one tree out there, make it Kerr or Trailman.

Spring frost and bloom on the river, the bluffs and the lowland

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 medians put the last 32°F at April 11 at Lock and Dam 15, April 14 at Le Claire's dam, April 24 at both airports and May 5 at Lowden. The last 28°F, about where open blossoms start dying, comes April 4 at the dams and April 12 and April 14 at the Moline and Davenport airports. In a late year (1 in 10) the last 32°F comes April 28 to April 30 at the dams and May 13 at the Moline airport, and the Weather Service has one as late as May 21, 2002.

On the spring layer the coldest named places are floors and bottoms: Warner 8°F colder than downtown Davenport, Rapids City 6°F, Black Hawk and Princeton 5°F, Poplar Grove 4°F. The warmest are benches and slopes: Coal Valley 8°F warmer, Ginger Hill and Linwood 5°F, Castle Junction 4°F. NC State's fruit people say 3°F to 4°F can separate no crop from a full one; in our 2026 bloom frost in Montana, the benches fared much better than the valley bottoms.

In 2012, March and April freezes cost some central and northern Illinois apple growers nearly their whole crop, while western Illinois peaches were only lightly hurt except where air drainage was poor.

Iowa State's numbers for peach flowers at full bloom: 10 percent die at 26°F and 90 percent at 21°F. Only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, and fully open haskap flowers take 19°F. So put apricots, peaches, sweet cherries, plums and grapes (several cold-hardy grapes break bud early, Illinois winemakers say) on your highest ground, and apples, haskap and bush fruit lower. Bob Purvis's rule: an east slope is ideal, and a north slope holds early bloomers back. Mow short through bloom, water a day or two before a frost, and don't plant a hedge across the slope below your trees; it dams the cold right where they stand.

What the weather records say

The Moline airport, with 91 years on file, set its record low of −33°F on January 31, 2019, and Lock and Dam 15 read −32°F the same day. Le Claire's dam station's coldest is −28°F (February 3, 1996, a cold snap that took Lock and Dam 15 only to −22°F), Clinton's, with 127 years on file, −29°F (1996 and 2019), and the old Davenport city station's, from 1890 to 1982, −25°F on February 13, 1905. Lowden's −37°F on January 16, 2009 is the coldest reading on file at any station in or around the map.

Iowa State says the southern half of Iowa is 5b on USDA's 2023 map, and the Illinois State Climatologist puts most of northern Illinois in 5b; we haven't confirmed USDA's own zone town by town. NOAA's average yearly lows (−10°F at Lock and Dam 15, −12°F at Le Claire, −14°F at the Moline airport, −15°F at the Davenport airport) fall in 5b's range of −15°F to −10°F. Our MFTC zones, mostly 4a, read more than a full zone colder because USDA's is built on an average winter and ours on the bad night we plan for; at the median NOAA station the worst night in about 30 winters runs 13°F below the average yearly low.

What you can grow here

Bluff faces, benches and the warm upland edges, −25°F to −27°F. Davenport's and Rock Island's bluffs, downtown Davenport, the benches above Le Claire and Port Byron, Silvis, Hampton, Colona, Oak Grove, Coyne Center, Castle Junction, Blue Grass and Jamestown. Good picks: Contender, Veteran and Siberian C peaches; Lapins, Gold and Rainier sweet cherries; Harrow Sweet and D'Anjou pears; Stanley and Italian plums; Goldrich and Hardy Iowa apricots; Concord grape (−30°F) and Marquette and Frontenac (−35°F); Liberty and Freedom apples. Worth a try in the warmest spots: Blushingstar and Redstar peaches and Hardired nectarine (−25°F).

Town flats, river towns and most of the upland, −28°F to −29°F. Moline, East Moline, Bettendorf, Le Claire, Port Byron, Buffalo, Andalusia, Milan, Cordova, Eldridge, Park View, Long Grove, Ginger Hill and Orion. Good picks: Haralson, Zestar!®, Spartan and Liberty apples; Summercrisp and Bartlett pears on the high side of the yard; Toka, Superior and Mount Royal plums; Lapins sweet cherry; Evan's Bali and Meteor tart cherries; Sungold apricot on a slope; La Crescent grape; honeyberry and Boyne raspberry. Contender and Siberian C clear these numbers too, but they bloom early, so give them your highest corner.

Cold bottoms and the open upland, −30°F to −31°F. Princeton, Folletts, Walcott, Donahue, Dixon, Buena Vista, Hickory Grove, Poplar Grove and Warner. Stick with what has come through −35°F or colder: Norda, Mantet, Frostbite and Haralson apples; Kerr, Centennial and Chestnut applecrabs and Trailman; Ure pear; Pipestone and Underwood plums with Toka; Evan's Bali; honeyberry, Montana Black Currant and Nanking Cherry. Lapins and Siberian C (−35°F) clear these numbers but bloom early; Contender and Rainier (−30°F) are only worth a try, on the highest ground you've got.

Rootstocks, site and local troubles. Iowa State recommends EMLA 7 for a semi-dwarf apple (about 15 feet) and B.9 or G.41 for a dwarf (8 to 10 feet), not M.26, which is prone to fire blight. Plant two apples that bloom together (a flowering crabapple can be the pollenizer), and don't replant apples or pears where old ones declined. Iowa State wants a well-drained loam at pH 6.5 to 7.0. To test yours, dig a 2-foot hole, fill it, let it drain and fill it again, and under 10 hours is well drained. A bottomland orchard faces flood and frost both. Taper water from mid-August so trees harden off, because timing beats depth: after the Armistice Day freeze of November 11, 1940, Iowa's 1941 apple crop was about 15 percent of normal.

Fruit history here

George Davenport's garden on Rock Island, visited in 1844, had arbors of Catawba and Isabella grapes and many large peach and Morello cherry trees. Antoine LeClaire planted about 400 apple trees, brought by boat from Cincinnati, on his Davenport land, called the first orchard in Scott County. In 1870, a very good grape year, G. L. Davenport's Clifton Vineyard on the Riverview Terrace bluff (about 6,000 vines, Catawba his favorite) made about 2,000 gallons of wine, and the Schmidt family's Black Hawk Vineyards near Black Hawk Creek made about 9,000 gallons from Delaware and Norton's Virginia. By 1910 Scott County had 54,329 grapevines, over 39,000 apple trees and over 32,000 peach trees. Today wineries near Moline make wine from Illinois-grown La Crescent, Frontenac and Marechal Foch, and in Illinois, I-80 marks the line between the extremely cold-hardy and the cold-hardy grape choices, with the Quad Cities wineries right on it.

Questions people ask

What hardiness zone is Davenport, Iowa?

Downtown Davenport plans for −26°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −11°F; the bluff neighborhoods sit on bench ground that plans for about −25°F. Iowa State puts the southern half of Iowa in USDA zone 5b on the 2023 map. USDA's zone is based on an average winter, ours on the bad night we plan for.

Why is Moline colder than Rock Island?

It's the Moline airport, south of the Rock River, that runs cold: a median 4°F colder on the year's coldest night than the Lock and Dam 15 station at Rock Island, with 170 frost-free days to 198. The airport sits in the broad Rock River lowland where cold air pools; the dam station sits beside water that stays open in winter. Moline's town point plans for −28°F and Rock Island's −27°F.

When is the last frost in the Quad Cities?

The Weather Service puts the average last spring freeze at April 21. NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at April 11 at Lock and Dam 15 and April 24 at both airports; in a late year (1 in 10) the Moline airport's comes May 13.

Can you grow peaches in Davenport?

Yes, on the right ground. Iowa State names Reliance, Contender and Polly as peaches that can be grown south of US 30 and says southern Iowa can expect a good crop about 2 or 3 years in 5; flower buds start dying near −11°F. Contender (−30°F) clears the planning low anywhere that plans for −29°F or warmer, and Siberian C (−35°F) at every place we checked. Plant them high on a bluff or bench.

Where are the frost pockets in the Quad Cities?

The Rock River lowland, the Mississippi bottoms and the floors of side valleys. On a still bloom night Warner reads 8°F colder than downtown Davenport, Rapids City 6°F, Princeton and Davenport's Black Hawk neighborhood 5°F, and Poplar Grove, on the Rock River bottom, 4°F colder. Coal Valley's bench reads 8°F warmer.

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.