Fruit Trees for Rochester, Webster, Williamson and the Lake Ontario Fruit Belt, New York

On May 18, 2023, a hard freeze hit the Lake Ontario fruit belt after the petals were already off. A grower in Penfield figured he'd lost about 70 percent of his apples. Fowler Farms, which runs 2,200 acres of apples in small blocks near the lake in Wayne County, lost 1 to 3 percent and picked about 85 percent of a full crop. Same night, same freeze. Where the trees stood made the difference, and that's what this map of fruit trees for Rochester, Webster, Williamson and the Lake Ontario fruit belt is for.

It runs along the south shore of Lake Ontario from Hamlin and Braddock Bay east past Rochester, New York and Irondequoit Bay, through Webster, Ontario, Williamson and Sodus to Sodus Bay and Huron, and south to the Erie Canal towns from Brockport and Spencerport to Fairport, Palmyra, Newark, Lyons and Clyde. 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 number at each spot is its 30-year planning low, the bad winter night to plan a tree around, leaned cold on purpose: a safe planning number, not a forecast of how often that night comes. The MFTC zone puts it in half zones. The typical winter is what an ordinary year's coldest night looks like, the sort of average USDA's zones rest on. The spring layer is a still, clear bloom night, in degrees warmer or colder than downtown Rochester.

The middle of the growing ground plans for −18°F. The coldest 5 percent plans for −23°F or colder, out around Sodus Bay, and the warmest 5 percent for −13°F or warmer, at the west end and on the city's hills. The reference point, downtown Rochester, plans for −15°F (MFTC 5a, typical winter −4°F). The airport station's worst since 1995 is −12°F (in the 2003-04 winter, and again in February 2016), so the planning low sits a few degrees on the safe side. Brockport plans for −10°F (6a) and Clarkson −10°F (5b), the mildest numbers of any named place on the map; Resort, on Sodus Bay, and inland Joy plan for −23°F (4b). Almost everything we sell is rated −25°F or colder, which clears even those, so bloom-night frost does most of the sorting here.

Why the map looks the way it does

Lake Ontario, the low ground for this whole stretch, sits at about 243 feet. Ridge Road (Route 104) runs along the old shoreline ridge of glacial Lake Iroquois; in Greece people just call it the Ridge, and it stands about 160 feet above the lake. The Genesee River cuts through the middle of Rochester, drops 80 feet at High Falls and runs north in a gorge to the lake at Charlotte. Its old outlet was Irondequoit Bay: glacial debris pushed the river west, and Irondequoit Creek now runs in the old valley, north through Perinton and Penfield to the bay. East of there, Wayne County is till and drumlins, the Lake Ontario drumlin field, with eroded drumlins standing as bluffs on the shore at Chimney Bluffs.

The lake is deep, 283 feet on average, and on record it has iced over completely just five times, 1934 being the last. The National Weather Service says that open water takes the edge off Rochester's extreme cold: the city drops below zero on about six nights in an average winter, and below −10°F is quite uncommon. Don't expect much more: Scott and Huff's work on Great Lakes shore climates credits Lake Ontario with about 3.6°F on average winter lows, against up to 14.4°F along Lake Superior.

The bigger winter pattern runs west to east, from Brockport at −10°F to Wallington and Clyde at −22°F. The stations lean the same way in the big recent cold snaps: Sodus 1W read −23°F in the February 21, 2015 cold snap (the airport −11°F), and −17°F in the January 22, 2022 snap (the airport −7°F, Brockport −5°F). It doesn't always go that way (in January 1994 the airport hit −17°F and Sodus only −9°F), and over the long record no two stations here differ by a median of 3°F or more. We haven't found a published explanation. Snow fits: northwest winds load the lakeshore east of the city with over 120 inches a season to the city's 90 or so, by the Weather Service's count, and air over fresh snow on a clear night runs colder than air over bare ground.

On a still night the cold collects on low, flat ground with no way out. Henrietta sits right on its floor at 527 feet and reads 6°F colder than downtown at bloom, and the low river-bottom ground at Brookdale and Mile of Woods, south of the city, reads 8°F colder. At Irondequoit Bay, Bay View, down by the water, reads 6°F colder. The slopes over the water are the opposite: German Village reads 13°F warmer than downtown, the warmest spring reading of any named place on the map. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaged 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet above it, which is about the size of what you see here.

The hills are the thermal belt. Rochester's own (Mount Hope, the Highland Park hills, Pinnacle Hill and Cobbs Hill) are a glacial kame delta and moraine, and they're the city's warm ground. Most of Wayne County's named hills read 6°F to 9°F warmer at bloom too, but in winter hills gain only a degree or three: the worst cold often comes in on a wind that mixes the air and gives a hill no edge, and our winter number takes just a quarter of the fine terrain pattern, while the spring layer takes all of it.

Rochester, New York: downtown and the city's hills

Downtown Rochester plans for −15°F (MFTC 5a, typical winter −4°F). Within 3 miles the floor and the benches both plan for about −15°F. The dense middle runs a touch warm: the East End plans for −13°F (5b), Midtown and Washington Square −14°F. The southwest side sits higher, around 535 to 555 feet: the 19th Ward plans for −13°F, Arnett and Mayor's Heights −14°F. Mount Hope, at 614 feet, plans for −12°F (5b), the mildest neighborhood in the city, and Upper Mount Hope −13°F. The east side runs colder as the ground drops away, with Browncroft and the Laurelton neighborhood at −17°F.

At bloom the hills win again: Pinnacle Hill reads 10°F warmer than downtown, Cobbs Hill 6°F and Mount Hope 4°F, while Corn Hill and the South Wedge read 4°F colder and Highland Park and the 19th Ward 3°F. On city lots the only thing on our list that doesn't clear winter is the fig, and you could try Chicago Hardy Fig (−10°F) on Mount Hope, planted tight to a south wall. Give the hillside yards to Wenatchee Moorpark apricot (−30°F), Risingstar peach (−25°F) and White Gold sweet cherry (−35°F). The flatter blocks suit apples like Airlie Red Flesh (−35°F) and Karmijn de Sonnaville (−30°F); an apple tree only needs about 15 percent of its blossoms to set a crop.

Irondequoit, Sea Breeze and Irondequoit Bay

Irondequoit is a headland with water on three sides: the Genesee to the west, the lake to the north and the bay to the east. The town plans for −17°F (5a, typical winter −5°F) at 382 feet, about 120 feet over its floor, and reads 4°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Sea Breeze plans for −16°F and reads 6°F warmer. At the Genesee mouth, Charlotte plans for −14°F (5b) and reads 5°F warmer.

The bay covers about 1,660 acres and can freeze hard; in January 2025 it held dozens of ice shanties. On a still night the slopes around it drain their cold down to the water, so the bluffs read warm at bloom while the bottoms at Bay View and Glen Edith read 4°F to 6°F colder. On Irondequoit's slopes stone fruit has a good shot: Glowingstar peach (−25°F), Sungold apricot (−40°F), Stella sweet cherry (−25°F) and Tipson plumcot (−30°F). Keep the bay bottoms for apples and Honeyberry (−50°F), whose open flowers take 19°F.

Webster, Penfield, Fairport and Pittsford

Webster plans for −17°F (5a, typical winter −4°F) at 445 feet and reads 1°F warmer than downtown at bloom. West Webster, on a bench 160 feet over a floor that plans for −19°F, plans for −16°F and reads 1°F warmer. The Webster 2 NE station, just above lake level, read −16°F on February 21, 2015, in a cold snap that took the airport to −11°F: the shore isn't always the warm spot.

Penfield shows how much height matters. It plans for −17°F and reads 1°F warmer than downtown at bloom, but its floor plans for −18°F and its benches −16°F. North Penfield, about 180 feet over its floor, plans for −15°F (5b) and reads 7°F warmer; East Penfield, on a hillside, 4°F warmer; Panorama, on low ground, 4°F colder. In 2023, WRVO reported, a Penfield farm's highest ground was spared.

Fairport and East Rochester plan for −17°F, reading 1°F and 3°F colder at bloom; Pittsford plans for −15°F and reads 1°F warmer, and Brighton −16°F and 3°F colder. The high ground south of Fairport is excellent: Turk Hill and Baker Hill, 370 to 400 feet over their floors, plan for −14°F (5b) and read 8°F warmer at bloom, and Hunt Hills 9°F warmer. Up there Veteran peach (−30°F), Perfection apricot (−30°F) and Gold sweet cherry fit; Gold and Lapins, both rated −35°F, are the hardiest sweet cherries we've found.

Greece, Hilton, Hamlin and Brockport

Greece plans for −15°F (5a) at 300 feet and reads 2°F colder than downtown at bloom. Braddock Bay, on its north end, is very shallow, so it ices over and gives no winter help. Grand View Beach, on low ground at the shore, reads 6°F colder at bloom, while Paddy Hill reads 5°F warmer. A severe 1934 freeze destroyed many of Greece's orchards.

Hilton plans for −13°F (5b) and reads 2°F colder at bloom; the short-lived Hilton station read −22°F on January 15, 1957. Hamlin plans for −12°F (5b) and reads 3°F colder, and Shore Acres, on low ground at the shore, 7°F colder. Spencerport, about 90 feet over its floor, plans for −15°F and reads 1°F colder; Robb Farms there came through the 2023 freeze because it sits on a hill.

Brockport sits at 520 feet, on a bench roughly 110 feet above the low ground. It plans for −10°F (MFTC 6a) and reads 2°F colder at bloom, and Clarkson plans for −10°F (5b) and reads 4°F colder. That number is built on winters since 1995-96, and the Brockport station, on record since 1900, has read −25°F (February 9, 1934), −21°F (February 18, 1979) and −20°F (January 15, 1957). A night like 1934 would run 15°F past the planning low, so give trees here more room than the number says. The modern Brockport station has only 10 winters since 1995, so the cautious number for Brockport and Clarkson is about −16°F.

Henrietta, Chili, Scottsville and the Genesee country

Henrietta plans for −16°F (5a) and sits right on its floor at 527 feet, reading 6°F colder than downtown at bloom. Chili, on a hillside at 578 feet, plans for −14°F (5b) and reads 2°F warmer, though North Chili and West Chili read 5°F colder. Scottsville, 80 feet over its floor, plans for −17°F and reads 2°F warmer. The river-bottom flats are the frost pockets: Genesee Junction reads 6°F colder at bloom, Mortimer 5°F, and Brookdale and Mile of Woods 8°F, while Methodist Hill and Munson Hill read 6°F warmer and Ryder Hill 10°F. Riga and Churchville, out west, plan for −16°F and −17°F and read 1°F and 4°F colder.

On the flats, plant apples like Macoun (−35°F) and Empire (−35°F), currants like Consort (−50°F), and haskap. Pears bloom early, so put Clapp's Favorite (−30°F) and Bartlett (−35°F) on the rises.

Ontario, Walworth, Williamson and Sodus

This is the heart of the fruit belt: Wayne County is New York's top apple county, and it ranked third in the nation in 2007. Ontario plans for −19°F (5a) and reads 1°F colder than downtown at bloom, and Ontario Center and Fruitland plan for −17°F and read within 1°F of downtown. On the lake, Ontario-on-the-Lake and Bear Creek Harbor, the old iron ore port, read 3°F to 4°F warmer. Walworth, at 543 feet, plans for −17°F and reads 3°F warmer.

Williamson plans for −20°F (5a, typical winter −6°F) and reads 2°F colder at bloom; its floor plans for −21°F and its benches −20°F. Cornell's fruit team runs its model stations at DeMarree Farm in Williamson, the lake site, and Apple Shed Farm in Fairville, the inland site. On our map Fairville plans for −21°F (4b) and reads 7°F colder at bloom, the lake-versus-inland split in two numbers. Pultneyville, the old port on the shore, plans for −21°F (4b) and reads a little warmer than downtown. Williamson has held its Apple Blossom Festival at peak bloom every May since 1960.

Sodus, about 120 feet over its floor at 457 feet, plans for −21°F (4b, typical winter −6°F) and reads 2°F warmer at bloom. Its floor plans for −23°F, and the floor around Sodus Point −24°F, the coldest town floor on the map. Sodus Bay covers 3,357 acres but averages only 18 feet deep, so it ices over in a cold winter. Sodus Point plans for −21°F and reads 4°F warmer at bloom, while Resort, on the bay, plans for −23°F and reads 5°F colder. Huron, on a hillside, plans for −21°F and reads 5°F warmer. Inland, Wallington plans for −22°F and reads about even with downtown, and Joy −23°F and 4°F colder.

At −20°F to −23°F, anything rated −25°F or colder has room, and apples are what this county does best: Spartan (−40°F), Wolf River (−50°F), Northwest Greening (−40°F) and Cortland (−40°F). If you only plant one tree, make it Trailman (−55°F) or Kerr (−50°F) applecrab. Put Morden 604 apricot (−45°F) and Lapins cherry (−35°F) on the high ground.

Palmyra, Newark, Lyons and the canal towns

The Erie Canal crosses the south edge of Wayne County with locks at Macedon, Palmyra, Newark, Lyons and Clyde, and the canal floor is frosty ground. Macedon plans for −18°F and reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom; Palmyra −19°F (5a) and 1°F colder, with benches at −17°F. Newark plans for −20°F (5a) and Lyons −20°F (4b), both 4°F colder at bloom, with floors at −21°F and benches at −18°F. Clyde, on the river bottom at 398 feet, plans for −22°F (4b) and reads 5°F colder, and Hydesville 7°F colder.

The hills are the escape. Around Palmyra, Galloway Hill, Bear Hill and Walton Hill plan for −18°F and read 8°F warmer than downtown at bloom, and beside Marion (−21°F, 4b, 4°F colder) Prospect Hill plans for −19°F and reads 9°F warmer. Up there plums fit: Superior (−35°F) with Toka (−45°F), and Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior; the pollination maps show other pairings. On the canal floor, stick with apples, Pixwell gooseberry (−40°F) and Aronia (−50°F). Past Wolcott and Red Creek, the Oswego, Fulton and Lake Ontario shore map picks up.

Spring frost and bloom along the Lake Ontario shore

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 medians put the last 32°F frost on April 29 at the Rochester airport, May 3 at Sodus 1W and May 4 at Avon, just south of the map; one year in ten it's May 14 or later at the first two and May 18 or later at Avon. That leaves 172 frost-free days at the airport, 165 at Sodus and 160 at Avon.

The lake holds bloom back. Its water sits in the middle 40s°F in spring and barely warms, so on light-wind days the cold air pushes onshore, and towns within a few miles of it (Sodus, North Webster, Hilton, North Irondequoit) can sit in the low 50s°F while it's 20°F to 30°F warmer a few miles south. Cornell's fruit team splits the belt at Route 104: in May 2023 its thinning advice gave blocks south of 104 a window two days earlier than blocks north of it.

Three recent springs show the risk. In 2012, record warmth from March 12 to 22 pushed McIntosh to green tip by March 17 to 19, 3 to 4 weeks early, and freezes in the low 20s°F on March 27 and 31 and again in late April killed buds and blossoms. The region's apple crop came in 41 percent below 2011 and pears 74 percent, and growers put in more than 30 wind machines and opened hedgerows so cold air could drain. In the May 2023 freeze the damage sat mostly low in the canopy with the treetops alive, the mark of cold air pooling. In 2024, lows of about 14°F to 18°F on March 22 did 10 to 30 percent bud damage at inland Wayne and Orleans blocks.

The FAO's frost protection manual calls site "the single most important method of frost protection." Michigan State's fruit people put the danger point for open blossoms of almost all tree fruit near 28°F. Give the hills and bay slopes to apricots, peaches and sweet cherries, keep apples and haskap lower down, and set pears on a rise. Frost cloth helps on a still night; Alabama's extension figures put 0.5, 0.9 and 1.5 ounces per square yard at 4°F, 6°F and 8°F of protection. Fowler Farms says wind machines gain 4°F to 5°F, and it digs ponds in its low spots. Don't run a hedge across a slope, and remember the warm ground won't help much in a windy freeze.

What the weather records say

Going back to the 1890s, NOAA's station records bottom out at −31°F at the old Geneva Experiment Station and −30°F at Avon, both just past the map's edge, on February 9, 1934; −26°F at Sodus 1W (January 15, 1957); −25°F at Brockport and −22°F at both the Rochester airport and the old city station, all on February 9, 1934. That 1934 winter was also the last time Lake Ontario froze over. The year's coldest night averages −5°F at the airport, −6°F at Brockport and −8°F at Sodus.

Since our planning lows come from winters since 1995-96, a repeat of 1934 would beat them by about 7°F downtown and 15°F at Brockport. Leave room. USDA's zones rest on an ordinary winter's low, like our −4°F typical winter downtown, so theirs run milder than ours; we weren't able to confirm USDA's 2023 zone for Rochester. Ontario's agriculture ministry adds that the worst winter setup is several days above freezing, then a drop below 0°F.

What you can grow here

The west end, the city's hills and the Monroe County shore, −10°F to −15°F (Brockport, Clarkson, Hamlin, Hilton, Spencerport, Greece, Charlotte, Mount Hope, the 19th Ward, Cobbs Hill, Chili, Pittsford). The fig is the only thing we sell that doesn't clear this, and it's worth a try at the −10°F to −12°F spots, though not around Brockport and Clarkson if you go by the cautious −16°F. Where bloom nights read warm: Wenatchee Moorpark and Perfection apricots; Risingstar and PF-24C Cold Hardy (−25°F) peaches; Mericrest nectarine (−20°F); White Gold and Stella cherries; Bill's Nectar peachcot (−30°F). On flatter ground, apples like Airlie Red Flesh (−35°F) and Roxbury Russet (−30°F).

Irondequoit, Webster, Penfield, Fairport, Brighton, Henrietta and the Genesee country, −16°F to −19°F (also Scottsville, Churchville, Ontario, Macedon, Palmyra). Trees rated −25°F and colder have room, and −20°F trees fit with little to spare. Macoun and Empire apples; Bartlett and Clapp's Favorite pears on rises; Mount Royal plum (−45°F); Gold and Lapins sweet cherries and Danube tart cherry (−35°F); Contender (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) peaches on the hills; Frontenac grape (−35°F); Hardy Kiwi (−40°F).

Wayne County's lake towns and the canal east of Palmyra, −20°F to −23°F (Williamson, Pultneyville, Marion, Sodus, Sodus Point, Wallington, Huron, Newark, Lyons, Clyde, Rose). Anything rated −25°F or colder fits, and −20°F trees are worth a try up on the hills. Spartan and Wolf River apples, Trailman and Kerr applecrabs; Flemish Beauty (−40°F) and Ure (−45°F) pears off the low ground; Kaga (−40°F) and Toka plums; Evan's Bali tart cherry (−45°F); Morden 604 apricot and Lapins on the hills; Pixwell gooseberry, Consort currant, Nova raspberry (−50°F) and Aronia.

Roots are the least hardy part of a dormant tree, and snow keeps them alive: one North Dakota reading found soil 12 inches down at 31°F under snow with the air at 4°F, and Ed Schultz's Bud 118 rootstocks in Gallatin Gateway, Montana have taken near −50°F under snow unharmed. On scoured or plowed ground, mulch. Facing east is Bob Purvis's favorite, because the first sun takes the chill off a frosty bloom morning fast. On heavy ground, a 2 foot hole filled twice should empty in under 10 hours the second time. Cornell flags higher apple scab risk along the lake in Wayne County. Against southwest trunk injury, paint trunks in late fall, on a day above 50°F, with white interior latex cut half with water. To check any variety against your own number, use the cold hardiness calculator.

Fruit history here

Rochester was the country's biggest flour city by 1838, and as wheat moved west the nurseries took over and made it the Flower City. George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry bought 7 acres on Mount Hope in 1840 and grew to more than 650, shipping trees to the Midwest, California, Oregon and Europe. In 1888 the partners gave the first 20 acres of Highland Park. In Wayne County, Cornell's survey of the 1903 apple season found Baldwin, Greening, King, Spy, Spitzenburg and Roxbury Russet leading, and orchard acreage per square mile rising toward the lake (about 51 in Walworth, 40 in Ontario, 19 in Macedon), though the authors thought the lake's climate was only a minor reason for the south's lower yields. We still sell Roxbury Russet and Northern Spy (−30°F), and both clear every planning low on this map.

Questions people ask

What hardiness zone is Rochester, NY?

On the bad night we plan for, downtown Rochester is −15°F, MFTC zone 5a, and an ordinary winter bottoms out around −4°F. USDA zones come from that ordinary-winter kind of number, which is why they run milder than ours; we couldn't confirm USDA's 2023 zone for the city. Around Rochester our zones run from 6a at Brockport to 4b around Sodus Bay.

When is the last frost in Rochester, NY?

At the Rochester airport, half the springs from 1991 to 2020 saw their last 32°F night by April 29, and one spring in ten ran to May 14 or later. Sodus runs a few days later, around May 3. The Weather Service says it usually comes by April 30 near the lake but as late as mid-May south of the Thruway.

Can you grow peaches in Rochester, NY?

Yes, and peaches are grown commercially around Rochester. Every named place on this map plans warmer than Risingstar's −25°F, so Risingstar, Contender (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) all clear winter here. Plant them where bloom nights read warm, like Pinnacle Hill, Irondequoit's bay slopes or the hills south of Fairport, not on flats like Henrietta.

Does Lake Ontario protect fruit trees from frost?

Usually. Cool lake air holds bloom back until frost danger passes and delays fall frost, and Fowler Farms says frost risk rises the farther an orchard is from the lake. Cornell says lake blocks are usually better protected than inland ones, but the May 18, 2023 freeze broke that rule in places.

Why does Wayne County grow so many apples?

It's New York's top apple county, and in 1903 Cornell already found the orchards thickest toward the lake, which slows spring bloom and holds off fall frost on the south shore. Its planning lows, mostly −17°F to −23°F, still clear every apple we sell rated −25°F or colder.

Is it colder south of the Thruway?

In spring, yes: the Weather Service says the last frost can come as late as mid-May south of the Thruway, against about April 30 near the lake. NOAA's Avon station, just south of this map, gets it on May 4, and in the January 22, 2022 cold snap read −14°F to the Rochester airport's −7°F.

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.