Fruit Trees for Rutland, Brandon and the Otter Creek Valley, Vermont

On the night of May 17, 2023, with apples, blueberries and grapes in bloom, temperatures fell into the 20s°F across Vermont. Growers found browned buds the next morning, two days after Rutland's median last frost date, and UVM's Terence Bradshaw said he hadn't seen freeze damage that wide in 25 years. Here a couple hundred feet of slope separates the frost pockets from the warm hillsides, and nights like that decide where fruit trees for Rutland, Brandon and the Otter Creek Valley belong.

This microclimate map covers the upper Otter Creek valley from Wallingford and Clarendon north through Rutland, Proctor and Pittsford to Brandon, the Taconic lake country on the west (West Rutland, Castleton and Lake Bomoseen, Fair Haven, Poultney and Lake St. Catherine), and the Green Mountain side from Shrewsbury and Mendon up to Chittenden and Killington. 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, not a record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones, and the typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of number USDA's zone map is built on. The spring layer shows how much warmer or colder a spot runs than Rutland on a still, clear night at bloom.

Rutland plans for −29°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −16°F, and that's the middle of the map too: half the growing ground plans between −31°F and −28°F. The warm end is hillside ground well above its floor, like East Clarendon and Shrewsbury (−25°F) and the Rutland Town subdivisions climbing toward Mendon (−27°F to −28°F). The cold end is the slate valley on the west, where Fair Haven and Poultney plan for −33°F and Low Hampton, just over the New York line at 354 feet, −36°F. The spring layer spreads wider, from 13°F colder than Rutland in Burnham Hollow to 8°F warmer high on Boardman Hill.

Why the map looks the way it does

Two drainages split this map. East of the Taconic crest everything runs north down Otter Creek, the longest river wholly inside Vermont, its floor dropping from about 617 feet at Clarendon to 541 feet at Rutland and 443 feet at Brandon, between the Taconics and the Green Mountains (Killington Peak, 4,229 feet, among them). West of the crest the water goes the other way, down the Castleton and Poultney rivers past Fair Haven to Lake Champlain at Whitehall. On a clear, calm night cold air slides off all those slopes and settles on the floors.

Above the pools sits the thermal belt, the band of slope that stays milder on still nights. Within 3 miles of nearly every town here, the benches 100 to 700 feet up plan for 3°F to 5°F warmer than the floor: −27°F against −31°F around Rutland and West Rutland, −28°F against −33°F around Castleton, −30°F against −34°F around Brandon. Height above your own floor beats height above the sea. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaged 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet higher, and the spring layer here runs bigger than that: Colonial Estates, on a flat north of Rutland, reads 11°F colder than the city at bloom, while Sugarwood Hill, 250 feet up and about a mile away, reads 5°F warmer.

The west side plans coldest, and that's where the stations have gone coldest. In a typical year the stations here land within a few degrees of each other, but the big outbreaks pull them apart. Whitehall, New York, at 119 feet where the Poultney River reaches Lake Champlain, ran 5°F to 13°F colder than the Rutland station (620 feet) in nine of the dozen big outbreaks in NOAA station records here; on January 19, 1976 it was −32°F at Whitehall and −19°F at Rutland. On the worst night, January 27, 1994, the arctic air filled everything and both read −36°F.

Spring turns that around. Whitehall's median last 32°F frost (1991 to 2020) is April 29, against May 16 at Rutland. The Salisbury station, just north of the map near Otter Creek at 420 feet, is lower than Rutland yet has the shortest season here, 126 days. Deep arctic air fills whole valleys, and the low ground toward Lake Champlain gets the most of it. A bloom-night frost is a thin layer, usually topping out 30 to 200 feet above the ground by the FAO's frost protection manual, so what matters then is how well your own ground drains. That's how Fair Haven can plan for −33°F yet read only 2°F colder than Rutland at bloom, sitting 50 to 60 feet above its own floor.

Lakes do less than you'd hope. Lake Bomoseen, the largest lake entirely inside Vermont at about 2,400 acres, freezes hard enough for ice fishing, and a lake only shelters its shore while it's open. These lakes sit at the bottom of their basins, so the shore lots are the low ground the cold drains to. Wet bottoms run cold too: Otter Creek's floodplain spreads into alder swamp and marsh at high water, Brandon Swamp among them, and low, grassy, wet ground is classic frost-pocket ground (UVM says a wetland soil will never make a good orchard). Town heat gives Rutland a little back (the map credits built-up ground with up to 2.5°F). Snow is on your side: Rutland averages about 75 inches a year, and snow over the roots is the best insulation a tree gets.

Rutland, Center Rutland and the Rutland Town hills

The map's point for Rutland sits 100 feet above the Otter Creek floor at 643 feet and plans for −29°F, zone 4a. Downtown, on a toe slope 40 feet up, plans for −30°F and reads 2°F colder at bloom. The Courthouse district, the old village on the hill just east of downtown, plans for −29°F and matches the city point. Center Rutland, on Otter Creek at Mead Falls, plans for −30°F and reads 7°F colder. Steam rises off the open creek there on cold mornings, but a river floor is still a floor. The stations agree: on January 24, 2011 the Rutland station read −26°F while the Rutland airport station, 164 feet higher, read −20°F.

The best ground around the city is the Rutland Town subdivisions on the slopes east toward Mendon: Brookwood Estates (−27°F, 260 feet above the floor), Grandview Acres and Killington Heights (−28°F), all 3°F to 4°F warmer than the city at bloom. North of the city, Colonial Estates, on a flat at 691 feet, plans for −31°F and reads 11°F colder, and Chasanna Acres 9°F colder. South toward North Clarendon, Alfrecha and Brookside Trailer Park, on the floor, read 6°F to 8°F colder.

The east-side subdivisions can carry Contender peaches (−30°F), Lapins (−35°F) and Rainier (−30°F) sweet cherries, Italian plums (−35°F) and Bartlett pears (−35°F). On the floor lots and in Center Rutland, lean on apples: Honeycrisp (−45°F), Macoun (−35°F) and Empire (−35°F).

West Rutland, Ira and Boardman Hill

West Rutland is the marble valley, its quarries paying off once the railroad came in 1851. The village sits right on the floor at 498 feet in the Clarendon River's valley; the town also takes in West Rutland Marsh. It plans for −31°F, zone 3b, and reads 9°F colder than Rutland at bloom, as does the Marble Street district. Durgy Hill Heights, 160 feet up, plans for −28°F. High on Boardman Hill, 760 feet above the floor, the map reads −24°F, zone 4b, and 8°F warmer than Rutland at bloom. To the south, Ira, at 868 feet right at the edge of its own floor, plans for −29°F and reads 7°F colder.

On the village floor, plant Wolf River (−45°F) and Cortland (−40°F) apples, Summercrisp pears (−40°F) and Honeyberry (−50°F), the haskap, whose open flowers take 19°F. Valley ground here runs on marble and limestone, and UVM warns limestone soils run to high pH, so test and aim for 6.0 to 6.5. The slopes of Boardman Hill can take peaches and sweet cherries.

Proctor, Pittsford, Florence and Chittenden

Proctor grew up around Otter Creek's Sutherland Falls. Its village point, on a 13 percent slope 60 feet above the floor, plans for −30°F and reads 4°F colder than Rutland at bloom, with the floor around it at −32°F and the benches at −28°F. Pittsford village sits on a bench 170 feet above the floor and plans for −30°F, but reads 3°F warmer than Rutland at bloom, and the Pittsford Green district 4°F warmer. Florence, on a hillside, plans for −31°F and reads 3°F warmer. The floor around Pittsford plans for −33°F, and the draws show it: Grangerville reads 8°F colder at bloom, and Sugar Hollow, 300 feet up but on nearly flat ground, plans for −31°F and reads 9°F colder. Height doesn't help ground that can't drain. Chittenden village, on a bench at 1,142 feet, plans for −30°F and reads 6°F colder, with its floor at −33°F.

Pittsford's bench and Florence's hillsides suit Siberian C peaches (−35°F), Lapins cherries, and Superior plums (−35°F) with Toka (−45°F) as the pollenizer (our pollination maps show the pairings). On the Proctor and Pittsford floor and in Chittenden, go with Haralson (−45°F), Honeycrisp, Meteor tart cherries (−40°F) and Flemish Beauty pears (−40°F).

Brandon, Forest Dale, Sudbury and Hubbardton

Brandon sits where the Otter Creek floor is lowest, by Brandon Swamp. The town point, 80 feet above the floor at 434 feet, plans for −31°F, zone 3b, and reads only 1°F colder than Rutland at bloom. But the floor within 3 miles plans for −34°F, the coldest in the Otter valley. Forest Dale, on a bench 110 feet up, plans for −31°F, and Mount Pleasant, 290 feet above the floor, plans for −29°F and reads more than 6°F warmer than Rutland at bloom. North toward Middlebury, our Middlebury and Champlain Valley map covers you.

West of Brandon, where the Taconics break into scattered hills, the spread gets widest. Hubbardton, on the floor at 418 feet, plans for −33°F and reads 12°F colder than Rutland at bloom; East Hubbardton, 310 feet up and less than 3 miles away, plans for −29°F and reads 4°F warmer. That's 16°F on one frost night. Sudbury's hillside plans for −30°F and reads 5°F warmer, while Hyde Manor, in a draw below it, plans for −32°F and reads 10°F colder.

On Brandon's floor and in Hubbardton, plant for −34°F: Kerr and Chestnut applecrabs (−50°F), Haralson, Wolf River and Zestar!® (−40°F) apples, Ure pears (−40°F), Black Ice plums (−40°F) and Evan's Bali tart cherries (−45°F). Mount Pleasant and the Hubbardton and Sudbury hillsides can take the Pittsford list.

Castleton, Lake Bomoseen and Hydeville

Castleton village, on the floor at 434 feet, plans for −32°F, zone 3b, and reads 7°F colder than Rutland at bloom. Its floor and benches are farther apart than any other town's: −33°F against −28°F. Castleton Corners, a little higher on the same flat, reads only 2°F colder at bloom, and Hydeville, on the river bottom at the south end of the lake, plans for −33°F and reads about 10°F colder.

The lake shore is low ground, not warm ground. Lake Bomoseen sits at 410 feet among low hills west of the Taconics, with homes on the toe slopes just above the water. Avalon Beach, Crystal Beach and Point of Pines all plan for −33°F and read 9°F, 10°F and 12°F colder than Rutland at bloom. Climb away from the water and it changes: Gorhamtown, on a hillside 210 feet up south of the village, plans for −29°F and reads 4°F warmer.

Around the lake and in the village, plant for −33°F: Kerr and Chestnut applecrabs, Haralson, Cortland and Zestar!® apples, Ure and Summercrisp pears, Mount Royal plums (−40°F), Honeyberry and Montana Black Currant (−50°F). Lapins, Superior and Macoun (all −35°F) clear that number too, but put them on the slopes, not the shore.

Fair Haven, Poultney and the slate valley

West of the Taconics, Fair Haven and Poultney sit in the slate belt, where the Castleton River joins the Poultney River on its way to Lake Champlain. Fair Haven, at 402 feet, plans for −33°F, zone 3b, and its floor within 3 miles −35°F, the coldest of any town. Low Hampton, on the New York side at 354 feet, plans for −36°F, zone 3a. Yet at bloom Fair Haven reads only 2°F colder than Rutland, the Whitehall pattern again. Over the line toward Lake George, our Glens Falls and Lake George map covers you.

Poultney village, on the floor at 434 feet, plans for −33°F and reads 6°F colder at bloom, with its benches at −29°F. East Poultney, 90 feet up, plans for −31°F, and South Poultney, 140 feet up, −29°F. Lake St. Catherine freezes over too. Up the Poultney River, Middletown Springs (900 feet) plans for −29°F and reads 5°F colder at bloom, and Burnham Hollow, west of it, reads 13°F colder, the worst bloom-night reading of any named place on the map.

The Fair Haven and Poultney floors want the hardiest list: Kerr and Centennial applecrabs (−50°F), Wealthy (−50°F) and Wolf River apples, Krasnobokaya pears (−50°F), Toka and Black Ice plums, Romeo dwarf cherries (−50°F) and Valiant grapes (−50°F). South Poultney and the Middletown Springs benches have room for Macoun, Lapins and Superior.

Clarendon, Wallingford and Shrewsbury

The south end is the mildest part of the valley: the floor sits higher and keeps falling north, so cold keeps draining down Otter Creek rather than piling up. Clarendon plans for −28°F and reads 6°F colder than Rutland at bloom; its floor plans for −29°F and its benches −25°F. East Clarendon, on a 17 percent slope 170 feet up, plans for −25°F and reads 2°F warmer, and Pierces Corner (−26°F) and Chippenhook (−27°F) sit on benches 160 to 220 feet up. Wallingford village, at 595 feet on the creek, plans for −28°F and reads 6°F colder, and Timber Hill Estates, just south at floor level, 11°F colder. Farther south, our Bennington and Battenkill map picks up.

Shrewsbury Center, 460 feet above its floor, plans for −25°F and reads 2°F warmer than Rutland at bloom. The hollows below it don't: Cuttingsville and the Cold River hamlet plan for −28°F but read 10°F and 12°F colder. In the mountain hollows winter isn't the problem. Bloom night is.

East Clarendon and Shrewsbury Center are the best stone-fruit ground at the south end. Harlayne apricots, Stella cherries, Contender and Veteran peaches and D'Anjou pears (all −30°F) clear −25°F with room to spare, and Blushingstar (−25°F) is worth a try on the warmest slopes. In the Clarendon and Wallingford bottoms, keep to apples like Liberty (−30°F) and Honeycrisp.

Mendon, Killington and the Green Mountain side

East of Rutland the ground climbs toward the Coolidge Range. Mendon village, on a 15 percent hillside 250 feet above its floor, plans for −29°F and reads 1°F warmer than Rutland at bloom. Mendon Mountain Orchards, on US 4 about 3 miles east of the city, grows heritage apples like Wealthy, Wolf River and Northern Spy (−30°F). Over Sherburne Pass, Killington sits at the head of the Ottauquechee. Its town point, at 1,238 feet on the floor, plans for −30°F, zone 3b, and reads 7°F colder at bloom, while Killington Village, 430 feet above the floor at 1,994 feet, plans for −27°F and reads 3°F warmer. Sherburne Center, North Sherburne and South Sherburne, in the hollows, read 9°F to 11°F colder. Farther east down the Ottauquechee, our Hanover and Upper Valley map covers you.

The Killington Village slopes can try the Shrewsbury list. In the hollows, plant Red Lake currants (−40°F), Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant and Kerr applecrabs.

Spring frost and bloom in the Otter Creek valley

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put Rutland's median last 32°F frost on May 16 and its last 28°F on May 2, with the first fall 32°F on October 1 and a 137-day frost-free season. One spring in ten the last 32°F comes May 28 or later. Cornwall, just off the map at 345 feet, gets 148 days and Whitehall 160, but Salisbury gets 126, with its first fall frost on September 25, and one year in ten its last 32°F comes June 5 or later.

The May 2023 freeze hit 80 to 85 percent of Vermont's orchards. A 2024 UVM grower survey put Rutland County apple growers at a 30 percent revenue loss and grape growers at 18 percent, less than Addison (68 percent) or Bennington (89 percent), but the Rutland sample was small. Orchards on the Lake Champlain islands were spared, which UVM put down to the lake, and at Chapin Orchard in Essex Junction the damage was worse low on the slope, where the cold sank.

UVM says fruit buds take a light frost of 28°F to 32°F, and below 28°F the economic damage starts. Only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, and haskap flowers take 19°F wide open, but site still comes first. Apricots, peaches and sweet cherries go where the spring layer reads warmer than Rutland. Floors that read 5°F or more colder (Hubbardton, West Rutland, the Bomoseen shore, the Sherburne hollows) get apples, pears, haskap, currants and gooseberries like Invicta (−40°F). 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. That works on still nights; in a windy freeze the warm benches lose their edge.

What the weather records say

The Rutland station's coldest reading on file is −36°F, on January 27, 1994, in the outbreak that took Salisbury to −37°F. Whitehall holds the coldest reading near the map, −38°F on February 18, 1979, and the old Carvers Falls station on the Poultney River hit −37°F on January 19, 1904. Other outbreaks: February 16, 1943 (Whitehall −37°F, Rutland −30°F) and January 6, 1996 (Whitehall −34°F, Rutland −29°F). The winters of 1993 to 1994 and 2003 to 2004 killed many fruit trees around the state.

Since 1995 the coldest the Rutland station has seen is −29°F (January 6, 1996), and its 30-year planning number, −30°F, sits just past that. USDA builds its zones on the average winter's coldest night, and the Rutland station's average yearly low, −18°F, lands in USDA's 5a band; UVM puts Vermont as a whole in zones 3a to 5b. Our zones run mostly 3b or 4a across this corner of southern Vermont, because we plan for the bad night.

What you can grow here

Our ratings are each plant's coldest known survival, so compare them straight to your number, then let the spring reading decide where the early bloomers go.

Hillsides and benches, −28°F or warmer (East Clarendon, Shrewsbury Center, Pierces Corner, Chippenhook, Brookwood Estates, Grandview Acres, Sugarwood Hill, Boardman Hill): Contender, Veteran and Siberian C peaches, Harlayne apricots, Rainier, Stella and Lapins sweet cherries, Stanley (−30°F) and Italian plums, D'Anjou and Bartlett pears, and Liberty, Northern Spy and Freedom (−35°F) apples. Blushingstar and Baldwin (both −25°F) are worth a try on the warmest of it.

The Otter Creek towns and floor, −29°F to −32°F (Rutland, Proctor, Pittsford, Brandon, West Rutland, Center Rutland, Chittenden, Killington, Castleton village): Honeycrisp, Macoun, Empire, Cortland and Red McIntosh (−40°F) apples, Bartlett, Seckel (−35°F) and Flemish Beauty pears, Superior and Toka plums, Lapins and Meteor cherries, Marquette grapes (−35°F), Honeyberry, Pink Champagne currants (−40°F) and Boyne raspberries (−40°F). Contender and Stanley (−30°F) are worth a try on the warmer town lots.

The slate valley, the lake shores and the coldest bottoms, −33°F to −36°F (Fair Haven, Poultney, Low Hampton, Hubbardton, the Bomoseen shore, Brandon's floor): Kerr, Chestnut and Centennial applecrabs, Wealthy, Haralson, Wolf River and Zestar!® apples, Ure, Summercrisp and Krasnobokaya pears, Black Ice and Mount Royal plums, Evan's Bali and Romeo cherries, Valiant grapes, Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant and American Hazelnut (−50°F). Macoun, Bartlett, Superior and Lapins (−35°F) fit the −33°F towns and are worth a try on the −35°F to −36°F floors.

For roots, UVM points cold sites to the Budagovsky series, MM.111 or seedling stock; Bud 118 has seen near −50°F under snow at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, without damage. Plant on a slope, not on a windswept hilltop or down in the bottom; UVM puts the ideal grade at 4 to 8 percent. An east-facing slope warms quickly on a frosty spring morning, and a north slope holds apricots and plums back. Watch the season: UVM says sites under 135 frost-free days and 2,000 growing degree days should skip anything ripening after Liberty or Empire, and Rutland, at 137, is right on that line, so frost-pocket lots should stick to early and midseason apples. Use mouse guards against voles, pick scab-resistant apples like Liberty, which UVM recommends, and keep currants 1,000 feet from white pines (blister rust).

Fruit history in the Rutland Region

Vermont's first apples were seedlings planted by houses and barns in the 1700s and early 1800s, mostly for cider, and deer still spread wild apples across abandoned hill farms. When the railroads came around 1850 (Rutland's in 1851), commercial orchards grew up, especially near Lake Champlain, where the water buffered late frosts. McIntosh became Vermont's main apple after the killing winters of 1917 to 1918 and 1933 to 1934. Today Mendon Mountain Orchards grows about 15 mostly heritage varieties east of the city, and the Rutland conservation district's 2026 spring sale offered Contender peaches, Flemish Beauty pears and Pink Champagne currants.

Questions people ask

What hardiness zone is Rutland, VT?

Rutland plans for −29°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −16°F. USDA's zones are based on an average winter's coldest night, and the Rutland station's average yearly low, −18°F, falls in USDA's 5a band; ours is built on the bad night we plan for. Fair Haven and Poultney plan for −33°F, zone 3b.

When is the last frost in Rutland, VT?

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put Rutland's median last 32°F frost on May 16 and its last 28°F on May 2. One year in ten the last 32°F comes May 28 or later. Frost pockets run later: the Salisbury station, just north of the map, has a median last frost of May 18 and only 126 frost-free days.

Can you grow peaches around Rutland?

On the right ground, yes. Contender (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) clear Rutland's −29°F planning low, so the tree should live. The crop is another matter: UVM says peach fruit buds are hardy only to about −15°F, and Rutland's average yearly low is −18°F, so expect years without peaches. Plant them on ground that reads warm at bloom, like Pittsford's bench or East Clarendon.

Did the May 2023 freeze hit Rutland County?

Yes. The freeze of May 17 to 18, 2023 came with apples in bloom, two days after Rutland's median last frost. Surveyed Rutland County apple growers lost about 30 percent of revenue and grape growers 18 percent, less than Addison or Bennington counties, but the sample was small.

Where are the frost pockets around Rutland?

On a still spring night the worst named spots include Burnham Hollow near Middletown Springs (13°F colder than Rutland), Hubbardton, Point of Pines on Lake Bomoseen and the Cold River hamlet (12°F colder), and Colonial Estates north of the city (11°F colder). For winter cold, the floors around Fair Haven and Poultney (−34°F to −35°F) are the coldest ground.

What zone is Killington, VT?

Killington's town point, on the floor at 1,238 feet, plans for −30°F, MFTC zone 3b, and reads 7°F colder than Rutland at bloom. Killington Village, 430 feet above the floor, plans for −27°F, zone 4a. USDA's map, built on the average winter, usually reads a zone or more 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.