Fruit Trees for Portsmouth, Dover, Rochester, Exeter, York and Sanford, New Hampshire and Maine

In the cold snap of January 1957, the old Portsmouth weather station, down at 59 feet, read −23°F, while the Pease station, 5 miles off on the city's high ground, read −10°F. That's 13°F across a few miles of low coastal country, and it's most of what choosing fruit trees for Portsmouth, Dover, Rochester, Exeter, York and Sanford comes down to: how high your place sits above the low ground around it, and how close you are to open salt water.

This map covers Seacoast NH and southern Maine: the shore from Seabrook to New Castle, Portsmouth and the Great Bay towns, Dover, Rochester and Farmington, west to Epping and Raymond, and York County from Kittery and York through Wells, the Kennebunks, Biddeford and Saco, inland to Sanford, Lebanon, Acton and Waterboro. 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 around, not the record. 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 much warmer or colder a spot runs than downtown Portsmouth on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Portsmouth plans for −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −7°F. The middle of the growing ground plans for −21°F (zone 4b), and half of it falls between −22°F and −20°F, which is mild by our standards. The warm end, −18°F and better, is the open shore and the high ground near it: Newington and Hampton Beach (−15°F), Pease, York Village and Mount Agamenticus (−16°F). The cold end, −24°F and worse, is mostly inland: Waterboro (−27°F), Alfred Mills and Dayton (−25°F) in York County, and Milton Mills (−26°F) and West Epping (−24°F) in New Hampshire.

Why the map looks the way it does

This is low country. Portsmouth's highest ground is 110 feet, inside Pease, and inland it climbs slowly to a listed 177 feet at Rochester and 236 at Sanford, with a few hills standing up out of it: Garrison Hill over Dover, Stratham Hill, the Pawtuckaway peaks, Bauneg Beg Mountain and Mount Agamenticus, a 692-foot monadnock behind York. The New Hampshire side drains to Great Bay and the Piscataqua by the Lamprey, Exeter, Oyster, Bellamy, Cochecho and Salmon Falls rivers. Southern Maine drains by short rivers like the York, Mousam and Kennebunk, and by the Saco. Each river comes off the upland at falls near the head of tide, which is where the mill towns sit. On a still night those valleys are the drains, and their bottoms are where the cold settles.

The ocean is the big warm sink. Open salt water holds its heat through the winter (the Gulf of Maine off Hampton averages 51.4°F over the year), so the open shore and the ground just behind it plan warmest. In the year's coldest reading, the Pease station (100 ft) runs a median 10°F warmer than Durham (76 ft), 8 miles away, and the Rachel Carson refuge station on the Maine shore runs 6°F warmer than Durham. In a windy arctic outbreak that edge shrinks. The weather service office in Gray expected the coast to beat the interior by only a few degrees in the February 2023 cold, and in that cold snap Greenland bottomed out at −12°F and Durham at −14°F.

Great Bay doesn't help the same way. It's shallow (8.9 feet on average, with more than half of it mudflat at low tide), and it freezes; NH Fish and Game found 10 to 12 inches of ice on it on January 28, 2007. Frozen water gives nothing back on a still night, so the towns at the mouths of its tidal rivers plan like inland towns: Newmarket and Durham −22°F and Stratham −20°F, against −15°F at Newington and −17°F at Greenland, which sit closer to the harbor. The Durham station runs a median 4°F colder than Greenland's over 38 years.

Inland, the river bottoms and flats are the cold sinks. Sanford is the famous one. Forecasters call it the Death Valley of the East, and they explain it this way: the airport (240 feet) sits in a Mousam River bowl with Bauneg Beg Mountain to the west, too far inland for the ocean to help, and heavy cold air pools there on calm, clear nights. The airport station's records give a 30-year number of −28°F, the coldest of any station here, and an average winter low of −14°F, against −3°F at Pease. Smaller rivers do the same thing. Epping, where the Lamprey comes through, plans for −23°F, and the Epping station runs a median 3°F colder than the Rochester airport station up at 329 feet.

Height above the local floor is what buys warmth. The main Durham station runs 3°F colder than Durham 2 N, 2 miles away and 43 feet higher. Gonic Hill, 280 feet above its floor, plans for −17°F, while Gonic, at its dam on the Cochecho, plans for −22°F. On the worst nights the spread gets wide: in the January 1957 cold snap the Northwood station, at 530 feet, read −9°F while the station just north of Sanford read −28°F. Spreads like that come on still, clear nights, when cold drains off the hills and stacks up in the low ground.

The spring frost layer follows the same drainage at full strength, so it spreads wider. The warmest spring readings of any named places we checked are mostly on the hills: Bauneg Beg Mountain and Middle Mount Pawtuckaway run about 11°F warmer than downtown Portsmouth on a still bloom night, Stratham Hill 10°F, and Mount Agamenticus and Bald Head in York 9°F. The coldest are flats and bottoms: Fremont runs 12°F colder, Emery Mills 10°F, West Epping and Emerys Bridge 9°F, and Walton Landing, at tide level in the Seabrook marsh, 8°F.

Portsmouth, New Castle, Rye and Newington

Downtown Portsmouth, on the west bank of the Piscataqua, plans for −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −7°F, and the North End, West End and South End plan for −19°F too. Within 3 miles the low ground runs −19°F and the rises −16°F. At bloom the South End runs 3°F warmer than downtown and the West End 2°F colder. Atlantic Heights and Osprey Landing, 60 to 80 feet above their floors, plan for −17°F. Elwyn Park plans for −17°F as well but runs 4°F colder at bloom, and Meadowbrook, only 10 feet above its floor, plans for −19°F and runs 5°F colder. Pease plans for −16°F, though its broad, flat top runs 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. New Castle, the island at the harbor mouth, plans for −18°F, and Rye village −17°F. Newington plans for −15°F while its low ground runs −21°F, and that 6°F gap comes from height.

This is some of the only ground here where −20°F trees fit: Bing cherry, Santa Rosa plum, Mericrest nectarine and Baldwin apple. Put peaches, apricots, sweet cherries and pears in the South End, Atlantic Heights or Osprey Landing, and leave the low spots in Elwyn Park and Meadowbrook to apples and berries.

Hampton, Hampton Falls and Seabrook

Hampton plans for −18°F, with a typical winter of −6°F, on ground 60 feet above its floor, and runs 2°F warmer than downtown Portsmouth at bloom. Hampton Beach plans for −15°F and Seabrook Beach −18°F. Behind the beaches the Hampton and Drakes rivers wind through tidal marsh, and that's the cold ground here: Walton Landing in Seabrook plans for −20°F and runs 8°F colder at bloom, and Seabrook −18°F and 5°F colder. Hampton Falls plans for −18°F and runs 3°F warmer. Applecrest Farm Orchards sits on hilly, rolling ground there, and in the May 18, 2023 freeze its strawberry patch read 25°F (Applecrest irrigated and still expected a good crop). South Hampton's bench plans for −17°F and runs 3°F warmer. The −20°F trees fit this whole stretch. Give peaches like Glohaven and Redstar the rolling ground, and keep pears and apricots off the marsh edges.

Exeter, Stratham, Newmarket and Durham on Great Bay

Exeter grew at the falls where the Exeter River turns into the tidal Squamscott, and the town center sits at the bottom, level with its floor. It plans for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −8°F, and runs 6°F colder than downtown Portsmouth at bloom, while Great Hill in the southwest corner plans for −18°F and runs 6°F warmer. Stratham plans for −20°F, but Stratham Hill, 280 feet above its floor, plans for −17°F and runs 10°F warmer at bloom. Newmarket, where the Lamprey meets the bay, and Durham, at the mouth of the Oyster, both plan for −22°F with typical winters of −9°F; within 3 miles of Durham the floor runs −22°F and the benches −19°F. Beech Hill on Durham's north line plans for −18°F and runs 8°F warmer at bloom. Up the rivers it frosts harder: Lee Five Corners, in a draw, runs 8°F colder and Wadleigh Falls on the Lamprey 7°F colder, both planning for −21°F.

Most of this fits the −25°F trees, like PF-24C Cold Hardy and Glowingstar peaches, Hardired nectarine, Stella cherry and SnowCzar almond. The −20°F trees clear Stratham Hill, Beech Hill and Great Hill outright. Exeter's center and the river bottoms are apple and berry ground.

Dover, Somersworth, Rochester and Farmington

Downtown Dover sits at Cochecho Falls and plans for −22°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −9°F, frosting about like downtown Portsmouth at bloom. Garrison Hill, right above it, plans for −19°F and runs 8°F warmer at bloom. Dover Point, the 1623 settlement between the Bellamy and the Piscataqua, plans for −19°F and runs 4°F warmer, while Sawyers, in a drainage on the southwest side, plans for −22°F and runs 8°F colder. Somersworth plans for −20°F on its hillside, but Foundry, on the floor below, runs 6°F colder at bloom. Rochester plans for −20°F on its valley floor and runs 4°F colder than downtown Portsmouth at bloom. Gonic and East Rochester plan for −22°F and run 6°F colder, while Gonic Hill plans for −17°F and runs 7°F warmer. North of there, Farmington plans for −23°F right on its floor and Milton Mills −26°F, MFTC zone 4a. Butternut Farm in Farmington came through the May 2023 freeze largely unharmed, which its owner put down to high ground and being near enough the ocean. Barrington, on a bench 170 feet up, plans for −18°F.

Garrison Hill, Gonic Hill, Dover Point and Barrington fit the −20°F trees and the early bloomers. The floors, Farmington's included, fit the −25°F list, like Risingstar peach and Red Gold nectarine, and Milton Mills the −30°F list: Contender peach, Skeena cherry and Stanley plum. Those floors run 4°F to 9°F colder than downtown Portsmouth at bloom, so put the stone fruit on the nearest rise and leave the bottoms to apples and bush fruit.

Epping, Raymond and the western towns

West of Exeter the country rolls up toward the Pawtuckaway peaks, and this is some of the coldest ground on the New Hampshire side. Epping plans for −23°F, with a typical winter of −10°F, in a drainage level with its floor, and runs 9°F colder than downtown Portsmouth at bloom. Raymond plans for −23°F, Brentwood and Nottingham −22°F, Kingston −21°F, and Fremont −22°F with the coldest spring reading of any named place we checked, 12°F colder than downtown Portsmouth. The hills change that: Middle Mount Pawtuckaway plans for −17°F and runs 11°F warmer at bloom, and Hampstead, on a bench, −17°F and 3°F warmer. In May 2023 Zorvino Vineyards in Sandown lost about 90 percent of its primary shoots and Sweet Baby Vineyard in Hampstead 99 percent. Everything rated −25°F clears every town in this section, so put stone fruit and grapes on the hills and give the bottoms to apples like Haralson and Honeycrisp, honeyberries and currants. Just west of Raymond, our Concord, Manchester and Merrimack Valley map picks up.

Kittery, Eliot, York and Ogunquit

Kittery Foreside, next to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, plans for −19°F and runs 4°F warmer than downtown Portsmouth at bloom, and Kittery Point, out by Fort McClary, −18°F and also 4°F warmer. Eliot, up the Piscataqua, plans for −20°F on low ground and runs 4°F colder, while the rises within 3 miles of it run −15°F. York runs warmest of the Maine towns. York Village plans for −16°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −4°F, on ground 70 feet above its floor, and York Harbor and York Beach plan for −17°F. At bloom York Harbor runs 7°F warmer than downtown Portsmouth and Bald Head 9°F warmer. Mount Agamenticus plans for −16°F on top and runs 9°F warmer. Cape Neddick plans for −18°F and Ogunquit −19°F.

This is the best fruit ground on the Maine side. The −20°F trees fit every place named here, and apricots like Harlayne and Tomcot belong on the harbor slopes at York Harbor, Bald Head or Kittery Point.

Wells, the Kennebunks, Biddeford and Saco

Wells plans for −19°F on ground 80 feet above its floor and runs 3°F warmer than downtown Portsmouth at bloom, and Drakes Island plans for −17°F. Past Wells the numbers drop even on the shore: Kennebunk plans for −20°F, Kennebunkport and Cape Porpoise −21°F, and Kennebunk Landing −22°F. Kennebunkport's station (20 ft) runs a median 3°F colder than the Rachel Carson refuge station 4 miles away at the same height, and carries a 30-year number of −22°F against the refuge's −17°F. Biddeford and Saco, at the falls of the Saco, plan for −22°F with typical winters of −9°F, and Biddeford runs 3°F warmer than downtown Portsmouth at bloom. Camp Ellis, at the river mouth, plans for −23°F and Old Orchard Beach −21°F, while Joy Hill, south of Biddeford and 140 feet above its floor, plans for −19°F and runs 5°F warmer. Wells fits the −20°F trees. From Kennebunk north, plan on the −25°F list, with the −20°F trees worth a try against a south wall. Past Saco, our Portland, Lewiston and Maine foothills map takes over.

Sanford, Springvale, Berwick and the York County lake towns

Downtown Sanford plans for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −9°F, and frosts about like downtown Portsmouth at bloom. It's the floor around it that's cold: within 3 miles the floor runs −24°F and the benches −20°F. Springvale plans for −22°F and runs 5°F colder at bloom, and South Sanford −24°F, while Mount Hope, 420 feet above its floor, plans for −19°F and runs 7°F warmer. Alfred Mills and Dayton plan for −25°F, and Waterboro −27°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −14°F, in a river bottom 8°F colder than downtown Portsmouth at bloom; its −27°F is the coldest planning low of any named place we checked. Berwick plans for −21°F and runs 8°F colder at bloom, South Berwick −20°F and North Berwick −23°F. Center Lebanon, 240 feet above its floor, plans for −20°F and runs 4°F warmer, but East Lebanon −24°F and 6°F colder. Acton plans for −22°F on a bench 200 feet up. The lakes up here freeze hard (Mousam Lake's ice went out March 31 in 2022 and April 9 in 2023), so they don't warm their shores in winter. Sanford, Berwick and Center Lebanon fit the −25°F list; the bottoms take the −30°F list, leaning on apples and bush fruit.

Spring frost and bloom on the Seacoast

Most of our list clears winter almost everywhere here, so bloom is the real question. Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying near 28°F (Michigan State's numbers), so a spot that runs 5°F to 10°F colder than downtown Portsmouth on a still bloom night can lose a crop the hill above it keeps. NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 show the same pattern in the frost dates:

• Rachel Carson refuge station (20 ft): median last 32°F frost April 30, first fall frost October 23, 174 frost-free days, the longest here.
• Rochester's Skyhaven airport (329 ft): May 4 and October 13, 162 days. Downtown sits about 100 feet lower, on the valley floor, so expect it later there.
• Durham 2 N (119 ft): May 3, 160 days. The main Durham station, 43 feet lower: May 12, 144 days.
• Greenland (95 ft), the nearest station to Portsmouth with frost dates: May 9 and October 7, 150 days.
• Epping (154 ft): May 10, 148 days, and one year in ten as late as May 27. Sanford 2 NNW (289 ft): May 7, 148 days.
• Kennebunkport (20 ft): May 11, 142 days, 32 fewer than the Rachel Carson station 4 miles away.

On May 18 and 19, 2023, a freeze caught most New Hampshire orchards in bloom. Rockingham County apples took 85 to 90 percent damage, while Strafford County growers still had enough to thin. Raspberries came through with little damage, and UNH's Jeremy Delisle said damage was lighter at higher elevations and varied even within one farm.

So site first. Put apricots, peaches, sweet cherries, plums and pears on ground that reads warmer than downtown Portsmouth: the hills, the harbor slopes at York and Kittery Point, the benches at Barrington, Hampstead and Center Lebanon. Give the colder ground to apples (only about 15 percent of the blossoms need to set for a crop), haskap (open flowers take 19°F) and bush fruit. Bob Purvis's rule fits here: an east slope warms quickly on a frosty morning, and a north slope holds early bloomers back. Don't plant the dead end of a hollow, open up brush at the bottom of a slope so the cold keeps moving, and keep the grass mowed short through bloom.

What the weather records say

NOAA station records go back to 1893 at Durham, and the old winters went deep: Durham's record is −35°F on January 31, 1935, and it read −30°F in the cold snaps of February 1943 and January 1971. Epping's record is −29°F (February 3, 1971), Greenland's −26°F (January 22, 1984) and the old Portsmouth station's −23°F (January 18, 1957). Nearer the water, Pease's is −16°F and Cape Neddick's −13°F. Since the 1995 to 1996 winter, which our planning lows are built on, the hardest cold snaps came in January 2009 (Epping −21°F, Durham −20°F, Greenland −14°F), around New Year's Day 2018 (the Sanford and Kennebunkport stations −20°F) and in February 2023 (Epping −21°F, Durham −14°F). Durham's 30-year number is −22°F, while the coldest it has read since 1995 is −20°F. With so much of our list rated −30°F and colder, you can plant with the old winters in mind. USDA's zone map is built on the average winter's coldest night, which our map puts at −7°F in downtown Portsmouth, so a USDA zone here usually reads a full zone or more warmer than ours.

What you can grow here

Everything we sell rated −30°F or colder clears every named place on this map, and everything rated −25°F clears all but the coldest inland bottoms. So choose by spring frost and site first.

The open shore, Pease and the hills: −19°F or warmer

Everything rated −20°F or colder fits: Bing sweet cherry, Santa Rosa plum, Arctic Glo nectarine, Blushingstar peach (it came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage), Tomcot apricot, St. Edmund's Pippin apple, Seckel pear and Montana Trial Persimmon.

Great Bay, the river floors and the Maine coast past Wells: −20°F to −23°F

Everything rated −25°F or colder fits: PF-24C Cold Hardy and Contender peaches, Red Gold nectarine, Black Gold sweet cherry, Superior plum (Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior; see our pollination maps), Goldrich apricot, Northern Spy and Liberty apples, and Harrow Sweet pear off the low spots. Worth a try in a good spot: Bing and Santa Rosa (−20°F) on a slope that reads warm at bloom, or by a south wall.

The cold bottoms: −24°F to −27°F

Everything rated −30°F or colder fits, but most of these spots also run 5°F to 10°F colder than downtown Portsmouth at bloom, so lean on apples and bush fruit: Kerr and Trailman applecrabs (if you only plant one tree, make it one of these), Centennial applecrab, Evans Bali tart cherry, Brookred plum, Montana Black Currant, Red Lake currant and Boyne raspberry. Pears go on the nearest rise, not the bottom. Worth a try on the warmer edges: the −25°F peaches like PF-24C.

Roots, soil and pests

Roots are the weak link, and snow over them is the best protection; Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F with no damage under snow at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana. Plant on a 4 to 8 percent slope, with at least 6 hours of direct sun, and test drainage first (dig 2 feet, fill it, let it drain, refill it: under 10 hours is well drained), because the blue-gray marine clay of the Presumpscot Formation lines this coast and its river valleys. UNH Extension names apple scab, fire blight on pears and black knot on plums among the problems here. Winter moth has spread into southern New Hampshire and coastal Maine; its larvae hatch in early spring at about 55°F and bore into opening buds of apples, cherries and blueberries, and New Hampshire's forestry division says sprays only work on them after bud burst.

Fruit history here

Applecrest Farm Orchards in Hampton Falls, called the oldest and largest apple orchard in New Hampshire, began when Walter Baldwin Farmer bought the land in 1913 and planted his first apple tree. It grows over 40 varieties, Cortland and Macoun among them. South Berwick was known for its apple orchards. On Hanson Ridge in Springvale, McDougal Orchards has grown heirloom apples for generations, including Margil, Ashmead's Kernel, Black Oxford, Blue Pearmain and Tolman Sweet, all of which clear Sanford's −21°F.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Portsmouth, NH?

Downtown Portsmouth plans for −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −7°F, and Pease and Newington plan for −16°F and −15°F. USDA's zone is built on an average winter's coldest night, so it reads about a zone warmer than ours, which is built on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Dover, NH?

Dover has no station with 1991 to 2020 frost dates. The closest are in Durham, where the median last 32°F frost came May 3 at Durham 2 N (119 ft) and May 12 at the main station 43 feet lower. Downtown Dover frosts about like downtown Portsmouth on a still spring night, and Garrison Hill runs 8°F warmer.

Why is Sanford, Maine so cold?

Its airport sits at 240 feet in the Mousam River valley with Bauneg Beg Mountain to the west, too far inland for the ocean to help, and cold air pools in that bowl on calm, clear nights; forecasters call it the Death Valley of the East. Downtown Sanford plans for −21°F and the floor around it −24°F.

Can you grow peaches in Portsmouth, NH?

Yes. Downtown Portsmouth plans for −19°F, and every peach we sell clears that, from Glohaven (−25°F) to Contender (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F). The crop is the risk, since peaches bloom early and New Hampshire's 2023 crop was lost to February cold, so give them the warmest spring ground you have.

Can you grow figs on the Seacoast?

Not in open ground on our numbers. Chicago Hardy Fig is rated −10°F, and even Newington and Hampton Beach plan for −15°F. UNH has grown figs in the ground in high tunnels with winter protection, and kept potted figs at 40°F from November to April.

Do kiwiberries grow in New Hampshire?

Yes. Our Hardy Kiwi Vines have come through −40°F. UNH has bred kiwiberries at its Woodman Farm in Durham since 2013.

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.