What Plants Can I Grow in a Cold Climate?

Get tips on using the website for the Old Farmer's Almanac to find out what plants will grow in the hardiness zone where you live.

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Brunie (ph) in Alaska who’s looking for some planting help in Alaska. Some cold plants, I guess. Fake ones.

Welcome, Brunie (ph). How can we help you?

BRUNIE (ph): We have a very narrow swath of grass, which is actually just moss and tall weeds. Can’t quite tell what kind of weed it is and there’s no grass growing; it’s just moss and it’s damp. It’s on the north side of the building and it’s just at the edge of the deck.

TOM: OK.

BRUNIE (ph): So it virtually gets no sun ever. I think it’s – crabweed, I think it’s called or some kind of a ferocious weed that grows uncontrollably.

TOM: OK.

BRUNIE (ph): I was wondering if you could make any suggestions what else I could grow there.

TOM: Well, the key here is to understand what hardiness zone that your area of the country is in. And anybody that lives in Alaska is pretty hardy, by my book.

BRUNIE (ph): Yeah.

TOM: But there are actually hardiness zones there.

And taking a look at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s site, Leslie, what zone does it look like she’s in?

LESLIE: It looks like Anchorage is placed in the 3b/3a zone, which would put you in the -40 to -30 degree temperature zone. So that kind of gives you an idea of what hardiness of plant or grass that you would need to sustain those temperature swings.

TOM: And if you go the Almanac.com, which is the website for The Old Farmer’s Almanac, they actually have a guide there that has all these plants listed by hardiness zone. So there are actually quite a few plants that will survive, believe it or not, in that hardiness zone. And they’re all listed there in a directory on The Old Farmer’s Almanac. So I think that would be a good source for you. Gives you lots of options on what you can do with that space, based on that hardiness zone and of course, the amount of light. And hopefully, we can get something growing there pretty soon.

BRUNIE (ph): Thank you so much. That would – that’s very nice. I appreciate that.

TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.