Australia Planting Zone Finder
Find your Australian hardiness zone by postcode, by clicking the map, or by picking your zone. Computed from 30 years of climate data.
Australia has no official USDA zone map. The USDA mapped the United States, Canada runs its own different system, and Australian gardeners have been left converting in their heads. So Growit computed an Australian version: 30 years of climate data, the coldest night of every year averaged at every point on a 5 km grid, classified into the same hardiness bands the USDA uses. Find yours three ways: enter your postcode, click the map, or pick your zone from the list.
A zone is not a planting date. It tells you which plants survive your coldest nights, and nothing about frost timing or the wet season. Once you know your zone, use the zone cards below to see which crops suit it, and the Seasonal Garden Calendar to plan the year.
Your zone
- –average annual extreme minimum temperature
- –where this zone occurs
- –example crops
2. Or click the map
Click anywhere in mainland Australia or Tasmania to see the zone at that exact spot. The boundaries are simplified for the web, so treat a click near a boundary as approximate, and use the postcode lookup for a general answer.
Map: hardiness zones computed by Growit from SILO climate data (1991 to 2020). This is not an official map. Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors. Click a coloured area to set your zone.
How this is worked out
A hardiness zone is defined by one number: the average annual extreme minimum temperature, meaning the coldest night of the year, averaged over 30 years. Each whole zone spans 5.6 °C, and each splits into two half-zones of 2.8 °C. Zone 10 covers -1.1 to 4.4 °C; 10a is -1.1 to 1.7 °C and 10b is 1.7 to 4.4 °C. These are exactly the USDA bands, converted to Celsius.
Assumptions:
- The climate source is SILO, the Queensland Government gridded climate database built from Bureau of Meteorology observations, on a 0.05 degree grid (about 5 km). The grid is interpolated between stations, which smooths the coldest extremes, so every zone on this page is approximate.
- The postcode lookup assigns each postcode the zone at the centre point of its ABS Postal Area (ASGS Edition 3, 2021). A large rural postcode can span two zones; the result is the centre point’s zone.
- A map click and a postcode lookup can disagree near a boundary. A postcode covers an area; a click is one point. Trust the click for a specific garden bed.
- A few postcodes have no zone listed at all: the external territories (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands) and some island postcodes fall outside the climate grid. The map still gives a reading for much of the mainland coast.
Three worked examples
1. Sydney, postcode 2000. The lookup returns Zone 10b, minimum 1.7 to 4.4 °C. Almost every vegetable grows here, citrus does well in a warm spot, and a true frost is a rare event near the harbour.
2. A click on Thredbo, New South Wales. Clicking the alpine village returns Zone 8a, minimum -12.2 to -9.4 °C, the coldest band in the country. Garlic, broad beans, and high-chill apples thrive; tomatoes need the warmest wall and a short-season variety.
3. Picking Zone 12 by hand. Choose Zone 12 from the list and the page shows a minimum of 10.0 to 15.6 °C. This is the Darwin and Cairns band: frost never arrives, and planting follows the wet and dry seasons instead.
Australian hardiness zones at a glance
Six zones cover the continent, from the alpine cold of Zone 8 to the frost-free tropics of Zone 13. Minimum temperatures are the band definitions; the descriptions are typical, not promises. Click “Show this zone” on any card to load it into the result above.
Zone 8
Minimum temperature: -12.2 to -6.7 °C
Where it occurs: Alpine and high country only: the Snowy Mountains, the Tasmanian highlands, and the coldest inland pockets.
Example crops: Garlic, broad beans, peas, kale, apples, pears, and high-chill cherries.
Zone 9
Minimum temperature: -6.7 to -1.1 °C
Where it occurs: Inland south-east and the tablelands: Canberra, Orange, Toowoomba, and the colder Southern Highlands.
Example crops: Most temperate vegetables, stone fruit, grapes, and roses. Tender crops still need frost cover in winter.
Zone 10
Minimum temperature: -1.1 to 4.4 °C
Where it occurs: Most of the populated coast and near inland. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Hobart sit in or near this band.
Example crops: Almost all vegetables, citrus in warm spots, olives, and most herbs nearly all year.
Zone 11
Minimum temperature: 4.4 to 10.0 °C
Where it occurs: The warm northern coast: Townsville, Broome, and the lower-latitude coast where winter barely cools down.
Example crops: Sweet potato, okra, tropical vegetables, mango, and bananas in sheltered spots.
Zone 12
Minimum temperature: 10.0 to 15.6 °C
Where it occurs: The tropical north: Darwin, Cairns, and the Cape York coast. Frost does not occur.
Example crops: Mango, banana, papaya, cassava, and wet-season tropical crops.
Zone 13
Minimum temperature: 15.6 to 21.1 °C
Where it occurs: Only the warmest pockets of the far north coast and nearby islands in the climate data.
Example crops: Coconut, breadfruit, and fully tropical crops.
Common zone mistakes
- Treating these zones as official. The USDA has never mapped Australia, and the Australian National Botanic Gardens published its own map in different bands. The zones here are USDA-style bands computed from Australian climate data, built so gardeners can use the zone numbers on imported seed packets and plant tags.
- Comparing zone numbers between countries. A Canadian Zone 6 is not an Australian Zone 6: Canada uses its own index built from temperature, snow, and wind. Zone numbers only compare inside one system.
- Trusting a postcode for a whole district. A rural postcode can cover mountains and coast at once. Its zone comes from its centre point. If your garden sits near a coast or a range, click your exact spot on the map as well.
- Ignoring microclimates. A frost hollow at the bottom of a slope, a brick wall that stores the day’s heat, or a city courtyard can shift your real minimum by a full half-zone. The map cannot see your garden’s slope.
- Assuming a zone means planting time. Zone 10 covers both Sydney and Perth, whose rain arrives in opposite seasons. The zone rates cold survival only; your planting calendar still follows your local frost dates and rainfall.
What to do next
Once you know your zone, plan the year with it: the Seasonal Garden Calendar turns your zone into a month-by-month task list, and the Seed Starting & Planting Date Calculator turns it into sowing dates per crop. Gardeners in Zones 8 and 9 should also check the frost calculators in the sidebar before sowing tender crops.
Putting the result to work
A zone is only useful if it changes what you buy and when you plant. Use it three ways. First, filter plant purchases: if a tag says hardy to Zone 10 and you are in Zone 9, either skip it or plan frost cover before you pay. Second, set expectations for perennials: a plant at the warm edge of its range may sulk through a hot summer even though the winter never troubles it, because these zones measure cold only, not heat. Third, match crops to the band: chill-loving fruit like apples and cherries earn their keep in Zones 8 and 9, while tropical crops belong in Zones 11 to 13.
And remember the map’s limits. Zones are drawn from 30 years of station data, and your garden has its own weather. Keep a simple note of your own coldest nights and first frosts each year. After two or three seasons you will know your garden better than any map does.
How to find your Australian planting zone in 3 steps
- Enter your 4-digit postcode and press Find my zone. Or click any spot on the map, or pick your zone from the list.
- Read your result: the half-zone (for example 10b) and its minimum temperature range in degrees Celsius.
- Use the zone card below to see where that zone occurs and which crops suit it, then plan your planting around your local frost or wet season.
Zone = average annual extreme minimum temperature, 1991 to 2020 (SILO climate data). Whole zone = 5.6 °C; half-zone = 2.8 °C.
What is my planting zone in Australia?
Australia has no official USDA zone map, so Growit computed one. We took 30 years of Australian climate data (1991 to 2020) from SILO, the Queensland Government climate database, averaged the coldest night of each year at every point on a 5 km grid, and classified the result into the same hardiness bands the USDA uses. Enter your postcode above, click the map, or pick your zone from the list.
Why do the zones run from 8a to 13b?
Hardiness bands are defined by the average annual extreme minimum temperature. Each whole zone spans 5.6 degrees Celsius, and each splits into two half-zones, a and b. Australia is a warm continent, so its climates land in the warm half of the scale: the coldest alpine pockets are Zone 8a, most big cities sit in Zones 9 and 10, and the tropical north reaches Zone 13b.
Why does my postcode give a different zone than the map click?
A postcode covers an area, sometimes a very large one, and its zone here comes from the centre point of that area. A map click is one exact spot. Cairns is the clearest example: postcode 4870 stretches inland over the range, so its centre point returns Zone 11a, while a click in Cairns itself returns Zone 12a. Trust the click for a specific garden bed, and the postcode for a general answer.
Does my zone tell me when to plant?
No, not by itself. Your zone tells you which plants survive your coldest nights. Planting times depend on your local season: gardeners in Zones 8 and 9 time sowing around winter frosts, while gardeners in Zones 11 to 13 plant around the wet and dry seasons instead. Use the zone card below to see which crops suit your zone, then check local planting guides for your month.
How accurate is this map?
Treat it as good guidance, not survey data. The climate grid is interpolated between weather stations, which smooths out the coldest extremes, and the map boundaries were simplified for the web, so they are approximate to about 2 to 5 km. A frost hollow, a slope, or a city heat island can shift your real garden by half a zone either way.
Zone data computed by growit.wiki/ from SILO climate data, Queensland Government, longpaddock.qld.gov.au/silo, licensed CC BY 4.0 and derived from Bureau of Meteorology observations: average annual extreme minimum temperature, 1991 to 2020, classified into USDA-style bands. Postcode areas: Australian Bureau of Statistics, ASGS Edition 3 (Postal Areas 2021), CC BY. Map polygons simplified for web use. This is not an official map. Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors. Results are estimates for planning.
