Type in a ZIP code and the Blossom Garden Guide tells you what to plant or tend this week, based on your own frost dates and the forecast for your garden. We built it at Blossom Sanctuary in Etna, in the heart of Scott Valley, and it is free to use anywhere in the US.
What it shows you
- Your hardiness zone. From the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, matched to your ZIP code through the open phzmapi.org service.
- Your frost dates. Worked out from 30 years of daily low temperatures (1991 to 2020) at the weather station closest to you, using NOAA's Applied Climate Information System. You get the typical last spring frost, the safer date to wait for, and your frost-free season. You can switch stations if a different one sits closer to your garden's elevation.
- The week ahead. Live conditions, the next 24 hours, a 7-day forecast and any alerts from the National Weather Service.
- Your spot and the sky. Sunrise, sunset and hours of daylight for your garden, a map showing your garden and your frost station, and tonight's moon.
- In your garden now. Which vegetables and herbs you can sow or plant this week, based on your frost dates and planting windows from university extension guides.
Every native plant of Scott Valley
The guide includes a searchable library of 539 plants native to the Scott River watershed, from the valley floor to the Marble Mountains and Scott Mountains. Search by name or filter by type to find wildflowers, shrubs, trees, grasses and ferns that belong here. Our list draws on botanical checklists for the region and the California Native Plant Society.
Scott Valley is the homeland of the Shasta people, and the Karuk and other Native peoples have tended the plants of these mountains and rivers for thousands of years. Learn from them directly: the Karuk Tribe and the Quartz Valley Indian Reservation.
Where to get seeds
The guide lists Indigenous-owned seed sources, including Alliance of Native Seedkeepers, Eloheh Farm and Seeds and Walqaqsh California Native Seeds. For native plants, ask where seed was collected and choose seed from close to home when you can.
More for Sovereign Circle members
Members of the Sovereign Circle, our free membership, also get a planting calendar built on their own frost dates, care for natives and edibles month by month, a daily horoscope tied to the moon, and a checklist to print. Join free, then open the Garden Guide from your Members Portal.
Come see it growing
Blossom Sanctuary sits on 4.2 acres of oaks and gardens in Etna. To see Scott Valley natives in their home ground, check dates for a stay and bring your questions.
