The local Master Gardeners and our UC Farm Advisor have been collecting information about heat-tolerant crops for several years.
Choosing heat-tolerant varieties is especially important in the Eastern Sierra, where summer growing conditions can be demanding even for warm-season vegetables. High daytime temperatures are only part of the challenge: our intense sunlight, low humidity, and very dry air can cause plants to lose water rapidly and experience greater heat stress. Varieties that perform well under these conditions are more likely to maintain healthy growth, set fruit, and continue producing during the hottest weeks of summer. Selecting varieties with demonstrated heat tolerance can therefore make a meaningful difference in the productivity and resilience of an Eastern Sierra vegetable garden.
Crowdsourced Heat-Tolerant Vegetables List
We maintain and occasionally update a list of specific vegetable varieties that tolerate heat. These have all been grown successfully in our region.
We don't maintain a list of what doesn't work since there are so many reasons a crop may fail. This list is also not comprehensive. If you don't see something on there, it may grow just fine, only we haven't added it yet, or lack specific cultivar details. As we collect more detailed data, those will be added to the list.
Add Your Experience
We have a survey!
Have a variety that thrives in the Eastern Sierra summer? We’d like to hear about it. We are collecting specific vegetable and herb varieties or cultivars that you have personally grown successfully in the region from Benton south to Ridgecrest.
We’re especially interested in plants that don’t merely survive summer, but keep growing, producing, or remaining useful during the worst of our summer heat.
- Tell us what worked, not what didn’t. There are many reasons a crop can fail, so reports of unsuccessful varieties aren’t especially useful for this list.
- Be specific. Please give us a variety or cultivar name whenever possible. Rather than “Asian type,” “cherry tomato,” or another broad category, tell us exactly what you grew.
- For herbs, heat tolerance matters too. We’re particularly interested in herbs that remain productive in hot weather and, when applicable, are slow to flower or bolt.
- Tell us where you garden. Please include your community or general location so we can better understand where a variety has performed well.
- Local experience is the basis of this list. Submissions to the list should come from gardeners between Benton and Ridgecrest. If you live outside the region but have a variety you think we should know about, please email the Master Gardener helpline at immg@ucanr.edu instead.
- Updates may take a while. This list is reviewed and updated manually on an irregular basis by a busy human, so new submissions will not necessarily appear right away. We do our best! 😉
- Not every submission will be added. We’re looking for varieties with convincing evidence of heat tolerance in our region. If a report appears to be an unusual outlier, we may wait for additional local experience before including it.
Above all, we’re looking for the standouts: varieties that keep going in the middle of summer when Eastern Sierra heat, intense sunlight, and dry air are at their most challenging.
Survey
(También disponible en español.)