The Top 12 U.S. Cities for Observing World Naked Gardening Day

Editor’s note: See updated story on World Naked Gardening Day.

Gardening is a great way for someone to become one with nature. But each year on the first Saturday of May, gardeners can strip down the desire to be one with nature to its bare essence.

Organizers of World Naked Gardening Day — it’s on May 7 in 2016 — encourage gardeners to wear their birthday suits instead of their gardening garb while engaging in this popular hobby.

“Why garden naked? First of all, it’s fun! Second only to swimming, gardening is at the top of the list of family-friendly activities people are most ready to consider doing nude,” the World Naked Gardening Day website says. “Moreover, our culture needs to move toward a healthy sense of both body acceptance and our relation to the natural environment.”

‘This Is Not a Religion’

So, what if you want to ditch your clothes on World Gardening Day yet you still want to put on gardening gloves and a sun-shielding hat?

“Oh, there are no rules!” Mark Storey, who co-founded World Naked Gardening Day in 2005, told Today.com. “If I’m gardening naked and if I need to have a hat on or shoes on, that’s fine. People are pretty rational about that stuff. This is not a religion.”

Mark Storey is co-founder of World Naked Gardening Day.
Photo: Mark Storey/Today.com

OK, so there are no rules. But is there some sort of protocol for group or solo participation? Nope. Organizers of World Naked Gardening Day say you can tend to the tomatoes in the buff if you’re alone, with friends, with family, with a gardening club or with any other group.

“All that’s involved is getting naked and making the world’s gardens — whatever their size, public or private — healthier and more attractive,” organizers say.

Naked Truth

Although World Naked Gardening Day is a pretty carefree event, we do know that there are places in the U.S. where the environment is more hospitable for clothing-free gardening in the great outdoors. In fact, we’ve come up with a list of the 12 best cities for observing World Naked Gardening Day.

To compile this list, we looked at historical weather data for May in 49 major U.S. cities; data for Riverside, CA, and San Jose, CA, was insufficient, so they are not included in our ranking. We pulled the federal data from the Current Results website. The six statistics we used are:

• Average high temperature.
• Average percentage of sunshine.
• Average rainfall.
• Average afternoon humidity.
• Average number of cloudy days.
• Average wind speed.

Each of the six statistics was weighted evenly and benchmarked against these weather ideals:

• High temperature of 75 degrees.
• 100 percent sunshine.
• No rainfall.
• Afternoon humidity of 45 percent.
• No cloudy days.
• 5 mph wind (light breeze).

People all over the world dig World Naked Gardening Day.
Photo: Heavy.com

Dirty Dozen

After crunching the numbers, we arrived at a score for each city; the higher the score, the better the city is for naked gardening. The highest score a city could achieve was 6. The following 12 places come closest to the ideal weather conditions and make our list of the best cities in the U.S. for observing World Naked Gardening Day.

By the way, no matter where you’re planning to go au naturel in the garden, be sure to apply sunscreen — everywhere. Also, check your community’s nudity laws before shedding your clothes outside. Oh, and be careful with those garden tools.

1. Miami, FL

Photo: Flickr/Mohmed Althani

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 4.206 petals
Average high temperature in May: 87
Average sunshine in May: 72%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 5.3
Average afternoon humidity in May: 62%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 9
Average wind speed in May: 9.5 mph

2. Oklahoma City, OK

Photo: Flickr/Shane Burkhardt

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 4.007 petals
Average high temperature in May: 80
Average sunshine in May: 66%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 4.7
Average afternoon humidity in May: 51%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 12
Average wind speed in May: 12.5 mph

3. Dallas, TX

Photo: Flickr/skys the limit2

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.938 petals
Average high temperature in May: 84
Average sunshine in May: 57%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 4.9
Average afternoon humidity in May: 53%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 13
Average wind speed in May: 11.1 mph

4. Memphis, TN

Photo: Flickr/Memphis CVB

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.819 petals
Average high temperature in May: 81
Average sunshine in May: 69%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 5.3
Average afternoon humidity in May: 52%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 13
Average wind speed in May: 8.8 mph

5. Kansas City, MO

Photo: Flickr/Vincent Parsons

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.811 petals
Average high temperature in May: 76
Average sunshine in May: 61%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 5.1
Average afternoon humidity in May: 54%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 14
Average wind speed in May: 10.4 mph

6. Houston, TX

Photo: Flickr/Randall Pugh

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.808 petals
Average high temperature in May: 86
Average sunshine in May: 62%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 5.1
Average afternoon humidity in May: 57%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 14
Average wind speed in May: 8.1 mph

7. San Antonio, TX

Photo: Flickr/Jonathan Cutrer

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.656 petals
Average high temperature in May: 87
Average sunshine in May: 56%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 4.0
Average afternoon humidity in May: 53%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 14
Average wind speed in May: 9.8 mph

8. Austin, TX

Photo: Flickr/NACTO

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.478 petals
Average high temperature in May: 87
Average sunshine in May: 56%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 4.4
Average afternoon humidity in May: 54%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 13
Average wind speed in May: 9.1 mph

9. Indianapolis, IN

Photo: Flickr/MCC_Indianapolis

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.451 petals
Average high temperature in May: 73
Average sunshine in May: 60%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 5.1
Average afternoon humidity in May: 52%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 15
Average wind speed in May: 9.6 mph

10. Virginia Beach, VA

Photo: Flickr/Scott Smith

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.375 petals
Average high temperature in May: 75
Average sunshine in May: 62%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 3.4
Average afternoon humidity in May: 56%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 13
Average wind speed in May: 10.4 mph

11. Boston, MA

Photo: Flickr/Stan

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.373 petals
Average high temperature in May: 66
Average sunshine in May: 58%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 3.5
Average afternoon humidity in May: 58%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 15
Average wind speed in May: 12 mph

12. New Orleans, LA

Photo: Flickr/Woody Hibbard

LawnStarter’s naked gardening score: 3.364 petals
Average high temperature in May: 85
Average sunshine in May: 62%
Average rainfall in May (inches): 4.6
Average afternoon humidity in May: 58%
Average number of cloudy days in May: 11
Average wind speed in May: 8.1 mph

For more information about gardening and yard work, visit our lawn care and lawn mowing guides, and be sure to checkout reviews of LawnStarter on Shopper Approved!

Top photo: Tumblr/punud

Image for graphic: Flickr/Amber Karnes

John Egan

John Egan is the former editor in chief of LawnStarter.com. Now, he is a freelance writer extraordinaire. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Posts by John Egan