Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, in Connecticut, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Greater Bridgeport Planning Region — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region — the short answer
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut: USDA zone 7a, about 239 days between hard freezes, across 90K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~239
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 90K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 7a is Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's 239-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
Across a year, Greater Bridgeport Planning Region accumulates about 3,009 growing degree days above 50°F, about 345 more than the middle Connecticut county — ahead of every other Connecticut county. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Greater Bridgeport County
Detailed USDA soil-survey (SSURGO) mapping is limited across Greater Bridgeport County, so there isn't a reliable county-wide soil summary to show here yet — a gap in the national survey, not in the ground itself.
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
Each reading below is measured for Greater Bridgeport Planning Region itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreater Bridgeport Planning Region runs about 239 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredGreater Bridgeport Planning Region sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
We scored all 1,086 plants against Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's own USDA zone 7a and its own 239-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Connecticut profile.
Is it too late to plant in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Greater Bridgeport County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Greater Bridgeport County — 1,220 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 19 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Greater Bridgeport County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
Closest first, across Greater Bridgeport County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 2001 PARK AVEBrownfields · 550 ft
- NEW ENGLAND HEATING SUPPLY LLCBrownfields · 1100 ft
- MOBIL OIL CORP SERV STA HG0Brownfields · 1100 ft
- WOOD AVENUE BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2500 ft
- JOEY'S CAPITOL WOOD SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- UNITED ILLUMINATINGBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- CITY OF BRIDGEPORTBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- COLONIAL CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- NUNES AUTO SALES & BODY SHOP INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- BRIDGEPORT CORRECTIONAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PEMBROKE LAUNDRY CLEANERS INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- SCHIFF MARKBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Greater Bridgeport Planning Region.
Total Sites
1,220
across Greater Bridgeport County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
19 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
across Greater Bridgeport County
Severity Distribution
across Greater Bridgeport County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, two things run higher than the national average across Greater Bridgeport County — Toxics Release Inventory (98 sites) and Superfund (19 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region average
Your land is one point inside Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
Everything above resolves to Greater Bridgeport Planning Region as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 90K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at county scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better county average.
Your Lot vs the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region Average
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
- ●One soil character for all of Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
- ●Frost dates read at Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greater Bridgeport Planning Region averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greater Bridgeport Planning Region — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region average
How we know this about Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Greater Bridgeport Planning Region carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Greater Bridgeport Planning Region
When does frost risk typically end in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region typically lands around Mar 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Apr 17.
How long is the growing season in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greater Bridgeport Planning Region sees about 239 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Nov 7, about 204 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greater Bridgeport Planning Region?
The federal record around Greater Bridgeport Planning Region is a meaningful one — 1,220 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (618), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
Everything above is measured at Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's scale — its 7a band and its 239-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Connecticut's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Greater Bridgeport Planning Region’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's own scale — its own ~239-day span between 28°F freezes and 1,220 documented sites inside its boundary; 2 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~239-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,220 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's boundary and the 89,723 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~239-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — the national survey's mapping is too sparse here for a county summary, so the state's dominant soils are the closest readfrom Connecticut
- The growing challenges every Connecticut grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Connecticut
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Greater Bridgeport Planning Region — the ~239 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Greater Bridgeport Planning Region's 89,723 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 1,220 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Greater Bridgeport Planning Regionread your own land →