Ferndale, Maryland, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Ferndale, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Ferndale lot. 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 Ferndale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ferndale — the short answer
Ferndale, Maryland: USDA zone 7b, about 257 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~257
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 7b is Ferndale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ferndale's 257-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ferndale
Each reading below is measured for Ferndale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFerndale runs about 257 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
MeasuredFerndale sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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
The kind of country Ferndale is in
Ferndale sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ferndale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Anne Arundel County.
What Grows in Ferndale
Every plant below cleared Ferndale's own zone 7b and its 257-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ferndale?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Ferndale
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Ferndale, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Ferndale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ferndale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Royal Farms #67Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Ferndale AutomotiveUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Thrifty Rent - A- CarUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Modern Electric, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY LANDFILLSuperfund · 2400 ft
- R & F Auto RepairUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Ferndale Vol. Fire Co.Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- LINTHICUM-FERDALE AUTO BODY INCBrownfields · 2600 ft
- Ferndale Shell #472Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- NORTH COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Hubers Bus Service, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Ferndale CitgoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ferndale'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 Ferndale.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ferndale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ferndale
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Ferndale
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 Ferndale average
Your land is one point inside Ferndale
Everything above resolves to Ferndale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 town 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 local average.
Your Lot vs the Ferndale Average
Ferndale Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Ferndale
- ●One soil character for all of Ferndale
- ●Frost dates read at Ferndale's scale: Mar 15 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ferndale's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ferndale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ferndale, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ferndale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ferndale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ferndale average
How we know this about Ferndale
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Ferndale’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Ferndale
When does frost risk typically end in Ferndale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ferndale typically lands around Mar 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Ferndale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ferndale typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 257 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ferndale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ferndale sees about 257 frost-free days — roughly Mar 15 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 5 to Nov 13, about 222 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ferndale?
The federal record around Ferndale runs heavier than most — 4,503 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2,077), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Ferndale?
From about Oct 28 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ferndale's scale — its 7b band and its 257-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ferndale's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Ferndale’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Ferndale's own scale — its own ~257-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,532 acres it covers and 4,503 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ferndale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ferndale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 15 and Nov 27 and the ~257-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 4,503 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ferndale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ferndale's boundary and the 2,532 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~257-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ferndale's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Ferndalelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ferndale's 2,532 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Anne Arundel County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Anne Arundel County
- The growing challenges every Maryland grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Maryland
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Anne Arundel County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ferndale's 2,532 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ferndale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,532 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Ferndale-wide figureread your own land →
More in Maryland
Wider growing context
What grows across MarylandFerndale sits outside our named growing regions, so Maryland as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides