Galena, Maryland, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Galena, 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 Galena 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 Galena — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Galena — the short answer
Galena, Maryland: USDA zone 7b, about 228 days between hard freezes, across 234 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~228
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 234 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 Galena's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Galena's 228-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Galena
Each reading below is measured for Galena itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGalena runs about 228 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
MeasuredGalena 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 Galena is in
Galena sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Galena's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kent County.
What Grows in Galena
Every plant below cleared Galena's own zone 7b and its 228-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Galena?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Galena
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Galena, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Galena
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Galena. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Harry Rudnick & SonsUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- Cochran Oil Co. Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Galena MobilUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Verizon Communications - Galena CDO MD 37770Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Krishna PetroleumUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Billy's Seafood RestaurantUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Galena Volunteer Fire Co. Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Davis' Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Dills Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- KE Af 56Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- KE Af 17Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- GEORGETOWN YACHT BASIN,INC.Brownfields · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Galena'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 Galena.
Total Sites
517
within ~10 miles of Galena
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Galena
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Galena
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Galena, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Galena — CAFO (16 sites) and Nitrate (386 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Galena
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 Galena average
Your land is one point inside Galena
Everything above resolves to Galena as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 234 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 Galena Average
Galena Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Galena
- ●One soil character for all of Galena
- ●Frost dates read at Galena's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Galena's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Galena
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Galena, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Galena averages can't show:
We read public map data around Galena — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Galena average
How we know this about Galena
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 Galena’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 Galena
When does frost risk typically end in Galena?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Galena 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.
When is the first frost in Galena?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Galena typically arrives around Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 27, so the watching starts about Oct 11 — about 228 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Galena?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Galena sees about 228 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Oct 27, about 193 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Galena?
The federal record around Galena is a meaningful one — 517 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (386), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Galena?
From about Oct 11 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Galena's scale — its 7b band and its 228-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Galena'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 Galena’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Galena's own scale — its own ~228-day season between 28°F freezes, the 234 acres it covers and 517 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Galena's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Galena's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 27 and Nov 10 and the ~228-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 517 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Galena, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Galena's boundary and the 234 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~228-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Galena's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Galenalydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Galena's 234 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kent County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kent 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 Kent County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Galena's 234 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Galena you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 234 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Galena-wide figureread your own land →