National, Maryland, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in National, 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 National 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 National — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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National — the short answer
National, Maryland: USDA zone 6b, about 200 days between hard freezes, across 100 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~200
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 100 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 6b is National's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against National's 200-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in National
Each reading below is measured for National itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNational runs about 200 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
MeasuredNational sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 National is in
National sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at National's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Allegany County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in National
Every plant below cleared National's own zone 6b and its 200-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in National?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — 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 National
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from National, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near National
Closest first, within ~10 miles of National. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Miller's Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Bill Miller Equipment Sales, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Coddington Lumber Co., Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CARLOS MINEToxics Release Inventory · 1.3 mi
- Delta Coal Sales, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- JNP Petroleum dba Pick N GoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- T.G.&C. Coal Co., Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Eagans Convenience StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Gertrude EaganUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Frostburg Maintenance FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Barnes School Bus ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- VINDEX ENERGY CORP CARLOS MINEToxics Release Inventory · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from National'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 National.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of National
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of National
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 National
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 National average
Your land is one point inside National
Everything above resolves to National as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 100 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 National Average
National Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across National
- ●One soil character for all of National
- ●Frost dates read at National's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not National's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in National
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in National, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that National averages can't show:
We read public map data around National — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the National average
How we know this about National
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 National’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 National
When does frost risk typically end in National?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in National typically lands around Apr 13, 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 May 4.
When is the first frost in National?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in National typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 200 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in National?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, National sees about 200 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 16, about 165 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in National?
The federal record around National is a meaningful one — 383 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (234), 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 National?
From about Sep 30 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 Oct 30 (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 Oct 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at National's scale — its 6b band and its 200-day season. Your yard writes its own version of National'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 National’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at National's own scale — its own ~200-day season between 28°F freezes, the 100 acres it covers and 383 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- National's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- National's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 30 and the ~200-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 383 documented contamination sites on the federal record near National, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- National's boundary and the 100 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~200-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- National sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Nationallydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so National's 100 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Allegany County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Allegany 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 Allegany County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among National's 100 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of National you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 100 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 National-wide figureread your own land →
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