What Grows in Leesburg, New Jersey

USDA Zones 7b · 1K acres

Leesburg, New Jersey, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.

Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Leesburg, 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 Leesburg 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 Leesburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Leesburg — the short answer

Leesburg, New Jersey: USDA zone 7b, about 234 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.

USDA zone
7b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Mar 30
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Nov 19
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~234
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
1K 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

7b7b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 7b is Leesburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Leesburg's 234-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Leesburg

Each reading below is measured for Leesburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Leesburg runs about 234 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

Measured

Leesburg 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 Leesburg is in

Leesburg sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Leesburg's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Cumberland County is mostly Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Leesburg

Every plant below cleared Leesburg's own zone 7b and its 234-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Jersey profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in New JerseyZones 2–11Leesburg's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
prickly pear, photograph
New Jersey prickly pear guideZones 5–10Leesburg's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in New JerseyZones 6–10Leesburg's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: New Jersey growing notesZones 2–11Leesburg's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
fig, photograph
Growing fig in New JerseyZones 6–10Leesburg's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
New Jersey lavender guideZones 5–8Leesburg's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in New JerseyZones 2–10Leesburg's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
grape, photograph
Grape: New Jersey growing notesZones 6–9Leesburg's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Growing turkish rocket in New JerseyLeesburg's 234 days clear the ~90 it needs.
kale, photograph
New Jersey kale guideZones 2–11Leesburg's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Hazelnut in New JerseyZones 4–9Leesburg's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: New Jersey growing notesZones 2–11Leesburg's 234 days clear the ~70 it needs.
pawpaw, photograph
Growing pawpaw in New JerseyZones 5–9Leesburg's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
okra, photograph
New Jersey okra guideZones 2–12Leesburg's 234 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Potato in New JerseyZones 2–11Leesburg's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: New Jersey growing notesZones 3–10Leesburg's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in New JerseyZones 2–11Leesburg's 234 days clear the ~70 it needs.
Apache plume, photograph
New Jersey apache plume guideZones 5–11Leesburg's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in New JerseyZones 3–8Leesburg's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: New Jersey growing notesZones 3–8Leesburg's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in New JerseyLeesburg's 234 days clear the ~50 it needs.
holly, photograph
New Jersey holly guideZones 5–11Leesburg's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Virginia creeper, photograph
Virginia creeper in New JerseyZones 3–9Leesburg's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
tulip, photograph
Tulip: New Jersey growing notesZones 6–8Leesburg's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Douglas fir, photograph
Growing douglas fir in New JerseyZones 4–10Leesburg's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Ethiopian mustard, photograph
New Jersey ethiopian mustard guideZones 4–10Leesburg's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in New JerseyZones 2–7Leesburg's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
redbud, photograph
Redbud: New Jersey growing notesZones 5–11Leesburg's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Japanese millet, photograph
Growing japanese millet in New JerseyZones 5–10Leesburg's 234 days clear the ~45 it needs.
ajuga, photograph
New Jersey ajuga guideZones 5–11Leesburg's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Leesburg?

Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — 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 Leesburg

Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Leesburg, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.

What's on the federal record near Leesburg

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Leesburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. MAURICE RIVER TWPUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
  2. HOFFMANS LEESBURG GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
  3. DELAWARE BAY MARINE SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
  4. DORCHESTER INDUSTRIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  5. BROWNS GETTY STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
  6. NORTHSTAR 4Brownfields · 0.8 mi
  7. COMMANDERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
  8. LB VISIONBrownfields · 0.8 mi
  9. BAYSIDE STATE PRISONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
  10. JOSEPH PATTERSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
  11. LITTLE MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
  12. UNIMIN CORPORATION MAURICETOWN DIVISIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Leesburg'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 Leesburg.

Total Sites

247

within ~10 miles of Leesburg

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Leesburg

High2Moderate102Low143

Highest-Severity Sites

Millville Water Department
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Nj State Prison Bayside
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
110116-- Fire
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
110116-- Fire
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
110118-- Heislerville 1 Obs
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Leesburg, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 78 sites within ~10 miles of Leesburg. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.

Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.

Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Leesburg

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 Leesburg average

Your land is one point inside Leesburg

Everything above resolves to Leesburg as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Leesburg Average

Leesburg Average

  • USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Leesburg
  • One soil character for all of Leesburg
  • Frost dates read at Leesburg's scale: Mar 30 to Nov 19

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Leesburg's 7b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Leesburg

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Leesburg, New Jersey — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Leesburg averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Leesburg averages 234Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Leesburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Leesburg average

How we know this about Leesburg

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 Leesburg’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 Leesburg

When does frost risk typically end in Leesburg?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Leesburg typically lands around Mar 30, 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 20.

When is the first frost in Leesburg?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Leesburg typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 234 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Leesburg?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Leesburg sees about 234 frost-free days — roughly Mar 30 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 20 to Nov 5, about 199 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Leesburg?

The federal record around Leesburg is a meaningful one — 247 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (127), 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 Leesburg?

From about Oct 20 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Leesburg's scale — its 7b band and its 234-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Leesburg'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 Leesburg’s own scale

7 of the readings below were taken at Leesburg's own scale — its own ~234-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,126 acres it covers and 247 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Leesburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Leesburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 30 and Nov 19 and the ~234-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 247 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Leesburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Leesburg's boundary and the 1,126 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~234-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • Leesburg sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
  • A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Leesburglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Leesburg's 1,126 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cumberland County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cumberland County
  • The growing challenges every New Jersey grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Jersey
  • Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Cumberland County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Leesburg's 1,126 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Leesburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,126 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 Leesburg-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address