Danby, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Danby, 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 Danby 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 Danby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Danby — the short answer
Danby, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 6a is Danby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Danby's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Danby
Each reading below is measured for Danby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDanby runs about 183 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredDanby sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Danby is in
Danby sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Danby's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tompkins County.
What Grows in Danby
Every plant below cleared Danby's own zone 6a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Danby?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Danby
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Danby, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Danby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Danby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TM2467Nitrate · 1800 ft
- TM1038Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- TM2588Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- TM2591Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- BENJAMIN'S ONE STOP, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TM1018Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- TM1037Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- TOWN OF DANBYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TM2806Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- TM 47Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- DANBYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 1035310Brownfields · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Danby'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 Danby.
Total Sites
371
within ~10 miles of Danby
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Danby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Danby
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Danby, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 110 sites within ~10 miles of Danby. 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).
Check your specific parcel in Danby
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 Danby average
Your land is one point inside Danby
Everything above resolves to Danby as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Danby Average
Danby Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Danby
- ●One soil character for all of Danby
- ●Frost dates read at Danby's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Danby's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Danby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Danby, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Danby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Danby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Danby average
How we know this about Danby
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 Danby’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 Danby
When does frost risk typically end in Danby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Danby typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Danby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Danby typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Danby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Danby sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 10, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Danby?
The federal record around Danby is a meaningful one — 371 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (145), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Danby?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Danby's scale — its 6a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Danby'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 Danby’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Danby's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,211 acres it covers and 371 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Danby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Danby's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 24 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 371 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Danby, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Danby's boundary and the 2,211 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Danby's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Danbylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Danby's 2,211 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tompkins County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tompkins County
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Tompkins County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Danby's 2,211 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Danby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,211 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Danby-wide figureread your own land →
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