Philmont, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Philmont, 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 Philmont 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 Philmont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Philmont — the short answer
Philmont, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 778 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- 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
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 778 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 Philmont's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Philmont's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Philmont
Each reading below is measured for Philmont itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPhilmont runs about 191 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
MeasuredPhilmont 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 Philmont is in
Philmont sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Philmont's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Columbia County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Philmont
Every plant below cleared Philmont's own zone 6a and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Philmont?
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 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Philmont
Spotted lanternfly documented 12 miles from Philmont, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Philmont
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Philmont. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STEWART'S SHOPS #222Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- SCHERMERHORNS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE #7556Brownfields · 1300 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS INC #3204Brownfields · 1400 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3204Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PINE HAVEN HOME/COLUMBIA COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- COLUMBIA CO. ASSOC. FOR RETARDED CITIZENSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MCKECHNIE PACKAGING INCBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- GRO MAX LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- ANGELO RONSANIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- CB1674Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- MELTZ LUMBER CO.OF MELLENVILLE, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Philmont'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 Philmont.
Total Sites
281
within ~10 miles of Philmont
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Philmont
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Philmont
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Philmont, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Philmont — CAFO (7 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Philmont
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 Philmont average
Your land is one point inside Philmont
Everything above resolves to Philmont as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 778 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 Philmont Average
Philmont Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Philmont
- ●One soil character for all of Philmont
- ●Frost dates read at Philmont's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Philmont's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Philmont
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Philmont, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Philmont averages can't show:
We read public map data around Philmont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Philmont average
How we know this about Philmont
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 Philmont’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 Philmont
When does frost risk typically end in Philmont?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Philmont typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Philmont?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Philmont 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 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Philmont?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Philmont sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 10, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Philmont?
The federal record around Philmont is a meaningful one — 281 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (163), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Philmont?
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 Philmont's scale — its 6a band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Philmont'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 Philmont’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Philmont's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 778 acres it covers and 281 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Philmont's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Philmont's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 24 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 281 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Philmont, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Philmont's boundary and the 778 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Philmont sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Philmontlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Philmont's 778 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbia 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 Columbia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Philmont's 778 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Philmont you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 778 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Philmont-wide figureread your own land →
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