Sparrow Bush, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sparrow Bush, 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 Sparrow Bush 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 Sparrow Bush — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sparrow Bush — the short answer
Sparrow Bush, New York: USDA zone 6b, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- 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 6b is Sparrow Bush's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sparrow Bush's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sparrow Bush
Each reading below is measured for Sparrow Bush itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSparrow Bush runs about 192 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
MeasuredSparrow Bush 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 Sparrow Bush is in
Sparrow Bush sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Sparrow Bush's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Orange County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Sparrow Bush
Every plant below cleared Sparrow Bush's own zone 6b and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sparrow Bush?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Sparrow Bush
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Sparrow Bush, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Sparrow Bush
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sparrow Bush. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- O9967Nitrate · 1700 ft
- E & M CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WESTFALL TWP HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SKYLINE DRIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- EDDY FARM RETREAT & CONFERENCE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PI 369Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- GILLINDER GLASSToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- GILLINDER BROTHERSToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- GILLINDER BROTHERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- PIKE CNTY ENVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- CGTC-COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION LLC-PORT JERVIS FIELD OFFICEBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- PORT JERVIS FIELD OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sparrow Bush'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 Sparrow Bush.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sparrow Bush
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sparrow Bush
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sparrow Bush, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 110 sites within ~10 miles of Sparrow Bush. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Sparrow Bush
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 Sparrow Bush average
Your land is one point inside Sparrow Bush
Everything above resolves to Sparrow Bush 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 Sparrow Bush Average
Sparrow Bush Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Sparrow Bush
- ●One soil character for all of Sparrow Bush
- ●Frost dates read at Sparrow Bush's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sparrow Bush's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sparrow Bush
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sparrow Bush, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sparrow Bush averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sparrow Bush — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sparrow Bush average
How we know this about Sparrow Bush
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 Sparrow Bush’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 Sparrow Bush
When does frost risk typically end in Sparrow Bush?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sparrow Bush typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Sparrow Bush?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sparrow Bush typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sparrow Bush?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sparrow Bush sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 12, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sparrow Bush?
The federal record around Sparrow Bush is a meaningful one — 311 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (130), 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 Sparrow Bush?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sparrow Bush's scale — its 6b band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sparrow Bush'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 Sparrow Bush’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Sparrow Bush's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,797 acres it covers and 311 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sparrow Bush's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sparrow Bush's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 26 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 311 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sparrow Bush, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sparrow Bush's boundary and the 1,797 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Sparrow Bush sits in the North Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Sparrow Bushlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sparrow Bush's 1,797 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Orange County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Orange 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 Orange County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sparrow Bush's 1,797 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sparrow Bush you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,797 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 Sparrow Bush-wide figureread your own land →