Springwater, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Springwater, 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 Springwater 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 Springwater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Springwater — the short answer
Springwater, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 852 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 852 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 Springwater's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Springwater's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Springwater
Each reading below is measured for Springwater itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSpringwater runs about 171 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
MeasuredSpringwater 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 Springwater is in
Springwater sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Springwater's own centroid rather than borrowed from Livingston County.
What Grows in Springwater
Every plant below cleared Springwater's own zone 6a and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Springwater?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Springwater
Spotted lanternfly documented 28 miles from Springwater, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Springwater
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Springwater. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SPRINGWATER AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- SPRINGWATER FIRE CO STATION (FORMER)Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- TOWN OF SPRINGWATERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MILLPOND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- VOTYPKA FARMS (DBA)Underground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- WALKER FARMCAFO · 2.6 mi
- FAA RADAR FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- LV 620Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- LV 740Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #9732Brownfields · 4.2 mi
- APEX ACRES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- MARCUS RICHARDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Springwater'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 Springwater.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of Springwater
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Springwater
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Springwater
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Springwater, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Springwater. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Springwater
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 Springwater average
Your land is one point inside Springwater
Everything above resolves to Springwater as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 852 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 Springwater Average
Springwater Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Springwater
- ●One soil character for all of Springwater
- ●Frost dates read at Springwater's scale: May 2 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Springwater's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Springwater
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Springwater, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Springwater averages can't show:
We read public map data around Springwater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Springwater average
How we know this about Springwater
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 Springwater’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 Springwater
When does frost risk typically end in Springwater?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Springwater typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Springwater?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Springwater typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Springwater?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Springwater sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Oct 6, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Springwater?
The federal record around Springwater is a meaningful one — 197 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (98), 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 Springwater?
From about Sep 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 Oct 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Springwater's scale — its 6a band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Springwater'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 Springwater’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Springwater's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 852 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Springwater's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Springwater's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 20 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Springwater, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Springwater's boundary and the 852 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Springwater's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Springwaterlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Springwater's 852 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Livingston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Livingston 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 Livingston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Springwater's 852 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Springwater you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 852 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 Springwater-wide figureread your own land →
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