Brecksville, Ohio, 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, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Brecksville, 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 Brecksville 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 Brecksville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Brecksville — the short answer
Brecksville, Ohio: USDA zone 6b, about 217 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~217
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 12K 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 Brecksville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brecksville's 217-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brecksville
Each reading below is measured for Brecksville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBrecksville runs about 217 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
MeasuredBrecksville 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 Brecksville is in
Brecksville sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Brecksville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cuyahoga County.
What Grows in Brecksville
Every plant below cleared Brecksville's own zone 6b and its 217-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brecksville?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Brecksville
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Brecksville, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Brecksville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brecksville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SLEEPY HOLLOW GOLF COURSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CLEVELAND METROPARKS-BRECKSVILLE RESBrownfields · 2000 ft
- BRECKSVILLE RESERVATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- SERVICE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MARATHON BRECKSVILLE TERMINALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BRECKSVILLE CITY HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WALGREENS #10032Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CVS PHARMACY 3645Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- THE OHIO BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY DBA AT&T OHIO - BCVLOH52 - DRBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- VILLAGE DRY CLEANERS (1318086492)Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- OHIO BELL TELEPHONE CO. L24116Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brecksville'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 Brecksville.
Total Sites
1,807
within ~10 miles of Brecksville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brecksville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brecksville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Brecksville, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 191 sites within ~10 miles of Brecksville. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Brecksville
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 Brecksville average
Your land is one point inside Brecksville
Everything above resolves to Brecksville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 12K 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 city 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 Brecksville Average
Brecksville Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Brecksville
- ●One soil character for all of Brecksville
- ●Frost dates read at Brecksville's scale: Apr 9 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brecksville's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brecksville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brecksville, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brecksville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brecksville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brecksville average
How we know this about Brecksville
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Brecksville’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Brecksville
When does frost risk typically end in Brecksville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brecksville typically lands around Apr 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Brecksville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brecksville typically arrives around Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 29, so the watching starts about Oct 13 — about 217 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brecksville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brecksville sees about 217 frost-free days — roughly Apr 9 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 30 to Oct 29, about 182 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brecksville?
The federal record around Brecksville is a meaningful one — 1,807 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (893), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Brecksville?
From about Oct 13 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Brecksville's scale — its 6b band and its 217-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brecksville'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 Brecksville’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Brecksville's own scale — its own ~217-day season between 28°F freezes, the 12,447 acres it covers and 1,807 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brecksville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Brecksville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 9 and Nov 12 and the ~217-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,807 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brecksville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brecksville's boundary and the 12,447 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~217-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brecksville's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Brecksvillelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brecksville's 12,447 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cuyahoga County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cuyahoga County
- The growing challenges every Ohio grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Ohio
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Cuyahoga County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brecksville's 12,447 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brecksville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,447 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Brecksville-wide figureread your own land →