Columbiana County, in Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Columbiana County lies within the Ohio River Valley — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Columbiana County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Columbiana County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Columbiana County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Columbiana County — the short answer
Columbiana County, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 340K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 340K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Columbiana County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Columbiana County's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Columbiana County
Across a year, Columbiana County accumulates about 2,679 growing degree days above 50°F, about 243 fewer than the middle Ohio county — ahead of 10 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Columbiana County
Across Columbiana County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Canfield, Berks, and Gilpin are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.5–6.3, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
18%
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Columbiana County
The USDA soil survey maps 43% of Columbiana County as well drained — but another 54% drains differently: 41% moderately well drained, 9% somewhat poorly drained.
Canfield is the most extensive named soil at 27% of mapped acres, then Berks (16%) and Gilpin (6%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Columbiana County
Each reading below is measured for Columbiana County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Columbiana County are well drained, in hydrologic group C/D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Columbiana County runs about pH 5.5–6.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredColumbiana County runs about 182 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
MeasuredColumbiana County 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 Columbiana County is in
Columbiana County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Erie Drift Plain (55%) and Western Allegheny Plateau (45%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Columbiana County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Columbiana County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 182-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile.
Is it too late to plant in Columbiana County?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Columbiana County
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Columbiana County, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly189 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Columbiana County
USGS estimates 37,392 lb of Glyphosate on Columbiana County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (12,136 lb) and Metolachlor-s (11,040 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Columbiana County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Columbiana County — 451 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 10 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Columbiana County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Columbiana County
Closest first, across Columbiana County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALBCO FOUNDRY AND MACHINE, INC.Brownfields · 2400 ft
- ALBCO FOUNDRY AND MACHINE, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 2400 ft
- COLUMBIANA COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CLOSED SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- VOGUE PROPERTY LLCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- CIRCLE K #5233Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- CIRCLE K #5233Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SMITH OIL CO. #106Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ABE SAMMI LLC DBA VALLEY VIEW FOOD VV2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BP OIL CO. #06226Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BARONZZI'S SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Columbiana County'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 Columbiana County.
Sources Checked
across Columbiana County
Severity Distribution
across Columbiana County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Columbiana County, two things run higher than the national average across Columbiana County — Superfund (10 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (40 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Columbiana County
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 Columbiana County average
Your land is one point inside Columbiana County
Everything above resolves to Columbiana County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 340K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Columbiana County Average
Columbiana County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Columbiana County
- ●One soil character for all of Columbiana County
- ●Frost dates read at Columbiana County's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Columbiana County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Columbiana County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Columbiana County, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Columbiana County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Columbiana County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Columbiana County average
How we know this about Columbiana County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Columbiana County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Columbiana County
When does frost risk typically end in Columbiana County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Columbiana County typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
How long is the growing season in Columbiana County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Columbiana County sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 6, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Columbiana County?
The federal record around Columbiana County is a meaningful one — 451 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (222), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.5 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.
Everything above is measured at Columbiana County's scale — its 6a band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Columbiana County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Ohio's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Columbiana County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Columbiana County's own scale — its own ~182-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 451 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Columbiana County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Columbiana County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Columbiana CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 451 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Columbiana County's boundary and the 340,435 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Columbiana County spans, Erie Drift Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Columbiana County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Columbiana County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Ohio grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Ohio
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Columbiana County — the ~182 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Columbiana County's 340,435 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 451 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Columbiana Countyread your own land →