What Grows in Higginsport, Ohio

USDA Zones 6b · 161 acres

Higginsport, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.

Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Higginsport, 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 Higginsport 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 Higginsport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Higginsport — the short answer

Higginsport, Ohio: USDA zone 6b, about 217 days between hard freezes, across 161 acres of town.

USDA zone
6b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Apr 3
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Nov 6
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~217
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
161 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

6b6b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 6b is Higginsport's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Higginsport's 217-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Higginsport

Each reading below is measured for Higginsport itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Higginsport 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

Measured

Higginsport 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 Higginsport is in

Higginsport sits in the Interior Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Higginsport's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Brown County is mostly Eastern Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Higginsport

Every plant below cleared Higginsport's own zone 6b and its 217-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in OhioZones 2–11Higginsport's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Ohio hazelnut guideZones 4–9Higginsport's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
Lavender in OhioZones 5–8Higginsport's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Ohio growing notesZones 2–11Higginsport's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
blackberry, photograph
Growing blackberry in OhioZones 5–8Higginsport's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
Ohio california poppy guideZones 6–10Higginsport's 6b is its exact cold limit.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in OhioZones 2–10Higginsport's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
blueberry, photograph
Blueberry: Ohio growing notesZones 3–8Higginsport's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Growing turkish rocket in OhioHigginsport's 217 days clear the ~90 it needs.
kale, photograph
Ohio kale guideZones 2–11Higginsport's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
pawpaw, photograph
Pawpaw in OhioZones 5–9Higginsport's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
angelica, photograph
Angelica: Ohio growing notesZones 4–9Higginsport's 217 days clear the ~120 it needs.
lentil, photograph
Growing lentil in OhioZones 2–11Higginsport's 217 days clear the ~70 it needs.
okra, photograph
Ohio okra guideZones 2–12Higginsport's 217 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Potato in OhioZones 2–11Higginsport's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Ohio growing notesZones 3–10Higginsport's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in OhioZones 2–11Higginsport's 217 days clear the ~70 it needs.
lilac, photograph
Ohio lilac guideZones 4–10Higginsport's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in OhioZones 3–8Higginsport's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Ohio growing notesZones 3–8Higginsport's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in OhioHigginsport's 217 days clear the ~50 it needs.
Apache plume, photograph
Ohio apache plume guideZones 5–11Higginsport's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Virginia creeper, photograph
Virginia creeper in OhioZones 3–9Higginsport's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
tulip, photograph
Tulip: Ohio growing notesZones 6–8Higginsport's 6b is its exact cold limit.
American elm, photograph
Growing american elm in OhioZones 3–9Higginsport's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Ethiopian mustard, photograph
Ohio ethiopian mustard guideZones 4–10Higginsport's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in OhioZones 2–7Higginsport's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
Douglas fir, photograph
Douglas fir: Ohio growing notesZones 4–10Higginsport's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.
alfalfa, photograph
Growing alfalfa in OhioZones 2–10Higginsport's 217 days clear the ~100 it needs.
Indian grass, photograph
Ohio indian grass guideZones 4–9Higginsport's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Higginsport?

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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.

Documented around Higginsport

Survey cells within 31 miles of Higginsport checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 34 miles off. What to watch for.

What's on the federal record near Higginsport

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Higginsport. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. DAVID W KINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
  2. JOHN HAMILTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
  3. B24C0007Nitrate · 1.7 mi
  4. Augusta Farm SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
  5. Augusta River ParkUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
  6. Needmore GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
  7. BERRY FILM PRODUCTS COMPANY INC.Brownfields · 2.0 mi
  8. AUTO VEHICLE PARTS CO F A NEIDER DIVISIONToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
  9. Miller Lumber Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
  10. Bulk Transit CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
  11. MORRIS AUTO SERVICEBrownfields · 2.4 mi
  12. Morris Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Higginsport'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 Higginsport.

Total Sites

139

within ~10 miles of Higginsport

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Higginsport

High1Moderate42Low96

Highest-Severity Sites

Georgetown Village Pws
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
1ST Stop Hamersville #52
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
1ST Stop INC.
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
1ST Stop INC.
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Adult Detention Center
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Higginsport, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 106 sites within ~10 miles of Higginsport. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.

Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.

Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Higginsport

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 Higginsport average

Your land is one point inside Higginsport

Everything above resolves to Higginsport as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 161 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 Higginsport Average

Higginsport Average

  • USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Higginsport
  • One soil character for all of Higginsport
  • Frost dates read at Higginsport's scale: Apr 3 to Nov 6

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Higginsport's 6b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Higginsport

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Higginsport, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Higginsport averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Higginsport averages 217Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Higginsport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Higginsport average

How we know this about Higginsport

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 Higginsport’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 Higginsport

When does frost risk typically end in Higginsport?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Higginsport typically lands around Apr 3, 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 24.

When is the first frost in Higginsport?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Higginsport typically arrives around Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 23, so the watching starts about Oct 7 — about 217 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Higginsport?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Higginsport sees about 217 frost-free days — roughly Apr 3 through Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 24 to Oct 23, about 182 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Higginsport?

The federal record around Higginsport is a meaningful one — 139 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (106), 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 Higginsport?

From about Oct 7 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Higginsport's scale — its 6b band and its 217-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Higginsport'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 Higginsport’s own scale

7 of the readings below were taken at Higginsport's own scale — its own ~217-day season between 28°F freezes, the 161 acres it covers and 139 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Higginsport's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Higginsport's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 3 and Nov 6 and the ~217-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 139 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Higginsport, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Higginsport's boundary and the 161 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~217-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • Higginsport sits in the Interior Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
  • Lanternfly survey cells around Higginsport checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Higginsport's 161 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brown County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brown 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 Brown County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Higginsport's 161 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Higginsport you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 161 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 Higginsport-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address