Olmsted Falls, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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.
Even in Olmsted Falls, 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 Olmsted Falls 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 Olmsted Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Olmsted Falls — the short answer
Olmsted Falls, Ohio: USDA zone 6b, about 223 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~223
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Olmsted Falls's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Olmsted Falls's 223-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Olmsted Falls
Each reading below is measured for Olmsted Falls itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOlmsted Falls runs about 223 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
MeasuredOlmsted Falls 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 Olmsted Falls is in
Olmsted Falls sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Olmsted Falls's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cuyahoga County.
What Grows in Olmsted Falls
Every plant below cleared Olmsted Falls's own zone 6b and its 223-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Olmsted Falls?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 15 — 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 Olmsted Falls
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Olmsted Falls, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Olmsted Falls
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Olmsted Falls. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCHUSTER'S GREENHOUSEBrownfields · 2100 ft
- SPEEDWAY SUPERAMERICA LLC # 3654Brownfields · 2500 ft
- SPEEDWAY #3654Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- LEHIGH GAS CORPORATION #260-OH0077Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- 8200 COLUMBIA OLMSTED FALLS LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- OHIO BELL TELEPHONE CO. L21115Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- AUTO BODY AND FRAME WORKS INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- PERFECTION AUTO BODYBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- TAYLOR RENTAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- RELIABLE OIL RECOVERY LLCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- BLUE RIDGE PAPER PRODUCTS LLC DBA EVERGREEN PACKAGINGToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- COLUMBIA BUILDING PRODUCTS COBrownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Olmsted Falls'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 Olmsted Falls.
Total Sites
1,894
within ~10 miles of Olmsted Falls
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Olmsted Falls
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Olmsted Falls
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Olmsted Falls, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 153 sites within ~10 miles of Olmsted Falls. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Olmsted Falls
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 Olmsted Falls average
Your land is one point inside Olmsted Falls
Everything above resolves to Olmsted Falls as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Olmsted Falls Average
Olmsted Falls Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Olmsted Falls
- ●One soil character for all of Olmsted Falls
- ●Frost dates read at Olmsted Falls's scale: Apr 6 to Nov 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Olmsted Falls's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Olmsted Falls
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Olmsted Falls, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Olmsted Falls averages can't show:
We read public map data around Olmsted Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Olmsted Falls average
How we know this about Olmsted Falls
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 Olmsted Falls’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 Olmsted Falls
When does frost risk typically end in Olmsted Falls?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Olmsted Falls typically lands around Apr 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Olmsted Falls?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Olmsted Falls typically arrives around Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 1, so the watching starts about Oct 16 — about 223 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Olmsted Falls?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Olmsted Falls sees about 223 frost-free days — roughly Apr 6 through Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 27 to Nov 1, about 188 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Olmsted Falls?
The federal record around Olmsted Falls is a meaningful one — 1,894 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (976), the nearest Brownfields 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 Olmsted Falls?
From about Oct 16 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Olmsted Falls's scale — its 6b band and its 223-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Olmsted Falls'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 Olmsted Falls’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Olmsted Falls's own scale — its own ~223-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,612 acres it covers and 1,894 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Olmsted Falls's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Olmsted Falls's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 6 and Nov 15 and the ~223-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,894 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Olmsted Falls, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Olmsted Falls's boundary and the 2,612 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~223-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Olmsted Falls's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Olmsted Fallslydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Olmsted Falls's 2,612 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 Olmsted Falls's 2,612 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Olmsted Falls you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,612 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Olmsted Falls-wide figureread your own land →