Port William, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Port William, 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 Port William 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 Port William — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Port William — the short answer
Port William, Ohio: USDA zone 6b, about 213 days between hard freezes, across 70 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~213
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 70 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 Port William's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Port William's 213-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Port William
Each reading below is measured for Port William itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPort William runs about 213 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
MeasuredPort William 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 Port William is in
Port William sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Port William's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clinton County.
What Grows in Port William
Every plant below cleared Port William's own zone 6b and its 213-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Port William?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — 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 Port William
Spotted lanternfly documented 25 miles from Port William, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Port William
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Port William. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BP- DAIRY QUEENUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- CN-25 NR SABINA OHNitrate · 3.6 mi
- TRUE NORTH # 724Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- LUMBERTON AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- ODOT WILMINGTON OUTPOST GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- GR-750Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- GR-750 06Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- GR-750 07Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- GR-750 04Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- GR-750 05Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- GR-750 02Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- GR-750 03Nitrate · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Port William'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 Port William.
Total Sites
180
within ~10 miles of Port William
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Port William
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Port William
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Port William, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Port William. 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 Port William
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 Port William average
Your land is one point inside Port William
Everything above resolves to Port William as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 70 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 Port William Average
Port William Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Port William
- ●One soil character for all of Port William
- ●Frost dates read at Port William's scale: Apr 5 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Port William's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Port William
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Port William, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Port William averages can't show:
We read public map data around Port William — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Port William average
How we know this about Port William
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 Port William’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 Port William
When does frost risk typically end in Port William?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Port William typically lands around Apr 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Port William?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Port William typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 213 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Port William?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Port William sees about 213 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 21, about 178 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Port William?
The federal record around Port William is a meaningful one — 180 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.8 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 Port William?
From about Oct 5 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Port William's scale — its 6b band and its 213-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Port William'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 Port William’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Port William's own scale — its own ~213-day season between 28°F freezes, the 70 acres it covers and 180 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Port William's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Port William's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 5 and Nov 4 and the ~213-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 180 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Port William, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Port William's boundary and the 70 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~213-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Port William's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Port Williamlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Port William's 70 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clinton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clinton 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 Clinton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Port William's 70 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Port William you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 70 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.8 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 Port William-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioPort William sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides