Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania, 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.
These conditions suit cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cherry Tree, 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 Cherry Tree 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 Cherry Tree — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cherry Tree — the short answer
Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 321 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~185
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 321 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 6a is Cherry Tree's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cherry Tree's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cherry Tree
Each reading below is measured for Cherry Tree itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCherry Tree runs about 185 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
MeasuredCherry Tree 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 Cherry Tree is in
Cherry Tree sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cherry Tree's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Indiana County is mostly Western Allegheny Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Cherry Tree
Every plant below cleared Cherry Tree's own zone 6a and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cherry Tree?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — 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 Cherry Tree
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from Cherry Tree, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Cherry Tree
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cherry Tree. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- IN 880Nitrate · 600 ft
- IN 876Nitrate · 900 ft
- CHERRY TREE CARDLOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- IN 871Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- IN 875Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- WHISKERS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- IN 870Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- CESSNA TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- EASTERN GAS TRANS & STORAGE INC/CHERRY TREE COMP STABrownfields · 2.1 mi
- GASTON AUTO WORKSBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- LONGS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- BAKER LUMBERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cherry Tree'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 Cherry Tree.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cherry Tree
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cherry Tree
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cherry Tree, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 112 sites within ~10 miles of Cherry Tree. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Cherry Tree
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 Cherry Tree average
Your land is one point inside Cherry Tree
Everything above resolves to Cherry Tree as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 321 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 Cherry Tree Average
Cherry Tree Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Cherry Tree
- ●One soil character for all of Cherry Tree
- ●Frost dates read at Cherry Tree's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cherry Tree's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cherry Tree
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cherry Tree averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cherry Tree — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cherry Tree average
How we know this about Cherry Tree
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 Cherry Tree’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 Cherry Tree
When does frost risk typically end in Cherry Tree?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cherry Tree typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Cherry Tree?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cherry Tree typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 185 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cherry Tree?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cherry Tree sees about 185 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 12, about 150 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cherry Tree?
The federal record around Cherry Tree is a meaningful one — 212 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (112), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Cherry Tree?
From about Sep 26 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 Oct 26 (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 Oct 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cherry Tree's scale — its 6a band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cherry Tree'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 Cherry Tree’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Cherry Tree's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 321 acres it covers and 212 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cherry Tree's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cherry Tree's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 26 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 212 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cherry Tree, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cherry Tree's boundary and the 321 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Cherry Tree sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Cherry Treelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cherry Tree's 321 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Indiana County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Indiana County
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Indiana County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cherry Tree's 321 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cherry Tree you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 321 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Cherry Tree-wide figureread your own land →
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