Chester Hill, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Chester Hill, 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 Chester Hill 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 Chester Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chester Hill — the short answer
Chester Hill, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 284 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 284 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 Chester Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chester Hill's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chester Hill
Each reading below is measured for Chester Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChester Hill runs about 176 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
MeasuredChester Hill 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 Chester Hill is in
Chester Hill sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Chester Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clearfield County.
What Grows in Chester Hill
Every plant below cleared Chester Hill's own zone 6a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chester Hill?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (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 Chester Hill
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from Chester Hill, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Chester Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chester Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DIXONS AUTO BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1000 ft
- YARGERS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- JEFFREY LIPKAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- AUSTIN POWDERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- HAWK RUN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- KWIK FILL M 38Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GARGASZ EXCAVATING INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- FURNIVAL MACHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LEE IND INCToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- KEN LONG MOTORS, INC.Brownfields · 1900 ft
- KWIK FILL M 86Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- DOUGLAS EXPLOSIVES GRAHAM STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chester Hill'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 Chester Hill.
Total Sites
187
within ~10 miles of Chester Hill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chester Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chester Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Chester Hill
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 Chester Hill average
Your land is one point inside Chester Hill
Everything above resolves to Chester Hill as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 284 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 Chester Hill Average
Chester Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Chester Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Chester Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Chester Hill's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chester Hill's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chester Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chester Hill, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chester Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chester Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chester Hill average
How we know this about Chester Hill
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 Chester Hill’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 Chester Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Chester Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chester Hill typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Chester Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chester Hill typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chester Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chester Hill sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 6, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chester Hill?
The federal record around Chester Hill is a meaningful one — 187 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Chester Hill?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chester Hill's scale — its 6a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chester Hill'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 Chester Hill’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Chester Hill's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 284 acres it covers and 187 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chester Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chester Hill's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 20 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 187 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chester Hill, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chester Hill's boundary and the 284 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chester Hill's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Chester Hilllydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chester Hill's 284 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clearfield County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clearfield 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 Clearfield County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chester Hill's 284 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chester Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 284 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Chester Hill-wide figureread your own land →