Westmoreland County, in Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Westmoreland County lies within Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Westmoreland County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Westmoreland County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Westmoreland County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Westmoreland County — the short answer
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 201 days between hard freezes, across 658K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~201
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 658K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Westmoreland County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Westmoreland County's 201-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Westmoreland County
Across a year, Westmoreland County accumulates about 2,575 growing degree days above 50°F, about 28 more than the middle Pennsylvania county — ahead of 37 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Westmoreland County
Across Westmoreland County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Gilpin, Wharton, and Dormont are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.1–5.8, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
19%
Hydric soils
2%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Westmoreland County
The USDA soil survey maps 50% of Westmoreland County as well drained — but another 43% drains differently: 38% moderately well drained, 3% somewhat poorly drained.
Gilpin is the most extensive named soil at 26% of mapped acres, then Wharton (11%) and Dormont (6%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Westmoreland County
Each reading below is measured for Westmoreland County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Westmoreland County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Westmoreland County runs about pH 5.1–5.8, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredWestmoreland County runs about 201 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
MeasuredWestmoreland County 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 Westmoreland County is in
Westmoreland County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Western Allegheny Plateau (67%) and Central Appalachians (33%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Westmoreland County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Westmoreland County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 201-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile.
Is it too late to plant in Westmoreland County?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Westmoreland County
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Westmoreland County, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle19 documented records
- monarch butterfly81 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Westmoreland County
USGS estimates 18,183 lb of Glyphosate on Westmoreland County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (10,576 lb) and Metolachlor-s (8,846 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Westmoreland County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Westmoreland County — 1,934 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Westmoreland County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Westmoreland County
Closest first, across Westmoreland County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DR LAZZARO OFCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MIGNOGNA AUTO BODYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- GREENSBURG IR WORK CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- L & S MACHINE CO INCBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- BUD SMAIL MOTORCARSBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- SMAIL FORDBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- SPEEDWAY 2930Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- SHEETZ NO 661Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- AMES DEPARTMENT STORE #0552Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- AMER TANK & CONCRETE SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- WESTMORELAND 911 CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- WESTMORELAND COUNTYBrownfields · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Westmoreland County'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 Westmoreland County.
Total Sites
1,934
across Westmoreland County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Westmoreland County
Severity Distribution
across Westmoreland County
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Westmoreland County
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 Westmoreland County average
Your land is one point inside Westmoreland County
Everything above resolves to Westmoreland County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 658K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Westmoreland County Average
Westmoreland County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Westmoreland County
- ●One soil character for all of Westmoreland County
- ●Frost dates read at Westmoreland County's scale: Apr 14 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Westmoreland County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Westmoreland County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Westmoreland County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Westmoreland County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Westmoreland County average
How we know this about Westmoreland County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Westmoreland County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Westmoreland County
When does frost risk typically end in Westmoreland County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Westmoreland County typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
How long is the growing season in Westmoreland County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Westmoreland County sees about 201 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 18, about 166 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Westmoreland County?
The federal record around Westmoreland County is a meaningful one — 1,934 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (959), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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.
Everything above is measured at Westmoreland County's scale — its 6b band and its 201-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Westmoreland County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Pennsylvania's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Westmoreland County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Westmoreland County's own scale — its own ~201-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 1,934 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Westmoreland County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Westmoreland County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~201-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Westmoreland CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 1,934 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Westmoreland County's boundary and the 657,736 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~201-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Westmoreland County spans, Western Allegheny Plateau the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Westmoreland County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Westmoreland County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Westmoreland County — the ~201 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Westmoreland County's 657,736 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 1,934 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Westmoreland Countyread your own land →