Courtdale, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Courtdale, 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 Courtdale 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 Courtdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Courtdale — the short answer
Courtdale, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 654 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 654 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 Courtdale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Courtdale's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Courtdale
Each reading below is measured for Courtdale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCourtdale runs about 197 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
MeasuredCourtdale 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 Courtdale is in
Courtdale sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Courtdale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Luzerne County.
What Grows in Courtdale
Every plant below cleared Courtdale's own zone 6b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Courtdale?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Courtdale
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Courtdale, first recorded 2018. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Courtdale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Courtdale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NICHOLAS TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- HURRICANE CAR WASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WE PULVERMAN CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- QUALITY COLLISION TRUCK CENTER INC/COURTDALEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- WASSEROTTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ROBERTS OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FUEL ON 1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- KMS FAB LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- COCCIA FORD INCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- KINGSTON METAL CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE NO 3157Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- WEST SIDE AREA VOC TECH SCHBrownfields · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Courtdale'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 Courtdale.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Courtdale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Courtdale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Courtdale, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 659 sites within ~10 miles of Courtdale. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Courtdale
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 Courtdale average
Your land is one point inside Courtdale
Everything above resolves to Courtdale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 654 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 Courtdale Average
Courtdale Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Courtdale
- ●One soil character for all of Courtdale
- ●Frost dates read at Courtdale's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Courtdale's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Courtdale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Courtdale, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Courtdale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Courtdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Courtdale average
How we know this about Courtdale
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 Courtdale’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 Courtdale
When does frost risk typically end in Courtdale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Courtdale typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Courtdale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Courtdale typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Courtdale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Courtdale sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 11, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Courtdale?
The federal record around Courtdale is a meaningful one — 1,070 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (659), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Courtdale?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Courtdale's scale — its 6b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Courtdale'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 Courtdale’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Courtdale's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 654 acres it covers and 1,070 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Courtdale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Courtdale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 25 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,070 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Courtdale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Courtdale's boundary and the 654 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Courtdale's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Courtdalelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Courtdale's 654 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Luzerne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Luzerne 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 Luzerne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Courtdale's 654 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Courtdale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 654 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Courtdale-wide figureread your own land →
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