Elderton, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — 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 Elderton, 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 Elderton 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 Elderton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Elderton — the short answer
Elderton, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 207 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 207 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 Elderton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elderton's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elderton
Each reading below is measured for Elderton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredElderton runs about 192 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
MeasuredElderton 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 Elderton is in
Elderton sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Elderton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Armstrong County.
What Grows in Elderton
Every plant below cleared Elderton's own zone 6b and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elderton?
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 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — 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 Elderton
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Elderton, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Elderton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elderton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EMILIE 4 MINE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- GLENN FLEMING CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- ELDERTON AUTO REPAIR T & S ASSNUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- RUPERTS AUTO MACHINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- R & L DEVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- KEYSTONE CLEANING PLTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- WEST PENN CARDLOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DAVES AUTO SALESBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- AR 102Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- JANE MINE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BETTY M KIMMELUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CORNER CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elderton'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 Elderton.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Elderton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elderton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elderton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elderton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 84 sites within ~10 miles of Elderton. 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 Elderton
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 Elderton average
Your land is one point inside Elderton
Everything above resolves to Elderton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 207 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 Elderton Average
Elderton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Elderton
- ●One soil character for all of Elderton
- ●Frost dates read at Elderton's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elderton's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elderton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elderton, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elderton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elderton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elderton average
How we know this about Elderton
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 Elderton’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 Elderton
When does frost risk typically end in Elderton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elderton typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Elderton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elderton typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elderton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elderton sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 14, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elderton?
The federal record around Elderton is a meaningful one — 194 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (84), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Elderton?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elderton's scale — its 6b band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elderton'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 Elderton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Elderton's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 207 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elderton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Elderton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 28 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elderton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elderton's boundary and the 207 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elderton's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Eldertonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elderton's 207 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Armstrong County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Armstrong 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 Armstrong County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elderton's 207 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elderton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 207 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Elderton-wide figureread your own land →
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