Emlenton, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Emlenton, 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 Emlenton 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 Emlenton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Emlenton — the short answer
Emlenton, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 372 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 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 372 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 Emlenton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Emlenton's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Emlenton
Each reading below is measured for Emlenton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEmlenton runs about 188 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
MeasuredEmlenton 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 Emlenton is in
Emlenton sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Emlenton's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Venango County is mostly North Central Appalachians. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Emlenton
Every plant below cleared Emlenton's own zone 6a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Emlenton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Emlenton
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Emlenton, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Emlenton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Emlenton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RICHLAND TWP VENANGO CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- COLUMBIA GAS PAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EMLENTON IGAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- COURSON GARAGE BISHOP MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- UNI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- FUCHS LUBRICANTS CO LUBRODAL DIVToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- HONEYWELL ALLIED SIGNAL EMLENTON PLTBrownfields · 2400 ft
- HONEYWELL ALLIED SIGNAL EMLENTON PLTToxics Release Inventory · 2400 ft
- LINNONS BIG SIX SHOPPERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- EMLENTON BP 731Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- EMLENTON EXXON 5Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- EMLENTON TRUCK PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Emlenton'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 Emlenton.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Emlenton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Emlenton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Emlenton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Emlenton — Toxics Release Inventory (12 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (61 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Emlenton
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 Emlenton average
Your land is one point inside Emlenton
Everything above resolves to Emlenton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 372 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 Emlenton Average
Emlenton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Emlenton
- ●One soil character for all of Emlenton
- ●Frost dates read at Emlenton's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Emlenton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Emlenton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Emlenton, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Emlenton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Emlenton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Emlenton average
How we know this about Emlenton
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 Emlenton’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 Emlenton
When does frost risk typically end in Emlenton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Emlenton 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 Emlenton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Emlenton typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Emlenton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Emlenton sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 15, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Emlenton?
The federal record around Emlenton is a meaningful one — 98 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (61), 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 Emlenton?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Emlenton's scale — its 6a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Emlenton'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 Emlenton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Emlenton's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 372 acres it covers and 98 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Emlenton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Emlenton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 29 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 98 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Emlenton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Emlenton's boundary and the 372 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Emlenton sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Emlentonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Emlenton's 372 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Venango County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Venango 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 Venango County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Emlenton's 372 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Emlenton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 372 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 Emlenton-wide figureread your own land →
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