Fenelton, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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.
Even in Fenelton, 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 Fenelton 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 Fenelton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fenelton — the short answer
Fenelton, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 189 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- 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
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 189 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 Fenelton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fenelton's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fenelton
Each reading below is measured for Fenelton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFenelton runs about 189 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
MeasuredFenelton 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 Fenelton is in
Fenelton sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fenelton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Butler County.
What Grows in Fenelton
Every plant below cleared Fenelton's own zone 6a and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fenelton?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Fenelton
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Fenelton, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Fenelton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fenelton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GEHMS VITTLE VILLAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WILLIAM B ALTMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- WHITES SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- THOMAS A MEKIS & SONS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- CLEARFIELD TWP MUNI BLDGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- LONGS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- GAISERS TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- M & M LIMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- CREEKSIDE MUSHROOMS LTDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- CREEKSIDE MUSHROOMS/WORTHINGTONBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- AT&T BUTLERBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- AT&T BUTLER (PA6600)Underground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fenelton'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 Fenelton.
Total Sites
326
within ~10 miles of Fenelton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fenelton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fenelton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fenelton, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Fenelton. 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.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Fenelton
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 Fenelton average
Your land is one point inside Fenelton
Everything above resolves to Fenelton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 189 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 Fenelton Average
Fenelton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Fenelton
- ●One soil character for all of Fenelton
- ●Frost dates read at Fenelton's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fenelton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fenelton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fenelton, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fenelton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fenelton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fenelton average
How we know this about Fenelton
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 Fenelton’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 Fenelton
When does frost risk typically end in Fenelton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fenelton typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Fenelton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fenelton 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 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fenelton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fenelton sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 15, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fenelton?
The federal record around Fenelton is a meaningful one — 326 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (181), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Fenelton?
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 Fenelton's scale — its 6a band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fenelton'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 Fenelton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Fenelton's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 189 acres it covers and 326 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fenelton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fenelton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 29 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 326 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fenelton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fenelton's boundary and the 189 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fenelton's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Feneltonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fenelton's 189 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Butler County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Butler 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 Butler County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fenelton's 189 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fenelton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 189 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Fenelton-wide figureread your own land →
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