Franklin, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Franklin, 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 Franklin 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 Franklin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Franklin — the short answer
Franklin, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Franklin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Franklin's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Franklin
Each reading below is measured for Franklin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFranklin runs about 193 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
MeasuredFranklin 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 Franklin is in
Franklin sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Franklin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Venango County.
What Grows in Franklin
Every plant below cleared Franklin's own zone 6b and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Franklin?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Nov 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Franklin
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Franklin, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Franklin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Franklin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOY TECH INC/BUFFALO STBrownfields · 2300 ft
- JOY TECH INC/BUFFALO STToxics Release Inventory · 2300 ft
- QUALEX MANUFACTURING LLCBrownfields · 2300 ft
- JOY TECHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- GEORGES EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EIGHTH STREET GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JOY MINING MACHINERY PLT 2Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- JOY FRANKLIN PLT 2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HARRINGTON MACHINE AND TOOL COMPANY, INC.Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- RUHLMAN WELDINGBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- KWIK FILL M0029 169Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- KWIK FILL M0029Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Franklin'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 Franklin.
Total Sites
293
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Franklin, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Franklin. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Franklin
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 Franklin average
Your land is one point inside Franklin
Everything above resolves to Franklin as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 city 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 Franklin Average
Franklin Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Franklin
- ●One soil character for all of Franklin
- ●Frost dates read at Franklin's scale: Apr 23 to Nov 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Franklin's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Franklin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Franklin, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Franklin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Franklin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Franklin average
How we know this about Franklin
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Franklin’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Franklin
When does frost risk typically end in Franklin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Franklin 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 Franklin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Franklin typically arrives around Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 19, so the watching starts about Oct 3 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Franklin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Franklin sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 19, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Franklin?
The federal record around Franklin is a meaningful one — 293 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (155), the nearest Brownfields 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 Franklin?
From about Oct 3 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 Nov 2 (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 Nov 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Franklin's scale — its 6b band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Franklin'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 Franklin’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Franklin's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,993 acres it covers and 293 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Franklin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Franklin's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Nov 2 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 293 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Franklin, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Franklin's boundary and the 2,993 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Franklin's own centroid, the North Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Franklinlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Franklin's 2,993 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 Franklin's 2,993 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Franklin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,993 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Franklin-wide figureread your own land →
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