Graceton, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Graceton, 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 Graceton 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 Graceton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Graceton — the short answer
Graceton, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 77 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 77 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 Graceton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Graceton's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Graceton
Each reading below is measured for Graceton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGraceton runs about 199 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
MeasuredGraceton 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 Graceton is in
Graceton sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Graceton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Indiana County.
What Grows in Graceton
Every plant below cleared Graceton's own zone 6b and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Graceton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 31 — 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 Graceton
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Graceton, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Graceton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Graceton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CORAL EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CENTER TWP INDIANA CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- BUD DAVIS TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- KWIK FILL S 48Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- KWIK FILL S0048 241Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- FESS'S AUTO CENTERBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- HOMER CITY GEN LP/CENTER TWPToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- HOMER CITY GEN LP/CENTER TWPBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- HOMER CITY COAL CLEANING PLTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- HOMER CITY GEN STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- R & L DEVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- HOMER CTR SCH DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Graceton'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 Graceton.
Total Sites
571
within ~10 miles of Graceton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
18 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Graceton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Graceton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Graceton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 238 sites within ~10 miles of Graceton. 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 Graceton
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 Graceton average
Your land is one point inside Graceton
Everything above resolves to Graceton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 77 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 Graceton Average
Graceton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Graceton
- ●One soil character for all of Graceton
- ●Frost dates read at Graceton's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Graceton's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Graceton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Graceton, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Graceton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Graceton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Graceton average
How we know this about Graceton
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 Graceton’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 Graceton
When does frost risk typically end in Graceton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Graceton typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Graceton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Graceton typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Graceton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Graceton sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 17, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Graceton?
The federal record around Graceton is a meaningful one — 571 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (238), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Graceton?
From about Oct 1 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 31 (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 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Graceton's scale — its 6b band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Graceton'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 Graceton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Graceton's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 77 acres it covers and 571 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Graceton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Graceton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 31 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 571 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Graceton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Graceton's boundary and the 77 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Graceton's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Gracetonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Graceton's 77 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Indiana County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Indiana 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 Indiana County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Graceton's 77 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Graceton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 77 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Graceton-wide figureread your own land →
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