Ligonier, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Ligonier, 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 Ligonier 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 Ligonier — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ligonier — the short answer
Ligonier, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 323 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 323 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 Ligonier's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ligonier's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ligonier
Each reading below is measured for Ligonier itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLigonier runs about 190 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
MeasuredLigonier 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 Ligonier is in
Ligonier sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ligonier's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Westmoreland County is mostly Western Allegheny Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Ligonier
Every plant below cleared Ligonier's own zone 6a and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ligonier?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Ligonier
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Ligonier, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Ligonier
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ligonier. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BETHLEN PRINTINGBrownfields · 250 ft
- LIGONIER BOROUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- FARABAUGH CHEVROLET OLDSMOBILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- WWCP TRANSMITTER SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- HUNTLAND DOWNSUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- ROLLING ROCK FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LATROBE STEEL RED ARROW LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- R MACDONALD FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- PRIVATE RESIDENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- THOMAS W THOBURN JRUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LIGONIER CHRYSLER FORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- LAUREL SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ligonier'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 Ligonier.
Total Sites
309
within ~10 miles of Ligonier
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ligonier
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ligonier
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ligonier, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Ligonier. 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 Ligonier
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 Ligonier average
Your land is one point inside Ligonier
Everything above resolves to Ligonier as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 323 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 Ligonier Average
Ligonier Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ligonier
- ●One soil character for all of Ligonier
- ●Frost dates read at Ligonier's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ligonier's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ligonier
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ligonier, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ligonier averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ligonier — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ligonier average
How we know this about Ligonier
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 Ligonier’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 Ligonier
When does frost risk typically end in Ligonier?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ligonier typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Ligonier?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ligonier typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ligonier?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ligonier sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 11, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ligonier?
The federal record around Ligonier is a meaningful one — 309 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (161), the nearest Brownfields 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 Ligonier?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ligonier's scale — its 6a band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ligonier'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 Ligonier’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Ligonier's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 323 acres it covers and 309 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ligonier's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ligonier's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 25 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 309 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ligonier, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ligonier's boundary and the 323 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Ligonier sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Ligonierlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ligonier's 323 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Westmoreland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Westmoreland 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 Westmoreland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ligonier's 323 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ligonier you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 323 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Ligonier-wide figureread your own land →
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