Madera, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Madera, 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 Madera 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 Madera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Madera — the short answer
Madera, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 780 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 780 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 Madera's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Madera's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Madera
Each reading below is measured for Madera itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMadera runs about 171 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
MeasuredMadera 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 Madera is in
Madera sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Madera's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clearfield County.
What Grows in Madera
Every plant below cleared Madera's own zone 6a and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Madera?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Madera
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Madera, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Madera
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Madera. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROUNDS TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- HAMATYS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FCI USA INCToxics Release Inventory · 2400 ft
- WILLIAM E HILLIARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BRINK TRANSPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BIGLER TWP CLEARFIELD CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- JOHN SMEAL THINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- TONYS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- DATES AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- SYS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- RD JONES COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- JOHN H KUHN TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Madera'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 Madera.
Total Sites
146
within ~10 miles of Madera
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Madera
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Madera
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Madera, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 50 sites within ~10 miles of Madera. 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 Madera
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 Madera average
Your land is one point inside Madera
Everything above resolves to Madera as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 780 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 Madera Average
Madera Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Madera
- ●One soil character for all of Madera
- ●Frost dates read at Madera's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Madera's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Madera
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Madera, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Madera averages can't show:
We read public map data around Madera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Madera average
How we know this about Madera
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 Madera’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 Madera
When does frost risk typically end in Madera?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Madera typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Madera?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Madera typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Madera?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Madera sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Oct 4, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Madera?
The federal record around Madera shows 146 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (80), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Madera?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Madera's scale — its 6a band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Madera'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 Madera’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Madera's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 780 acres it covers and 146 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Madera's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Madera's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 18 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 146 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Madera, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Madera's boundary and the 780 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Madera's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Maderalydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Madera's 780 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clearfield County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clearfield 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 Clearfield County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Madera's 780 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Madera you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 780 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 Madera-wide figureread your own land →
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