Misericordia University, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Misericordia University, 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 Misericordia University 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 Misericordia University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Misericordia University — the short answer
Misericordia University, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 125 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 125 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 Misericordia University's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Misericordia University's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Misericordia University
Each reading below is measured for Misericordia University itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length
MeasuredMisericordia University runs about 195 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
MeasuredMisericordia University 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 Misericordia University is in
Misericordia University sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Misericordia University's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Luzerne County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Misericordia University
Every plant below cleared Misericordia University's own zone 6a and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.






























Is it too late to plant in Misericordia University?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — 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 Misericordia University
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Misericordia University, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Misericordia University
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Misericordia University. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COLL MISERICORDIAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PAYNE PRINTERYBrownfields · 2200 ft
- WAWA 8249Brownfields · 2500 ft
- TURKEY HILL 285Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- QUALITY COLLISION INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- DALLAS TWP ELEM SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- COATES REPROGRAPHICSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- EEI MEADOWS COMPLEXPFAS · 0.6 mi
- SUEZ WATER PA DALLASPFAS · 0.6 mi
- LAKE STREET OFCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- NOONS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- NATIVE TEXTILESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Misericordia University'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 Misericordia University.
Total Sites
889
within ~10 miles of Misericordia University
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Misericordia University
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Misericordia University
Highest-Severity Sites

A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Misericordia University, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 554 sites within ~10 miles of Misericordia University. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Misericordia University
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 Misericordia University average
Your land is one point inside Misericordia University
Everything above resolves to Misericordia University as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 125 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 Misericordia University Average
Misericordia University Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Misericordia University
- ●One soil character for all of Misericordia University
- ●Frost dates read at Misericordia University's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Misericordia University's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Misericordia University
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Misericordia University, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Misericordia University averages can't show:
We read public map data around Misericordia University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Misericordia University average
How we know this about Misericordia University
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 Misericordia University’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 Misericordia University
When does frost risk typically end in Misericordia University?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Misericordia University typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Misericordia University?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Misericordia University typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Misericordia University?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Misericordia University sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 10, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Misericordia University?
The federal record around Misericordia University is a meaningful one — 889 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (554), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Misericordia University?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Misericordia University's scale — its 6a band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Misericordia University'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 Misericordia University’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Misericordia University's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 125 acres it covers and 889 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Misericordia University's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Misericordia University's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 24 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 889 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Misericordia University, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Misericordia University's boundary and the 125 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Misericordia University sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Misericordia Universitylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Misericordia University's 125 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Luzerne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Luzerne 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 Luzerne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Misericordia University's 125 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Misericordia University you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 125 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Misericordia University-wide figureread your own land →
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