Nixon, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nixon, 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 Nixon 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 Nixon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Nixon — the short answer
Nixon, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Nixon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nixon's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nixon
Each reading below is measured for Nixon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNixon runs about 192 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
MeasuredNixon 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 Nixon is in
Nixon sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Nixon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Butler County.
What Grows in Nixon
Every plant below cleared Nixon's own zone 6b and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nixon?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — 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 Nixon
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Nixon, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Nixon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nixon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BUTLER CCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- PENN ELEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- WINTERS & FLEMING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BUTLER CNTY AIRPORT AUTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- PENN TOWNSHIP BUILDINGBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- WINTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PENN TWP MUNI BLDGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MULTISERV PLT 16 ARMCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GOOD CLEARVIEW TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HUNTERS TRUCK SALES & SVCBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- KELLY CADILLAC CHEVROLETBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- MCCORMICKS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nixon'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 Nixon.
Total Sites
613
within ~10 miles of Nixon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nixon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nixon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nixon, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 63 sites within ~10 miles of Nixon. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Nixon
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 Nixon average
Your land is one point inside Nixon
Everything above resolves to Nixon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Nixon Average
Nixon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Nixon
- ●One soil character for all of Nixon
- ●Frost dates read at Nixon's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nixon's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nixon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nixon, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nixon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nixon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nixon average
How we know this about Nixon
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 Nixon’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 Nixon
When does frost risk typically end in Nixon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nixon typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Nixon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nixon typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nixon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nixon sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 14, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nixon?
The federal record around Nixon is a meaningful one — 613 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (323), 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 Nixon?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nixon's scale — its 6b band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nixon'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 Nixon’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Nixon's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,722 acres it covers and 613 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nixon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nixon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 28 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 613 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nixon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nixon's boundary and the 1,722 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nixon's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Nixonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nixon's 1,722 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Butler County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Butler 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 Butler County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nixon's 1,722 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nixon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,722 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 Nixon-wide figureread your own land →
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