North Washington, 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 North Washington, 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 North Washington 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 North Washington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Washington — the short answer
North Washington, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 574 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- 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
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 574 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 North Washington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Washington's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Washington
Each reading below is measured for North Washington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Washington runs about 186 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
MeasuredNorth Washington 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 North Washington is in
North Washington sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Washington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Butler County.
What Grows in North Washington
Every plant below cleared North Washington's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Washington?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around North Washington
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from North Washington, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Washington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Washington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SMITHS INCREDIBULL FARMCAFO · 1000 ft
- WASHINGTON TWP BUTLER CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- WARNER & WARNER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- LITZENBERG DRILLINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- PARKER TWP MUNI BLDGUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- CONCORD TWP BUTLER CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- ETC NORTHEAST PIPELINE/GALAXY COMP STAToxics Release Inventory · 3.8 mi
- GALAXY COMPRESSOR STATIONBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- GALAXY COMPRESSOR STATIONToxics Release Inventory · 3.8 mi
- BT 311 Butler County Observation WellNitrate · 4.2 mi
- MILLER RANDY & BOB AUTO BODYBrownfields · 4.3 mi
- HOOKER TIPPLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Washington'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 North Washington.
Total Sites
99
within ~10 miles of North Washington
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Washington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Washington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Washington, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of North Washington — Toxics Release Inventory (11 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (62 sites). 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in North Washington
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 North Washington average
Your land is one point inside North Washington
Everything above resolves to North Washington as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 574 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 North Washington Average
North Washington Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across North Washington
- ●One soil character for all of North Washington
- ●Frost dates read at North Washington's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Washington's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Washington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Washington, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Washington averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Washington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Washington average
How we know this about North Washington
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 North Washington’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 North Washington
When does frost risk typically end in North Washington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Washington typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in North Washington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Washington 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 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Washington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Washington sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 14, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Washington?
The federal record around North Washington is a meaningful one — 99 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (62), the nearest CAFO 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 North Washington?
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 North Washington's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Washington'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 North Washington’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Washington's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 574 acres it covers and 99 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Washington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Washington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 28 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 99 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Washington, the closest CAFO record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Washington's boundary and the 574 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Washington's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of North Washingtonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Washington's 574 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 North Washington's 574 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Washington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 574 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO 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 North Washington-wide figureread your own land →
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