Plymouth, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Plymouth, 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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Plymouth — the short answer
Plymouth, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 687 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 687 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 Plymouth's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Plymouth's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Plymouth
Each reading below is measured for Plymouth itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPlymouth runs about 198 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
MeasuredPlymouth 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 Plymouth is in
Plymouth sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Plymouth's own centroid rather than borrowed from Luzerne County.
What Grows in Plymouth
Every plant below cleared Plymouth's own zone 6b and its 198-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Plymouth?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Plymouth
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Plymouth, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Plymouth
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Plymouth. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOHN STENACH FORD COUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- WYOMING VALLEY WEST HIGH SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CAMPAS CAR CTRBrownfields · 1400 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE NO 6986Brownfields · 1600 ft
- TURKEY HILL MINIT MKT 275Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WILLIAMS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- STEVE MOSS GARAGEBrownfields · 1900 ft
- ALEXS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- VALLEY POWER EQUIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- STELLA PROPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CUSTOM GARAGE INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- WILLIAMS MFGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Plymouth'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 Plymouth.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Plymouth
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Plymouth
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Plymouth, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of Plymouth. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Plymouth
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 Plymouth average
Your land is one point inside Plymouth
Everything above resolves to Plymouth as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 687 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 Plymouth Average
Plymouth Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Plymouth
- ●One soil character for all of Plymouth
- ●Frost dates read at Plymouth's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Plymouth's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Plymouth
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Plymouth, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Plymouth averages can't show:
We read public map data around Plymouth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Plymouth average
How we know this about Plymouth
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 Plymouth’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 Plymouth
When does frost risk typically end in Plymouth?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Plymouth typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Plymouth?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Plymouth typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Plymouth?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Plymouth sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 12, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Plymouth?
The federal record around Plymouth is a meaningful one — 967 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (587), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Plymouth?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Plymouth's scale — its 6b band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Plymouth'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 Plymouth’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Plymouth's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 687 acres it covers and 967 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Plymouth's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Plymouth's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 26 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 967 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Plymouth, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Plymouth's boundary and the 687 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Plymouth's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Plymouthlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Plymouth's 687 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 Plymouth's 687 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Plymouth you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 687 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Plymouth-wide figureread your own land →
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