Prompton, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Prompton, 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 Prompton 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 Prompton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Prompton — the short answer
Prompton, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 981 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 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 981 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 Prompton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Prompton's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Prompton
Each reading below is measured for Prompton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPrompton runs about 176 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
MeasuredPrompton 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 Prompton is in
Prompton sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Prompton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wayne County.
What Grows in Prompton
Every plant below cleared Prompton's own zone 6a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Prompton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 18 — 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 Prompton
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Prompton, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Prompton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Prompton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WN 393Nitrate · 2200 ft
- WILLIAM SHAUGHNESSY CONTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- ENG DIST 4 0Underground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- PLAZA SUNOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- ELLEN MEM HEALTH CARE & REHAB CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- WN 386Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- WN 377Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- PENSKE AUTO CTR 3885Brownfields · 2.6 mi
- JOHN BONHAMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- WN 329Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- WAYCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- WN 312Nitrate · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Prompton'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 Prompton.
Total Sites
298
within ~10 miles of Prompton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Prompton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Prompton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Prompton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 114 sites within ~10 miles of Prompton. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Prompton
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 Prompton average
Your land is one point inside Prompton
Everything above resolves to Prompton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 981 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 Prompton Average
Prompton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Prompton
- ●One soil character for all of Prompton
- ●Frost dates read at Prompton's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Prompton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Prompton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Prompton, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Prompton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Prompton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Prompton average
How we know this about Prompton
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 Prompton’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 Prompton
When does frost risk typically end in Prompton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Prompton 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 Prompton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Prompton 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 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Prompton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Prompton sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 4, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Prompton?
The federal record around Prompton is a meaningful one — 298 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (132), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Prompton?
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 Prompton's scale — its 6a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Prompton'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 Prompton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Prompton's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 981 acres it covers and 298 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Prompton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Prompton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 18 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 298 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Prompton, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Prompton's boundary and the 981 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Prompton's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Promptonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Prompton's 981 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wayne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wayne 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 Wayne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Prompton's 981 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Prompton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 981 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Prompton-wide figureread your own land →
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