Robinson, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Robinson, 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 Robinson 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 Robinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Robinson — the short answer
Robinson, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 495 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 495 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 Robinson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Robinson's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Robinson
Each reading below is measured for Robinson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRobinson 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
MeasuredRobinson 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 Robinson is in
Robinson sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Robinson's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Indiana County is mostly Western Allegheny Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Robinson
Every plant below cleared Robinson'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 Robinson?
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 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 31 — 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 Robinson
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Robinson, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Robinson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Robinson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GARLANDS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- WEST WHEATFIELD TWP EQUIP GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- FORMER MABELS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- TRI COMM WATER & SEW AUTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- PEOPLES NATURAL GAS CO LLC W FAIRFIELD STABrownfields · 0.7 mi
- LA MANTIA BEER DISTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JOSEPH D LAMANTIAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SIMPSON SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CLARKS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- BOLIVAR HDWRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- IN 152Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- IN 450Nitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Robinson'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 Robinson.
Total Sites
318
within ~10 miles of Robinson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Robinson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Robinson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Robinson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Robinson — Nitrate (128 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). 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.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Robinson
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 Robinson average
Your land is one point inside Robinson
Everything above resolves to Robinson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 495 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 Robinson Average
Robinson Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Robinson
- ●One soil character for all of Robinson
- ●Frost dates read at Robinson's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Robinson's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Robinson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Robinson, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Robinson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Robinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Robinson average
How we know this about Robinson
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 Robinson’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 Robinson
When does frost risk typically end in Robinson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Robinson typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Robinson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Robinson typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Robinson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Robinson sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 17, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Robinson?
The federal record around Robinson is a meaningful one — 318 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (128), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Robinson?
From about Oct 1 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 31 (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 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Robinson's scale — its 6b band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Robinson'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 Robinson’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Robinson's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 495 acres it covers and 318 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Robinson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Robinson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 31 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 318 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Robinson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Robinson's boundary and the 495 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Robinson sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Robinsonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Robinson's 495 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Indiana County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Indiana 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 Indiana County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Robinson's 495 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Robinson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 495 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Robinson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Pennsylvania
Growing region
Nearby growing guides