Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Schaefferstown, 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 Schaefferstown 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 Schaefferstown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Schaefferstown — the short answer
Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 7a, about 221 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~221
- 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 7a is Schaefferstown's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Schaefferstown's 221-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Schaefferstown
Each reading below is measured for Schaefferstown itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSchaefferstown runs about 221 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredSchaefferstown sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Schaefferstown is in
Schaefferstown sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Schaefferstown's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lebanon County.
What Grows in Schaefferstown
Every plant below cleared Schaefferstown's own zone 7a and its 221-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Schaefferstown?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Schaefferstown
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Schaefferstown, first recorded 2017. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Schaefferstown
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Schaefferstown. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STACO INCToxics Release Inventory · 600 ft
- BINNER INDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MARLIN L MARTIN FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- LEON BURKHOLDERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CON O LITE VAULT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- HEIDELBERG PIG FAMILY FARMCAFO · 0.5 mi
- SPEEDWAY 6769Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- KEN-DI FARMS LLCCAFO · 0.5 mi
- SPEEDWAY 6769Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- PLAIN N FANCY KITCHENSToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- LB 336Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- PLAIN N FANCY CUSTOM CABINETRY INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Schaefferstown'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 Schaefferstown.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Schaefferstown
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Schaefferstown
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Schaefferstown, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 51 sites within ~10 miles of Schaefferstown. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Schaefferstown
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 Schaefferstown average
Your land is one point inside Schaefferstown
Everything above resolves to Schaefferstown 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 Schaefferstown Average
Schaefferstown Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Schaefferstown
- ●One soil character for all of Schaefferstown
- ●Frost dates read at Schaefferstown's scale: Apr 3 to Nov 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Schaefferstown's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Schaefferstown
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Schaefferstown averages can't show:
We read public map data around Schaefferstown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Schaefferstown average
How we know this about Schaefferstown
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 Schaefferstown’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 Schaefferstown
When does frost risk typically end in Schaefferstown?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Schaefferstown typically lands around Apr 3, 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 Apr 24.
When is the first frost in Schaefferstown?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Schaefferstown typically arrives around Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 27, so the watching starts about Oct 11 — about 221 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Schaefferstown?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Schaefferstown sees about 221 frost-free days — roughly Apr 3 through Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 24 to Oct 27, about 186 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Schaefferstown?
The federal record around Schaefferstown runs heavier than most — 1,170 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (543), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Schaefferstown?
From about Oct 11 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 Nov 10 (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 Nov 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Schaefferstown's scale — its 7a band and its 221-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Schaefferstown'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 Schaefferstown’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Schaefferstown's own scale — its own ~221-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,724 acres it covers and 1,170 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Schaefferstown's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Schaefferstown's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 3 and Nov 10 and the ~221-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,170 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Schaefferstown, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Schaefferstown's boundary and the 1,724 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~221-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Schaefferstown's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Schaefferstownlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Schaefferstown's 1,724 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lebanon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lebanon 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 Lebanon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Schaefferstown's 1,724 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Schaefferstown you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,724 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Schaefferstown-wide figureread your own land →
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