Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Shickshinny, 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 Shickshinny 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 Shickshinny — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Shickshinny — the short answer
Shickshinny, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 305 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- 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
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 305 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 Shickshinny's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Shickshinny's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Shickshinny
Each reading below is measured for Shickshinny itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredShickshinny runs about 196 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
MeasuredShickshinny 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 Shickshinny is in
Shickshinny sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Shickshinny's own centroid rather than borrowed from Luzerne County.
What Grows in Shickshinny
Every plant below cleared Shickshinny's own zone 6b and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Shickshinny?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Shickshinny
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Shickshinny, first recorded 2018. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Shickshinny
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Shickshinny. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KASHISH LTDUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #1583Brownfields · 400 ft
- FORMER HASAY CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- SHICKSHINNY APTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE NO 2563Brownfields · 900 ft
- ENG DIST 4 0 BRIDGE PROJ SHICKSHINNY MOCANAQUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- RAYS REPAIR CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- COUNTRY COUSINS SHOES INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- CARTER FOOTWEARUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CJ & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- NORTHEAST GUTTER PROUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- DAVES SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Shickshinny'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 Shickshinny.
Total Sites
263
within ~10 miles of Shickshinny
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Shickshinny
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Shickshinny
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Shickshinny, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 169 sites within ~10 miles of Shickshinny. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Shickshinny
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 Shickshinny average
Your land is one point inside Shickshinny
Everything above resolves to Shickshinny as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 305 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 Shickshinny Average
Shickshinny Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Shickshinny
- ●One soil character for all of Shickshinny
- ●Frost dates read at Shickshinny's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Shickshinny's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Shickshinny
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Shickshinny averages can't show:
We read public map data around Shickshinny — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Shickshinny average
How we know this about Shickshinny
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 Shickshinny’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 Shickshinny
When does frost risk typically end in Shickshinny?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Shickshinny typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Shickshinny?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Shickshinny 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 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Shickshinny?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Shickshinny sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 12, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Shickshinny?
The federal record around Shickshinny is a meaningful one — 263 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (169), 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 Shickshinny?
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 Shickshinny's scale — its 6b band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Shickshinny'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 Shickshinny’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Shickshinny's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 305 acres it covers and 263 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Shickshinny's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Shickshinny's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 26 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 263 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Shickshinny, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Shickshinny's boundary and the 305 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Shickshinny's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Shickshinnylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Shickshinny's 305 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 Shickshinny's 305 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Shickshinny you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 305 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 Shickshinny-wide figureread your own land →
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