South Waverly, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 South Waverly, 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 South Waverly 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 South Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Waverly — the short answer
South Waverly, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 562 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~179
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 562 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 South Waverly's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Waverly's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Waverly
Each reading below is measured for South Waverly itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Waverly runs about 179 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
MeasuredSouth Waverly 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 South Waverly is in
South Waverly sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Waverly's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bradford County.
What Grows in South Waverly
Every plant below cleared South Waverly's own zone 6a and its 179-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Waverly?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around South Waverly
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from South Waverly, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Waverly
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Waverly. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KMART NO 9166Brownfields · 1900 ft
- K MART 9166Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- LEPRINO FOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MIRABITO 124Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TED CLARK'S BUSY MARKET, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- DANDY MINI MART 16Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- JOHN H MURRAY & SONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WAVERLY POST OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- VIVE COLLISION OF WAVERLYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- NEW YORK TELEPHONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WAVERLY MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BR 766Nitrate · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Waverly'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 South Waverly.
Total Sites
340
within ~10 miles of South Waverly
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Waverly
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Waverly
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Waverly, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of South Waverly — CAFO (6 sites) and Nitrate (110 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in South Waverly
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 South Waverly average
Your land is one point inside South Waverly
Everything above resolves to South Waverly as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 562 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 South Waverly Average
South Waverly Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across South Waverly
- ●One soil character for all of South Waverly
- ●Frost dates read at South Waverly's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Waverly's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Waverly
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Waverly, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Waverly averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Waverly average
How we know this about South Waverly
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 South Waverly’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 South Waverly
When does frost risk typically end in South Waverly?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Waverly typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in South Waverly?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Waverly typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 179 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Waverly?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Waverly sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 8, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Waverly?
The federal record around South Waverly is a meaningful one — 340 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (126), the nearest Brownfields 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 South Waverly?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Waverly's scale — its 6a band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Waverly'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 South Waverly’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Waverly's own scale — its own ~179-day season between 28°F freezes, the 562 acres it covers and 340 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Waverly's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Waverly's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 22 and the ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 340 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Waverly, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Waverly's boundary and the 562 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Waverly's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Waverlylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Waverly's 562 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bradford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bradford 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 Bradford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Waverly's 562 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Waverly you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 562 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 South Waverly-wide figureread your own land →
More in Pennsylvania
Wider growing context
What grows across PennsylvaniaSouth Waverly sits outside our named growing regions, so Pennsylvania as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides