Southview, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Southview, 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 Southview 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 Southview — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Southview — the short answer
Southview, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 210 days between hard freezes, across 580 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~210
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 580 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 Southview's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Southview's 210-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Southview
Each reading below is measured for Southview itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouthview runs about 210 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
MeasuredSouthview 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 Southview is in
Southview sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Southview's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Southview
Every plant below cleared Southview's own zone 6b and its 210-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Southview?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Southview
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Southview, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Southview
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Southview. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KWIK FILL S0074 234Brownfields · 1700 ft
- WEAVERTOWN TRANSPORT LEASING INCBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- INTERSECTION ROUTE 980 & ROUTE 50Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- DAVID BRYCE RESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- COWDEN STATIONBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- FT CHERRY GCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- FT CHERRY JR SR HIGH SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- TURF SHOPBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- 8620 NOBLESTOWN TRUSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- EDMONDS TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- EDMONDS TRUCKINGBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- ROBINSON TWP WASHINGTON CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Southview'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 Southview.
Total Sites
829
within ~10 miles of Southview
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Southview
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Southview
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Southview, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 55 sites within ~10 miles of Southview. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Southview
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 Southview average
Your land is one point inside Southview
Everything above resolves to Southview as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 580 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 Southview Average
Southview Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Southview
- ●One soil character for all of Southview
- ●Frost dates read at Southview's scale: Apr 6 to Nov 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Southview's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Southview
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Southview, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Southview averages can't show:
We read public map data around Southview — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Southview average
How we know this about Southview
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 Southview’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 Southview
When does frost risk typically end in Southview?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Southview typically lands around Apr 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Southview?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Southview typically arrives around Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 19, so the watching starts about Oct 3 — about 210 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Southview?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Southview sees about 210 frost-free days — roughly Apr 6 through Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 27 to Oct 19, about 175 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Southview?
The federal record around Southview is a meaningful one — 829 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (391), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Southview?
From about Oct 3 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Southview's scale — its 6b band and its 210-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Southview'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 Southview’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Southview's own scale — its own ~210-day season between 28°F freezes, the 580 acres it covers and 829 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Southview's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Southview's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 6 and Nov 2 and the ~210-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 829 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Southview, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Southview's boundary and the 580 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~210-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Southview's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Southviewlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Southview's 580 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Southview's 580 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Southview you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 580 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Southview-wide figureread your own land →
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