Youngwood, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Youngwood, 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 Youngwood 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 Youngwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Youngwood — the short answer
Youngwood, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- 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
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Youngwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Youngwood's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Youngwood
Each reading below is measured for Youngwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredYoungwood runs about 191 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
MeasuredYoungwood 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 Youngwood is in
Youngwood sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Youngwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Westmoreland County.
What Grows in Youngwood
Every plant below cleared Youngwood's own zone 6b and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Youngwood?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (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 Youngwood
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Youngwood, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Youngwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Youngwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHEETZ 72Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GEORGE BANDO SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- KOMAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- YOUNGWOOD DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 1600 ft
- MAGILLS SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- VITRIFUNCTIONSBrownfields · 2300 ft
- ADVANCE AUTO PARTS #1304Brownfields · 2300 ft
- BANDOS GEORGE SERVICEBrownfields · 2400 ft
- YOUNGWOOD MRCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- PENNZOILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- YOUNGWOOD MATERIAL MGMTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NOCO DISTRIBUTINGToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Youngwood'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 Youngwood.
Total Sites
887
within ~10 miles of Youngwood
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Youngwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Youngwood
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Youngwood
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 Youngwood average
Your land is one point inside Youngwood
Everything above resolves to Youngwood as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Youngwood Average
Youngwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Youngwood
- ●One soil character for all of Youngwood
- ●Frost dates read at Youngwood's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Youngwood's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Youngwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Youngwood, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Youngwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Youngwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Youngwood average
How we know this about Youngwood
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 Youngwood’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 Youngwood
When does frost risk typically end in Youngwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Youngwood typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Youngwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Youngwood 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 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Youngwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Youngwood sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 12, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Youngwood?
The federal record around Youngwood is a meaningful one — 887 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (436), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Youngwood?
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 Youngwood's scale — its 6b band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Youngwood'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 Youngwood’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Youngwood's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,228 acres it covers and 887 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Youngwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Youngwood's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 26 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 887 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Youngwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Youngwood's boundary and the 1,228 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Youngwood's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Youngwoodlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Youngwood's 1,228 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Westmoreland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Westmoreland 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 Westmoreland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Youngwood's 1,228 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Youngwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,228 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Youngwood-wide figureread your own land →
More in Pennsylvania
Growing region
Nearby growing guides