The Poconos spans USDA hardiness zones 6a-6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania — Carbon, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne counties — span USDA hardiness zones 6a to 6b with frost-free growing seasons of roughly 167 to 198 days. A short list that earns its place here — tomato, apple, mountain laurel, and grape — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
The Poconos spans Pennsylvania.
Your yard isn't all of the Poconos.
The Poconos spans USDA zones 6a-6b, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 The Poconos — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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The Poconos — the short answer
The Poconos: USDA zones 6a-6b, 167–198 frost-free days depending where in it you stand, in Pennsylvania.
- USDA zones
- 6a-6b
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Shortest season here
- 167 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020 — Pike County
- Counties
- 4
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- County cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. The season figure is this region's own record, measured across its 4 member counties, not a state or national average.
Hardiness Zone Range
The Poconos is not one growing season
One answer for the Poconos averages 4 counties whose growing seasons are 31 days apart — from 167 frost-free days in Pike County to 198 in Carbon County. That is the same region, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your land sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 4 counties runs 175–195 days, with a median of 186 days — a 31-day span end to end.
Measured across 4 member counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. A member with no own record is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the region. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where the line runs inside the Poconos
The middle half of the Poconos runs 175–195 frost-free days, and 2 of its 4 counties sit outside that — 1 on the short side, 1 on the long. A regional planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 175 frost-free days
1 county
- Pike County · 167 days
The end of the region that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
175–195 frost-free days
2 counties
0 of 2 shown
The middle half of the region, and the part a single regional season describes well.
Over 195 frost-free days
1 county
- Carbon County · 198 days
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its OWN 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a site within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
What Grows in the Poconos
All 1 of the plants below that publish a season requirement clear even Pike County’s 167 frost-free days — so on season alone, this grid works at both ends of the region. The 31-day spread still decides how far past this list you can push, and how early you can start.
Plants matched to the Poconos' USDA zones 6a-6b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the Poconos
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in this region’s state, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the Poconos’s USDA zones 6a-6b — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground across the Poconos
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across four member counties — this region’s own profile, not a state figure.
The ground is predominantly Inceptisols, at 84% of mapped acres, followed by Ultisols (9%), Entisols (3%) and Histosols (2%). Six soil orders appear somewhere inside the footprint, which is the honest reason a regional soil answer only goes so far. The most extensive named soils are Wellsboro, Oquaga, and Wurtsboro.
42% of those acres are well drained, and another 27% moderately well drained, 12% somewhat poorly drained. Topsoil pH runs 4.6–5.5 between the lowest and the highest county on record. 9% of the footprint is classed prime farmland.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Topsoil pH
4.6–5.5
Hydric soils
9%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. Pike County holds the most wetland ground here, at 11% — soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the Poconos
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are those records summed across the Poconos. Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records42% of the mapped acres across the Poconos are well drained — ground that drains quickly. That is area-weighted across all four of its mapped counties.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
From county recordsTopsoil across the Poconos runs pH 4.6–5.5 — acidic in all four of them.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the Poconos — and how to grow with it.
Across the Poconos' 4 counties the federal record holds 1,958 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks (905), Nitrate (668) and Brownfields (305). The heaviest single county is Monroe County, with 618.
That is a regional count, not a reading of any one lot — proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis. Open the map outlined to the Poconos to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the 4 counties in the Poconos
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the Poconos, two things run higher than the national average across the 4 counties in the Poconos — Nitrate (668 sites) and PFAS (20 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Your land is one point inside the Poconos
Everything above resolves to the Poconos as a whole — a footprint whose own counties record seasons 31 days apart, and hardiness across zones 6a-6b. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the Poconos Average
Poconos Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a-6b, averaged across Poconos
- ●One soil character for all of Poconos
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Poconos' 6a-6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the Poconos
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the Poconos — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Poconos averages can't show:
We read public map data around The Poconos — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Poconos average
How we know this about the Poconos
The boundary: a cluster of neighboring counties. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the counties inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the Poconos
What hardiness zone is the Poconos?
The Poconos spans USDA hardiness zones 6a-6b, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's counties. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the Poconos?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the Poconos' counties mostly run 175 to 195 frost-free days, median 186 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 4 member counties). That 20-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 4 counties, and each county guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the Poconos?
Across the Poconos, the middle half of member counties see their last 28°F hard freeze between Apr 15 and Apr 26 (median Apr 20), and their first fall freeze between Oct 18 and Oct 27. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about May 11, and elevation decides which end of a 11-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the Poconos?
The Poconos' conditions suit plants such as Tomato, Apple, Mountain Laurel, Grape, Mushroom. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the Poconos defined?
The Poconos is defined here as a curated cluster of 4 neighboring counties that share a growing character. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one — every county in it is named on this page.
Which states does the Poconos cover?
The Poconos spans Pennsylvania. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
Appalachia, Northern Tier (north-central Pennsylvania high plateau), Cumberland Valley, Brandywine Valley, Greater Philadelphia, and Greater Pittsburgh / Three Rivers share at least one state with the Poconos. Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the Poconos’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the Poconos' own scale — the zone 6a-6b band across its footprint, a median 186-day season across its 4 counties and 1,958 documented federal contamination records across its 4 counties, 618 of them in Monroe County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 6a-6b aggregated across all 4 counties in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 4 counties this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 4 counties run 175 to 195 frost-free days, median 186NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 1,958 documented federal contamination records across its 4 counties, 618 of them in Monroe County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 84% Inceptisols, topsoil pH 4.6–5.5, area-weighted across its 4 mapped countiesUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — its state's curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 6a-6bfrom Pennsylvania
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 20-day range your ground sits at — 175 days at one extreme, 195 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the Poconos
State growing guides
Counties in this region
Other growing regions across Pennsylvania
The vast eastern mountain region of steep hollows, thin acidic soils, and short upland seasons — apples, brambles, ramps, and forest crops on hard-won ground. (Union of the core Appalachian ecoregions.)
Pennsylvania's coldest, shortest-season ground: the glaciated high plateau of the North Central Appalachians (EPA Level III ecoregion 62), where Potter, Tioga, McKean, and Cameron counties all sit in USDA zone 5b with only 160-166 frost-free days — Potter's 160 is the state minimum, roughly five weeks shorter than Pennsylvania's median season. This is the "PA Wilds" / "God's Country" cold pocket: cold-air-pooling ridges and hollows, thin acidic plateau soils, and a last frost that holds into the first week of May. The generic multi-state Appalachia region spans a far milder 5b-8b across a 211-day median season and never resolves this plateau's short, cold window.
The Cumberland Valley is the Great Valley's northern anchor — the same limestone floor that runs south into the Shenandoah, but colder-wintered and shorter-seasoned, and split by the Mason-Dixon line across Cumberland and Franklin counties in Pennsylvania and Washington County in Maryland. Scoped to just those three, the picture tightens to a uniform USDA zone 7a and a 215-to-219-day frost-free season — last frost in early April, first in early November — steadier than the wide 5b-8b range the broader Appalachian page has to average across. The valley reads in two halves: a flat limestone floor where cold air pools on clear spring nights, long given over to dairy pasture, hay, and grain, and the elevated Blue Ridge benches of South Mountain along the eastern edge, where good cold-air drainage has kept apple and peach orchards in business for generations. Those same well-drained slopes carry the federally recognized Cumberland Valley AVA's wine grapes.
The Brandywine Valley traces the Brandywine Creek watershed (USGS hydrologic unit 02040205) from Chester County, Pennsylvania into New Castle County, Delaware, spanning USDA zones 7a to 7b and a frost-free season of roughly 213 to 241 days.
Pennsylvania's only USDA zone 7b ground — the warmest, longest-season corner of the state. Philadelphia County runs about 250 frost-free days and Delaware County about 239, against a statewide county median of 197, so the tidal Delaware–Schuylkill corridor and the city's urban heat island buy growers here a full zone and roughly a month of extra season over the 7a suburbs just north. Last frost typically clears by mid-to-late March and first frost holds off until late November.
Where three rivers meet and the city's heat pools, Pittsburgh gardens run a season the 6b label understates. Allegheny County averages 229 frost-free days — roughly a month longer than the surrounding southwestern-PA counties (Washington 198, Westmoreland 201) and a world apart from the cold Laurel Highlands just to the east. This is the warm river-valley core: Allegheny plus the Ohio-valley suburbs of Beaver (218 frost-free days), where the Allegheny-Monongahela-Ohio confluence and the urban heat island stretch tomato-and-pepper weather well past what the zone map alone implies.