Virgin, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Virgin, 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 Virgin 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 Virgin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Virgin — the short answer
Virgin, Utah: USDA zone 8a, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~272
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 8K 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 8a is Virgin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Virgin's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Virgin
Each reading below is measured for Virgin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredVirgin runs about 272 days between hard freezes — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredVirgin sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Virgin is in
Virgin sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Virgin's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Washington County is mostly Mojave Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Virgin
Every plant below cleared Virgin's own zone 8a and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Virgin?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Virgin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Virgin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROCKWELL COLLINSBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- AdahMining · 1.4 mi
- HURRICANE MESA TEST SITESuperfund · 3.1 mi
- LA VERKIN CITY WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 3.3 mi
- (C-41-13)25cab- 2Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- CITY OF LA VERKINUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- HARDY PROPERTY (NEIL'S SERVICE)Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- SUNRISE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- SILVER SPRING RV PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- MAVERIK #435Underground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- DAVIS FOOD & DRUG FARMERS MARKET #4Underground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- L V SWIS INCBrownfields · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Virgin'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 Virgin.
Total Sites
114
within ~10 miles of Virgin
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Virgin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Virgin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Virgin, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Virgin — Mining (39 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Virgin
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 Virgin average
Your land is one point inside Virgin
Everything above resolves to Virgin as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 8K 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 Virgin Average
Virgin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Virgin
- ●One soil character for all of Virgin
- ●Frost dates read at Virgin's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Virgin's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Virgin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Virgin, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Virgin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Virgin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Virgin average
How we know this about Virgin
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 Virgin’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 Virgin
When does frost risk typically end in Virgin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Virgin typically lands around Feb 22, 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 Mar 15.
When is the first frost in Virgin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Virgin typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 272 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Virgin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Virgin sees about 272 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 7, about 237 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Virgin?
The federal record around Virgin is a meaningful one — 114 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (39), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Virgin?
From about Oct 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 Nov 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Virgin's scale — its 8a band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Virgin'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 Virgin’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Virgin's own scale — its own ~272-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,557 acres it covers and 114 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Virgin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Virgin's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 22 and Nov 21 and the ~272-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 114 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Virgin, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Virgin's boundary and the 7,557 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Virgin sits in the Colorado Plateaus — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Virgin's 7,557 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 Utah grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Utah
- 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 Virgin's 7,557 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Virgin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,557 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Virgin-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahVirgin sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides