Virginia spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-8b, with a growing season of about 224 frost-free days — time enough for slow-finishing crops, second sowings, and a genuine fall garden.
Taken together, 36-50 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 3,662 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 2,477 winter chill hours for tree fruit draw the line between what thrives here and what merely survives. The dominant soils run to red clay (Piedmont), silt loam, sandy loam (Tidewater), and mountain loam, and their drainage is one of the strongest predictors of which crops take hold and which falter. Virginia splits into distinct growing country: Appalachia, Piedmont, and Tidewater & Chesapeake, each keeping its own frost calendar. Expect tomato, grape, peanut, and dogwood to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•Chill hours (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Virginia spans zones 5b-8b, but your yard 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 Virginia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Distinct growing regions within Virginia — each has its own zones, soils, and signature crops.
Virginia: USDA zones 5b-8b, 176–289 frost-free days depending on the county, 133 counties.
The middle half of this state’s counties. Tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks past the last hard freeze. The shortest-season figure is Virginia's own county record — Highland County's measured 28°F normal, not a modeled floor.
Virginia does not have one growing season. Across the 681 of its 685 towns that carry their own 30-year record, the shortest measured season is Monterey's at 176 days and the longest is Norfolk's at 287 — an 111-day spread inside one state.
Neither end is a lone reading — another 2 towns measure within 10 days of Monterey and 2 sit within 10 days of Norfolk. These are real pockets, so the number to plant against is your own town's, not the state average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record
Zone 5b-8b is Virginia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Virginia's 224-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One answer for Virginia averages 133 counties whose growing seasons are 113 days apart — from 176 frost-free days in Highland County to 289 in Hampton city. That is the same state, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your county sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 133 counties runs 214–240 days, with a median of 224 days — a 113-day span end to end.
Measured across 133 counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. A county with no record of its own is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the state. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
The middle half of Virginia runs 214–240 frost-free days, and 64 of its 133 counties sit outside that — 32 on the short side, 32 on the long. A statewide planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 214 frost-free days
32 counties
3 of 32 shown
The end of the state that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
214–240 frost-free days
69 counties
0 of 69 shown
The middle half of the state, and the part a single statewide date describes well.
Over 240 frost-free days
32 counties
3 of 32 shown
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, county 28°F killing freeze), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a yard within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
The soil types that dominate Virginia — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it. Each photo is a representative profile of that soil type; the named series is where it was documented, which is often another state.
Drainage
Slow. Red clay seals under pounding rain and sheds water across the surface, then holds tight to what soaks in.
What thrives
Okra, southern peas, sweet potatoes, and muscadines are traditional red-clay performers, and many fruit trees root deep into it once through the first year. Azaleas and blueberries appreciate its typical acidity.
Drainage
Moderate. Silt holds water well and releases it steadily, though the fine particles can crust after hard rain and compact under traffic.
What thrives
The full vegetable garden does well here, and small grains, corn, and leafy greens are classic silt-loam crops. Its steady moisture suits shallow-rooted plants that dislike drought stress.
Drainage
Fast. The sand fraction opens the soil up, so water moves through the root zone quickly and the surface rarely stays soggy. The trade is that nutrients ride out with the water.
What thrives
Root crops love it — carrots, potatoes, radishes, and onions size up cleanly in ground they can push through. Melons, sweet potatoes, asparagus, and most herbs appreciate the warmth and the drainage.
Loam formed on mountain slopes and valleys — usually shallower than lowland soils, mixed with rock weathered from the peaks above, and highly variable from one bench to the next.
Drainage
Usually good to fast, because slopes shed water and the rock fraction keeps the profile open. South-facing ground dries markedly faster than north-facing.
What thrives
Cool-season vegetables, berries, and hardy perennials suited to the elevation. Short seasons matter more than the soil here — choose varieties bred for quick maturity.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to Virginia's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Across Virginia, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Mar 28, with the middle half of counties between Mar 22 and Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 2 and Nov 17 — 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.
The plants Virginia put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Cornus florida
Designated 1918. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Cornus florida
Designated 1956. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in Virginia — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Ordered by how closely each plant’s published hardiness range matches Virginia’s zones 5b-8b, so this is a shortlist by climate fit, not a ranking of which plants matter most here. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps Virginia’s USDA zones 5b-8b but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Heavy Piedmont red clay requires amendment
Red clay turns from obstacle to asset with compost and time — and a raised bed lets you harvest while it happens.
Humidity and heat in summer promote disease
Space for airflow, water mornings at the base, and plant resistant varieties — your extension's humid-summer playbook.
Deer pressure is heavy in suburban and rural areas
A proper fence settles it; outside the fence, genuinely deer-resistant plants are the next best defense.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to Virginia, the Virginia Cooperative Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across Virginia — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Virginia — 37,636 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 164 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Virginia carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across Virginia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Virginia, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 24,515 sites across Virginia. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Everything above resolves to Virginia as a whole — a state whose own counties record seasons 113 days apart, and hardiness across zones 5b-8b. 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 state 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 statewide average.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,086 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your lot that Virginia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Virginia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Virginia average
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read per county and aggregated to the state band; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each county’s own record; rainfall from NOAA Climate Normals; soils from USDA NRCS SSURGO; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above. Where a county carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Virginia spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-8b — which is to say winter's coldest night runs from about −15°F to 20°F depending where in Virginia you are, averaged over 1991–2020 (USDA PHZM 2023).
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Across Virginia, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Mar 28, with the middle half of counties between Mar 22 and Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 2 and Nov 17 — 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.
Across Virginia, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Mar 22 and Apr 2, with a county median near Mar 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). 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 18.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across Virginia's counties mostly run about 214 to 240 days, with a county median near 224 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender crops get a somewhat shorter practical window, since lighter frosts reach a few weeks past the hard-freeze dates on both ends.
Virginia's zones 5b-8b support a wide range — strong performers include Tomato, Grape, Peanut, Dogwood, and Apple. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, Virginia spans USDA zones 5b-8b (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,086 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Virginia runs heavier than most — 37,636 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (24,515) — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Start with three facts. Virginia spans USDA zones 5b-8b, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Mar 22 to Apr 2 across its counties (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and 37,636 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything above is measured at Virginia's scale — its 5b-8b band and its 224-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Virginia's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
6 of the readings below were taken at Virginia's own scale — the full zone 5b-8b span inside its borders, the 4 soil types that dominate its ground and 37,636 documented sites on its federal record; anything it cannot resolve at this scale is named below.
Measured here
What this page can’t tell you
Explore growing conditions by county — each has its own zone range and land area.
Explore growing conditions by city or town in Virginia.
Virginia shares its dominant growing region with these states — a useful comparison if you're weighing where a crop will behave the same way.
