Basye, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Basye, 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 Basye 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 Basye — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Basye — the short answer
Basye, Virginia: USDA zone 6b, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 6K 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 Basye's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Basye's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Basye
Each reading below is measured for Basye itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBasye runs about 189 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
MeasuredBasye 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 Basye is in
Basye sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Basye's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shenandoah County.
What Grows in Basye
Every plant below cleared Basye's own zone 6b and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Basye?
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 Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Basye
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Basye, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Basye
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Basye. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SKY BRYCE AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BRYCE MOUNTAIN RESORT; INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BRYCE MOUNTAINUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Stop and Look AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Shenandoah County State Observation WellNitrate · 1.1 mi
- Community StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SKY BRYCE ASSOCIATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- BLUE RIDGE TRUSS & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- STONEY CREEK WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- S.V. WEAVER & SON, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CONICVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- SALLY ST JOHNUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Basye'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 Basye.
Total Sites
124
within ~10 miles of Basye
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Basye
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Basye
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Basye, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Basye — Mining (16 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (83 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Basye
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 Basye average
Your land is one point inside Basye
Everything above resolves to Basye as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 Basye Average
Basye Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Basye
- ●One soil character for all of Basye
- ●Frost dates read at Basye's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Basye's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Basye
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Basye, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Basye averages can't show:
We read public map data around Basye — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Basye average
How we know this about Basye
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 Basye’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 Basye
When does frost risk typically end in Basye?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Basye typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Basye?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Basye typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Basye?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Basye sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 11, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Basye?
The federal record around Basye is a meaningful one — 124 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (83), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Basye?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Basye's scale — its 6b band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Basye'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 Basye’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Basye's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,572 acres it covers and 124 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Basye's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Basye's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 25 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 124 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Basye, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Basye's boundary and the 5,572 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Basye's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Basyelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Basye's 5,572 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shenandoah County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shenandoah County
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Shenandoah County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Basye's 5,572 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Basye you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,572 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Basye-wide figureread your own land →