Chilhowie, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chilhowie, 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 Chilhowie 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 Chilhowie — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chilhowie — the short answer
Chilhowie, Virginia: USDA zone 7a, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 7a is Chilhowie's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chilhowie's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chilhowie
Each reading below is measured for Chilhowie itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChilhowie runs about 195 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
MeasuredChilhowie sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Chilhowie is in
Chilhowie sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Chilhowie's own centroid rather than borrowed from Smyth County.
What Grows in Chilhowie
Every plant below cleared Chilhowie's own zone 7a and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chilhowie?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Chilhowie
Spotted lanternfly documented 29 miles from Chilhowie, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Chilhowie
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chilhowie. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Single Stop Convenience StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Chilhowie TownUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- BERRY HOME CENTERS INC - CHILHOWIEBrownfields · 800 ft
- Main Street Gas and GrillUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- SMYTHE FARM BUREAUUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MILLERS PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- ECHO SALES COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PECCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CHILHOWIE HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Chilhowie Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Roadrunner Market 162Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BERRY IRON AND METALBrownfields · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chilhowie'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 Chilhowie.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chilhowie
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chilhowie
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chilhowie, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Chilhowie — PFAS (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (149 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Chilhowie
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 Chilhowie average
Your land is one point inside Chilhowie
Everything above resolves to Chilhowie as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Chilhowie Average
Chilhowie Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Chilhowie
- ●One soil character for all of Chilhowie
- ●Frost dates read at Chilhowie's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chilhowie's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chilhowie
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chilhowie, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chilhowie averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chilhowie — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chilhowie average
How we know this about Chilhowie
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 Chilhowie’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 Chilhowie
When does frost risk typically end in Chilhowie?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chilhowie typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Chilhowie?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chilhowie typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chilhowie?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chilhowie sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 9, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chilhowie?
The federal record around Chilhowie is a meaningful one — 226 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (149), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Chilhowie?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chilhowie's scale — its 7a band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chilhowie'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 Chilhowie’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Chilhowie's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,622 acres it covers and 226 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chilhowie's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chilhowie's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 23 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 226 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chilhowie, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chilhowie's boundary and the 1,622 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chilhowie's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Chilhowielydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chilhowie's 1,622 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Smyth County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Smyth 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 Smyth County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chilhowie's 1,622 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chilhowie you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,622 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Chilhowie-wide figureread your own land →
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