Alexandria city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Alexandria city lies within the Northern Virginia (DC Metro) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Alexandria city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Alexandria city, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Alexandria city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Alexandria city — the short answer
Alexandria city, Virginia: USDA zone 8a, about 258 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~258
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 10K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Alexandria city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alexandria city's 258-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Alexandria city
Across a year, Alexandria city accumulates about 4,087 growing degree days above 50°F, about 353 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 90 of Virginia’s 133 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 2,438 hours below 45°F, 0 more than the Virginia middle of 2,438. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Alexandria County
Across Alexandria County, the ground is predominantly Entisols, where Kingstowne, Grist Mill, and Sassafras are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.8, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
3%
Hydric soils
2%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Alexandria city
The USDA soil survey maps 39% of Alexandria city as well drained — but another 3% drains differently: 2% somewhat poorly drained, 1% moderately well drained.
Kingstowne is the most extensive named soil at 33% of mapped acres, then Grist Mill (31%) and Sassafras (11%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Alexandria city
Each reading below is measured for Alexandria city itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Alexandria city are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
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
MeasuredTopsoil across Alexandria city runs about pH 4.8, on the acidic side.
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
Season length
MeasuredAlexandria city runs about 258 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAlexandria city 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 Alexandria city is in
Alexandria city spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Southeastern Plains (90%) and Piedmont (10%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Alexandria city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Alexandria city's own USDA zone 8a and its own 258-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile.
Is it too late to plant in Alexandria city?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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.
Documented around Alexandria city
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from Alexandria city, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly41 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Alexandria County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Alexandria County — 449 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Alexandria County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Alexandria city
Closest first, across Alexandria County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- T C WILLIAMS HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- T. C. WILLIAMS HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2200 ft
- EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2500 ft
- EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Virginia Theological SeminaryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- KING DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 2600 ft
- DEFENSE INVESTIGATIVE SERVICEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- King Street ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- IVY HILL CEMETERY CO OF ALEXANDRIAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LEXUS OF ALEXANDRIABrownfields · 0.6 mi
- 7-Eleven Inc 40318Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Fairlington Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alexandria city'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 Alexandria city.
Total Sites
449
across Alexandria County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Alexandria County
Severity Distribution
across Alexandria County
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Alexandria city
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 Alexandria city average
Your land is one point inside Alexandria city
Everything above resolves to Alexandria city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 10K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Alexandria city Average
Alexandria city Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Alexandria city
- ●One soil character for all of Alexandria city
- ●Frost dates read at Alexandria city's scale: Mar 14 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alexandria city's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Alexandria city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alexandria city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alexandria city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alexandria city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alexandria city average
How we know this about Alexandria city
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Alexandria city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Alexandria city
When does frost risk typically end in Alexandria city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alexandria city typically lands around Mar 14, 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 Apr 4.
How long is the growing season in Alexandria city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alexandria city sees about 258 frost-free days — roughly Mar 14 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 4 to Nov 13, about 223 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alexandria city?
The federal record around Alexandria city is a meaningful one — 449 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (257), 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.
Everything above is measured at Alexandria city's scale — its 8a band and its 258-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alexandria city's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Virginia's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Alexandria city’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Alexandria city's own scale — its own ~258-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 449 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alexandria city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Alexandria city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~258-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Alexandria cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 449 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Alexandria city's boundary and the 9,559 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~258-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Alexandria city spans, Southeastern Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Alexandria city for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Alexandria city — the ~258 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alexandria city's 9,559 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 449 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Alexandria cityread your own land →