Bristol city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Bristol city lies within Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Bristol city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Bristol 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 Bristol city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bristol city — the short answer
Bristol city, Virginia: USDA zone 7a, about 220 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~220
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 8K 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 7a is Bristol city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bristol city's 220-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Bristol city
Across a year, Bristol city accumulates about 3,526 growing degree days above 50°F, about 208 fewer than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 47 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.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Bristol County
Across Bristol County, the ground is predominantly Entisols, where Weikert, Frederick, and Westmoreland are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.8–6.0, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
4%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Bristol city
The USDA soil survey maps 78% of Bristol city as well drained — but another 4% drains differently: 4% moderately well drained.
Weikert is the most extensive named soil at 23% of mapped acres, then Frederick (21%) and Westmoreland (8%).
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 Bristol city
Each reading below is measured for Bristol 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 Bristol city are well drained, in hydrologic group B — 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 Bristol city runs about pH 4.8–6.0, 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
MeasuredBristol city runs about 220 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
MeasuredBristol city 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 Bristol city is in
Bristol city sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Bristol city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Bristol city's own USDA zone 7a and its own 220-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 Bristol city?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Bristol city
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Bristol city, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Bristol County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Bristol County — 188 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 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 Bristol 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 Bristol city
Closest first, across Bristol County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ball Metal Beverage Container CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- BALL METAL BEVERAGE CONTAINER CORPORATION - BRISTOLToxics Release Inventory · 1300 ft
- BALL METAL BEVERAGE CONTAINER CORPORATION - BRISTOLBrownfields · 1300 ft
- MARY S BEVINSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CHEROKEE FOOD STORE #3Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Fas Mart 445Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #7365Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- BVU (BRISTOL VIRGINIA UTILITIES)Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- C B & MARLENE LINKOUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Roadrunner Market 120Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Lee Highway CitgoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JOHNSON & PENDRY CONST CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bristol 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 Bristol city.
Total Sites
188
across Bristol County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Bristol County
Severity Distribution
across Bristol County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bristol city, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 137 sites across Bristol County. 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.
Check your specific parcel in Bristol 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 Bristol city average
Your land is one point inside Bristol city
Everything above resolves to Bristol city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county 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 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 Bristol city Average
Bristol city Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Bristol city
- ●One soil character for all of Bristol city
- ●Frost dates read at Bristol city's scale: Mar 29 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bristol city's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Bristol city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bristol city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bristol city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bristol city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bristol city average
How we know this about Bristol 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 Bristol city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Bristol city
When does frost risk typically end in Bristol city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bristol city typically lands around Mar 29, 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 19.
How long is the growing season in Bristol city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bristol city sees about 220 frost-free days — roughly Mar 29 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 19 to Oct 21, about 185 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bristol city?
The federal record around Bristol city is a meaningful one — 188 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (137), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Bristol city's scale — its 7a band and its 220-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bristol 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 Bristol city’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Bristol city's own scale — its own ~220-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 188 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bristol city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bristol city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~220-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Bristol cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 188 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Bristol city's boundary and the 8,239 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~220-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bristol city sitting wholly inside the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
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 Bristol city — the ~220 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 Bristol city's 8,239 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 188 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 Bristol cityread your own land →