Danville city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Danville city lies within the Piedmont — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Danville city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Danville 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 Danville city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Danville city — the short answer
Danville city, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 235 days between hard freezes, across 27K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~235
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 27K 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 7b is Danville city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Danville city's 235-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Danville city
Across a year, Danville city accumulates about 4,088 growing degree days above 50°F, about 354 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 91 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 2,011 hours below 45°F, 427 fewer 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 Danville County
Across Danville County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Clifford, Fairview, and Nathalie are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.5–7.0, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
4%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Danville city
The USDA soil survey maps 82% of Danville city as well drained — but another 1% drains differently: 1% somewhat poorly drained.
Clifford is the most extensive named soil at 46% of mapped acres, then Fairview (31%) and Nathalie (3%).
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 Danville city
Each reading below is measured for Danville 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 Danville 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 Danville city runs about pH 5.5–7.0, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredDanville city runs about 235 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
MeasuredDanville city sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Danville city is in
Danville city sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Danville city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Danville city's own USDA zone 7b and its own 235-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 Danville city?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — 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 Danville city
Survey cells within 31 miles of Danville city checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 31 miles off. What to watch for.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Danville County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Danville County — 416 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 Danville 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 Danville city
Closest first, across Danville County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DAN RIVER INC BIG SALE WHSEBrownfields · 250 ft
- LANGSTON JR HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Main and Holbrook ExxonUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- SOVAH Health DanvilleUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- DANVILLE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER LLC DBA SOVAH HEALTH DANVILLEBrownfields · 2300 ft
- CRAWFORD BENNIE NUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- FLETCHER SAMUEL JUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- AVERETT UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- DANVILLE-VORUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Ringgold MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MUNICIPAL BUILDING USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Danville 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 Danville city.
Total Sites
416
across Danville County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Danville County
Severity Distribution
across Danville County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Danville city, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 315 sites across Danville County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Danville 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 Danville city average
Your land is one point inside Danville city
Everything above resolves to Danville city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 27K 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 Danville city Average
Danville city Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Danville city
- ●One soil character for all of Danville city
- ●Frost dates read at Danville city's scale: Mar 22 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Danville city's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Danville city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Danville city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Danville city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Danville city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Danville city average
How we know this about Danville 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 Danville city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Danville city
When does frost risk typically end in Danville city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Danville city typically lands around Mar 22, 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 12.
How long is the growing season in Danville city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Danville city sees about 235 frost-free days — roughly Mar 22 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 12 to Oct 29, about 200 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Danville city?
The federal record around Danville city is a meaningful one — 416 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (315), the nearest Brownfields 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.
Everything above is measured at Danville city's scale — its 7b band and its 235-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Danville 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 Danville city’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Danville city's own scale — its own ~235-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 416 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Danville city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Danville city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~235-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Danville cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 416 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Danville city's boundary and the 27,394 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~235-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Danville city sitting wholly inside the PiedmontUS 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 Danville city — the ~235 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 Danville city's 27,394 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 416 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 Danville cityread your own land →