Emporia city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Emporia city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Emporia 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 Emporia city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Emporia city — the short answer
Emporia city, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 243 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~243
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 4K 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 Emporia city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Emporia city's 243-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Emporia city
Across a year, Emporia city accumulates about 4,211 growing degree days above 50°F, about 477 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 101 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 1,893 hours below 45°F, 545 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 Emporia County
Across Emporia County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Craven, Altavista, and Mattaponi are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.6–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
59%
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Emporia city
The USDA soil survey maps 53% of Emporia city as moderately well drained — but another 28% drains differently: 25% well drained, 3% poorly drained.
Craven is the most extensive named soil at 19% of mapped acres, then Altavista (16%) and Mattaponi (13%).
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 Emporia city
Each reading below is measured for Emporia 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 Emporia city are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Emporia city runs about pH 4.6–5.3, 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
MeasuredEmporia city runs about 243 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
MeasuredEmporia 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 Emporia city is in
Emporia city sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Emporia city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Emporia city's own USDA zone 7b and its own 243-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 Emporia 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 Feb 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 17 — 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 Emporia city
Spotted lanternfly documented 6 miles from Emporia city, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Emporia County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Emporia County — 85 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (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 Emporia 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 Emporia city
Closest first, across Emporia County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SADLERS CAR WASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- EMPORIA COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SADLERS USED CARSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SADLER CHEVROLET OLDS CADILLACUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- VOGUE CLEANING CO INCBrownfields · 700 ft
- NORFOLK WESTERN COUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- EMPORIA FOUNDRY INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 800 ft
- EMPORIA FOUNDRY INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 800 ft
- CAPITAL CHRYS-PLYMOUTH-DODGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Joy Foods SupertestUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Emporia Foundry IncorporatedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BAKERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Emporia 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 Emporia city.
Total Sites
85
across Emporia County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Emporia County
Severity Distribution
across Emporia County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Emporia city, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 71 sites across Emporia 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 Emporia 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 Emporia city average
Your land is one point inside Emporia city
Everything above resolves to Emporia city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 4K 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 Emporia city Average
Emporia city Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Emporia city
- ●One soil character for all of Emporia city
- ●Frost dates read at Emporia city's scale: Mar 19 to Nov 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Emporia city's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Emporia city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Emporia city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Emporia city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Emporia city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Emporia city average
How we know this about Emporia 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 Emporia city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Emporia city
When does frost risk typically end in Emporia city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Emporia city typically lands around Mar 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 Apr 9.
How long is the growing season in Emporia city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Emporia city sees about 243 frost-free days — roughly Mar 19 through Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 9 to Nov 3, about 208 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Emporia city?
The federal record around Emporia city is a meaningful one — 85 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (71), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Emporia city's scale — its 7b band and its 243-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Emporia 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 Emporia city’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Emporia city's own scale — its own ~243-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 85 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Emporia city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Emporia city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~243-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Emporia cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 85 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Emporia city's boundary and the 4,242 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~243-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Emporia city sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS 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 Emporia city — the ~243 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 Emporia city's 4,242 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 85 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 Emporia cityread your own land →