Hopewell city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Hopewell city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Hopewell 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 Hopewell city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hopewell city — the short answer
Hopewell city, Virginia: USDA zone 8a, about 233 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~233
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 7K 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 Hopewell city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hopewell city's 233-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Hopewell city
Across a year, Hopewell city accumulates about 4,339 growing degree days above 50°F, about 605 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 117 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 1,908 hours below 45°F, 530 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 Hopewell County
Across Hopewell County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Emporia, Kinston, and Slagle are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.6–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B/D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
11%
Hydric soils
29%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Hopewell city
The USDA soil survey maps 23% of Hopewell city as well drained — but another 30% drains differently: 16% poorly drained, 13% moderately well drained.
Emporia is the most extensive named soil at 33% of mapped acres, then Kinston (26%) and Slagle (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 Hopewell city
Each reading below is measured for Hopewell 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 Hopewell city are well drained, in hydrologic group B/D — 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 Hopewell 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
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 29% of Hopewell city is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredHopewell city runs about 233 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
The kind of country Hopewell city is in
Hopewell 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 Hopewell city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Hopewell city's own USDA zone 8a and its own 233-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 Hopewell city?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Hopewell city
Spotted lanternfly documented 7 miles from Hopewell city, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Hopewell County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Hopewell County — 133 documented sites across 3 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 25 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Hopewell County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Hopewell city
Closest first, across Hopewell County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SONNY PEARSON TIRES INCBrownfields · 300 ft
- SONNY PEARSON TIRES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Parker Oil Company Inc HopewellUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- PARKER OIL COMPANY HOPEWELLToxics Release Inventory · 350 ft
- Sulaiman Panjwani - BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- SHERWIN-WILLIAMS #5797Brownfields · 700 ft
- TERMITE & PEST CONTROLUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- FIRESTONE COMPLETE AUTO CARE #002577Brownfields · 700 ft
- DAMRONS GULF SERVICE / ENGINE SPECIALTIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- DAWSONS ELECTRICAL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 7 Eleven 20558Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- RITE AID #3705Brownfields · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hopewell 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 Hopewell city.
Total Sites
133
across Hopewell County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
25 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Hopewell County
Severity Distribution
across Hopewell County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hopewell city, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 25 sites across Hopewell County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Hopewell 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 Hopewell city average
Your land is one point inside Hopewell city
Everything above resolves to Hopewell city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 7K 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 Hopewell city Average
Hopewell city Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Hopewell city
- ●One soil character for all of Hopewell city
- ●Frost dates read at Hopewell city's scale: Mar 25 to Nov 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hopewell city's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Hopewell city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hopewell city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hopewell city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hopewell city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hopewell city average
How we know this about Hopewell 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 Hopewell city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Hopewell city
When does frost risk typically end in Hopewell city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hopewell city typically lands around Mar 25, 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 15.
How long is the growing season in Hopewell city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hopewell city sees about 233 frost-free days — roughly Mar 25 through Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 15 to Oct 30, about 198 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hopewell city?
The federal record around Hopewell city shows 133 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (75), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
Everything above is measured at Hopewell city's scale — its 8a band and its 233-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hopewell 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 Hopewell city’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hopewell city's own scale — its own ~233-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 133 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hopewell city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hopewell city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~233-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Hopewell cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 133 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
- Hopewell city's boundary and the 6,627 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~233-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hopewell 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 Hopewell city — the ~233 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 Hopewell city's 6,627 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 133 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 Hopewell cityread your own land →