Petersburg 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.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Petersburg city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Petersburg 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 Petersburg city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Petersburg city — the short answer
Petersburg city, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 235 days between hard freezes, across 15K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~235
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 15K 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 Petersburg city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Petersburg city's 235-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Petersburg city
Across a year, Petersburg city accumulates about 4,301 growing degree days above 50°F, about 567 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 113 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 1,941 hours below 45°F, 497 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 Petersburg County
Across Petersburg County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Appling, Mattaponi, and Roanoke are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
63%
Hydric soils
14%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Petersburg city
The USDA soil survey maps 52% of Petersburg city as well drained — but another 47% drains differently: 33% moderately well drained, 14% poorly drained.
Appling is the most extensive named soil at 40% of mapped acres, then Mattaponi (23%) and Roanoke (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 Petersburg city
Each reading below is measured for Petersburg 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 Petersburg 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 Petersburg city runs about pH 5.0–5.3, 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
MeasuredPetersburg 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
MeasuredPetersburg 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 Petersburg city is in
Petersburg 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 Petersburg city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Petersburg 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 Petersburg 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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 23 (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. 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 Petersburg city
Spotted lanternfly documented 14 miles from Petersburg city, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly6 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Petersburg County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Petersburg County — 252 documented sites across 5 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 Petersburg 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 Petersburg city
Closest first, across Petersburg County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Parhams Service Center IncorporatedUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- WALNUT HILL CLEANERS RICARDI, LTD.Brownfields · 2400 ft
- F.W. BAIRD FORMER PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- 7-ELEVEN #11056Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- 7 Eleven 11056Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LAUNDERETTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- NATIONAL TIRE & BATTERY #7387Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- SEARS ROEBUCK & COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #1978Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- FIRESTONE STORE #0280Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- EXXON CO USA #255541Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- Mobile Express IIUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Petersburg 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 Petersburg city.
Total Sites
252
across Petersburg County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Petersburg County
Severity Distribution
across Petersburg County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Petersburg city, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 191 sites across Petersburg 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 Petersburg 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 Petersburg city average
Your land is one point inside Petersburg city
Everything above resolves to Petersburg city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 15K 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 Petersburg city Average
Petersburg city Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Petersburg city
- ●One soil character for all of Petersburg city
- ●Frost dates read at Petersburg city's scale: Mar 23 to Nov 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Petersburg city's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Petersburg city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Petersburg city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Petersburg city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Petersburg city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Petersburg city average
How we know this about Petersburg 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 Petersburg city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Petersburg city
When does frost risk typically end in Petersburg city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Petersburg city typically lands around Mar 23, 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 13.
How long is the growing season in Petersburg city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Petersburg city sees about 235 frost-free days — roughly Mar 23 through Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 13 to Oct 30, about 200 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Petersburg city?
The federal record around Petersburg city is a meaningful one — 252 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (191), 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 Petersburg city's scale — its 7b band and its 235-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Petersburg 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 Petersburg city’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Petersburg city's own scale — its own ~235-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 252 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Petersburg city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Petersburg 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 Petersburg cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 252 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
- Petersburg city's boundary and the 14,541 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~235-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Petersburg city sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Petersburg city for a 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 Petersburg 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 Petersburg city's 14,541 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 252 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 Petersburg cityread your own land →