Roanoke city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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.
Roanoke 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
Roanoke city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Roanoke 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 Roanoke city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Roanoke city — the short answer
Roanoke city, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 237 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 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~237
- 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 Roanoke city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Roanoke city's 237-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Roanoke city
Across a year, Roanoke city accumulates about 3,786 growing degree days above 50°F, about 52 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 69 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 2,247 hours below 45°F, 191 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 Roanoke County
Across Roanoke County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Weikert, Dekalb, and Frederick are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a channery silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
2%
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Roanoke city
The USDA soil survey maps 65% of Roanoke city as well drained — but another 28% drains differently: 27% somewhat excessively drained, 1% poorly drained.
Weikert is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Dekalb (14%) and Frederick (10%).
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 Roanoke city
Each reading below is measured for Roanoke 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 Roanoke city are well drained, in hydrologic group 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 Roanoke 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
MeasuredRoanoke city runs about 237 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
MeasuredRoanoke 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 Roanoke city is in
Roanoke 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 Roanoke city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Roanoke city's own USDA zone 7b and its own 237-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 Roanoke city?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 14 — 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 Roanoke city
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Roanoke city, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly44 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Roanoke County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Roanoke County — 797 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 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 Roanoke 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 Roanoke city
Closest first, across Roanoke County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FIRE STATION #5Underground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- PMI Lubricants / K-Sales IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- NOLAND COUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Kleen Uniform RentalUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- WEDDLE PLUMBING & HEATING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- SAFESIDE RANGE & TRAINING, LLCBrownfields · 450 ft
- RENT-ALLS OF ROANOKE, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MCILHANY EQUIPMENT CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MCILHANY EQUIPMENT COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- BRUGHS AUTO PAINT AND BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1500 ft
- CLARENCE E GILESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- F L Hatcher and Son IncorporatedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Roanoke 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 Roanoke city.
Total Sites
797
across Roanoke County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Roanoke County
Severity Distribution
across Roanoke County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Roanoke city, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 507 sites across Roanoke County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Roanoke 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 Roanoke city average
Your land is one point inside Roanoke city
Everything above resolves to Roanoke 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 Roanoke city Average
Roanoke city Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Roanoke city
- ●One soil character for all of Roanoke city
- ●Frost dates read at Roanoke city's scale: Mar 22 to Nov 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Roanoke city's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Roanoke city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Roanoke city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Roanoke city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Roanoke city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Roanoke city average
How we know this about Roanoke 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 Roanoke city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Roanoke city
When does frost risk typically end in Roanoke city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Roanoke 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 Roanoke city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Roanoke city sees about 237 frost-free days — roughly Mar 22 through Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 12 to Oct 31, about 202 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Roanoke city?
The federal record around Roanoke city is a meaningful one — 797 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (507), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Roanoke city's scale — its 7b band and its 237-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Roanoke 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 Roanoke city’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Roanoke city's own scale — its own ~237-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 797 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Roanoke city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Roanoke city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~237-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Roanoke cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 797 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Roanoke city's boundary and the 27,214 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~237-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Roanoke city sitting wholly inside the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Roanoke 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 Roanoke city — the ~237 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 Roanoke city's 27,214 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 797 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 Roanoke cityread your own land →