Winchester city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Winchester 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
Winchester city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Winchester 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 Winchester city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Winchester city — the short answer
Winchester city, Virginia: USDA zone 7a, about 217 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~217
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 6K 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 7a is Winchester city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Winchester city's 217-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Winchester city
Across a year, Winchester city accumulates about 3,270 growing degree days above 50°F, about 464 fewer than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 29 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.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Winchester County
Across Winchester County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Frederick, Poplimento, and Oaklet are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.5–5.8, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
0%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Winchester city
The USDA soil survey maps 19% of Winchester city as well drained — but another 5% drains differently: 3% moderately well drained, 1% somewhat poorly drained.
Frederick is the most extensive named soil at 35% of mapped acres, then Poplimento (32%) and Oaklet (9%).
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 Winchester city
Each reading below is measured for Winchester 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 Winchester 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 Winchester city runs about pH 5.5–5.8, 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
MeasuredWinchester city runs about 217 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
MeasuredWinchester city sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Winchester city is in
Winchester 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 Winchester city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Winchester city's own USDA zone 7a and its own 217-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 Winchester 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 Mar 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Winchester city
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Winchester city, first recorded 2018. What to watch for.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Winchester County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Winchester County — 262 documented sites across 3 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
There's a meaningful federal record across Winchester 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 Winchester city
Closest first, across Winchester County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- QUARLES PETROLEUM, INC - CARD ISLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- VRI ASSOCIATESUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- WINCHESTER COCA-COLAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- HIGHWAY EXPRESS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Winchester Public Schools - John Handley HSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WINCHESTER MOTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- FORMER FAMILY AUTO CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CARQUEST AUTO PARTS WINCHESTERBrownfields · 1900 ft
- BIG A AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Former Schutte Ford DealershipUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- WINCHESTER AUTO INCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Crown VA-506Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Winchester 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 Winchester city.
Total Sites
262
across Winchester County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Winchester County
Severity Distribution
across Winchester County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Winchester city, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 183 sites across Winchester 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 Winchester 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 Winchester city average
Your land is one point inside Winchester city
Everything above resolves to Winchester city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 6K 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 Winchester city Average
Winchester city Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Winchester city
- ●One soil character for all of Winchester city
- ●Frost dates read at Winchester city's scale: Apr 2 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Winchester city's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Winchester city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Winchester city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Winchester city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Winchester city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Winchester city average
How we know this about Winchester 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 Winchester city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Winchester city
When does frost risk typically end in Winchester city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Winchester city typically lands around Apr 2, 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 23.
How long is the growing season in Winchester city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Winchester city sees about 217 frost-free days — roughly Apr 2 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 23 to Oct 22, about 182 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Winchester city?
The federal record around Winchester city is a meaningful one — 262 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (183), 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 Winchester city's scale — its 7a band and its 217-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Winchester 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 Winchester city’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Winchester city's own scale — its own ~217-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 262 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Winchester city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Winchester city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~217-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Winchester cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 262 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
- Winchester city's boundary and the 5,883 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~217-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Winchester city sitting wholly inside the Ridge and ValleyUS 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 Winchester city — the ~217 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 Winchester city's 5,883 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 262 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 Winchester cityread your own land →