Fieldale, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fieldale, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Fieldale lot. 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 Fieldale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fieldale — the short answer
Fieldale, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 217 days between hard freezes, across 992 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~217
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 992 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 Fieldale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fieldale's 217-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fieldale
Each reading below is measured for Fieldale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFieldale 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
MeasuredFieldale 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 Fieldale is in
Fieldale sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fieldale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Henry County.
What Grows in Fieldale
Every plant below cleared Fieldale's own zone 7b and its 217-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fieldale?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — 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 Fieldale
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Fieldale, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Fieldale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fieldale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FRANK HARRISUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 CO #40402Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- NORTON RAMSEY MOTOR LINES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Carver Elementary SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- VALLEY DRIVE SAVE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FIELDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- SPRINT/FIELDALE CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FIELDALE TOWEL MILLToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- Fieldcrest Cannon Fieldale Towel PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Peoples Save Station 10Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Former Tims Machine Shop IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AEP FIELDALE SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fieldale'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 Fieldale.
Total Sites
611
within ~10 miles of Fieldale
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fieldale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fieldale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fieldale, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fieldale — Toxics Release Inventory (48 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (457 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Fieldale
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 Fieldale average
Your land is one point inside Fieldale
Everything above resolves to Fieldale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 992 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 town 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 local average.
Your Lot vs the Fieldale Average
Fieldale Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Fieldale
- ●One soil character for all of Fieldale
- ●Frost dates read at Fieldale's scale: Apr 1 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fieldale's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fieldale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fieldale, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fieldale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fieldale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fieldale average
How we know this about Fieldale
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Fieldale’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Fieldale
When does frost risk typically end in Fieldale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fieldale typically lands around Apr 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Fieldale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fieldale typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 217 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fieldale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fieldale sees about 217 frost-free days — roughly Apr 1 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 22 to Oct 21, about 182 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fieldale?
The federal record around Fieldale is a meaningful one — 611 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (457), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Fieldale?
From about Oct 5 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fieldale's scale — its 7b band and its 217-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fieldale's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Fieldale’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Fieldale's own scale — its own ~217-day season between 28°F freezes, the 992 acres it covers and 611 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fieldale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fieldale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 1 and Nov 4 and the ~217-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 611 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fieldale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fieldale's boundary and the 992 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~217-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fieldale's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Fieldalelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fieldale's 992 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Henry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Henry County
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Henry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fieldale's 992 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fieldale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 992 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Fieldale-wide figureread your own land →
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