Franconia, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Franconia, 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 Franconia 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 Franconia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Franconia — the short answer
Franconia, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 237 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~237
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Franconia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Franconia's 237-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Franconia
Each reading below is measured for Franconia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFranconia 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
MeasuredFranconia 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 Franconia is in
Franconia sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Franconia's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Fairfax County is mostly Piedmont. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Franconia
Every plant below cleared Franconia's own zone 7b and its 237-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Franconia?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 21 (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 Franconia
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Franconia, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Franconia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Franconia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HOMES FOR LIVING-REALTY PROGRAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- TROLL CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- BELTWAY MOVERS Fleet Distribution CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CRAFTSMAN AUTO CARE - ALEXANDRIABrownfields · 1300 ft
- AMAZON FRESH - MAG6Brownfields · 1600 ft
- E G & G EMISSIONS TESTING SERVICEBrownfields · 1700 ft
- EG&G EMISSIONS TESTING SERVICES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- DESIGNCRAFT PRODUCTIONS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WALGREENS STORE #17217Brownfields · 1900 ft
- SCOTT PAYNE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- FESTIVAL CLEANERS - ALEXANDRIABrownfields · 1900 ft
- Premium Distributors of Virginia IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Franconia'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 Franconia.
Total Sites
2,803
within ~10 miles of Franconia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
18 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Franconia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Franconia
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Franconia
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 Franconia average
Your land is one point inside Franconia
Everything above resolves to Franconia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Franconia Average
Franconia Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Franconia
- ●One soil character for all of Franconia
- ●Frost dates read at Franconia's scale: Mar 21 to Nov 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Franconia's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Franconia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Franconia, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Franconia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Franconia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Franconia average
How we know this about Franconia
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 Franconia’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 Franconia
When does frost risk typically end in Franconia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Franconia typically lands around Mar 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Franconia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Franconia typically arrives around Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 30, so the watching starts about Oct 14 — about 237 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Franconia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Franconia sees about 237 frost-free days — roughly Mar 21 through Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 11 to Oct 30, about 202 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Franconia?
The federal record around Franconia is a meaningful one — 2,803 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,529), 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 Franconia?
From about Oct 14 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Franconia's scale — its 7b band and its 237-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Franconia'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 Franconia’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Franconia's own scale — its own ~237-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,227 acres it covers and 2,803 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Franconia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Franconia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 21 and Nov 13 and the ~237-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2,803 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Franconia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Franconia's boundary and the 2,227 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~237-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Franconia sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Franconialydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Franconia's 2,227 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fairfax County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fairfax 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 Fairfax County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Franconia's 2,227 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Franconia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,227 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 Franconia-wide figureread your own land →