Locust Grove, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Locust Grove, 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 Locust Grove 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 Locust Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Locust Grove — the short answer
Locust Grove, Virginia: USDA zone 7a, about 209 days between hard freezes, across 343 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~209
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 343 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 7a is Locust Grove's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Locust Grove's 209-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Locust Grove
Each reading below is measured for Locust Grove itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLocust Grove runs about 209 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
MeasuredLocust Grove 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 Locust Grove is in
Locust Grove sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Locust Grove's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shenandoah County.
What Grows in Locust Grove
Every plant below cleared Locust Grove's own zone 7a and its 209-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Locust Grove?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — 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 Locust Grove
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Locust Grove, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Locust Grove
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Locust Grove. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SMOOTS SALES & SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- RITENOURS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- SMITH PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Loves Travel Stops 305Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Pilot 4642Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- VDOT Toms Brook Area HeadquartersUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- R F DICK PAINTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- Umetco Minerals Corp Old Chemstone PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Brook StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- J and R MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- Handy Mart 10Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Locust Grove'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 Locust Grove.
Total Sites
152
within ~10 miles of Locust Grove
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Locust Grove
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Locust Grove
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Locust Grove, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 115 sites within ~10 miles of Locust Grove. 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 Locust Grove
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 Locust Grove average
Your land is one point inside Locust Grove
Everything above resolves to Locust Grove as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 343 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 Locust Grove Average
Locust Grove Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Locust Grove
- ●One soil character for all of Locust Grove
- ●Frost dates read at Locust Grove's scale: Apr 6 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Locust Grove's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Locust Grove
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Locust Grove, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Locust Grove averages can't show:
We read public map data around Locust Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Locust Grove average
How we know this about Locust Grove
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 Locust Grove’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 Locust Grove
When does frost risk typically end in Locust Grove?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Locust Grove typically lands around Apr 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Locust Grove?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Locust Grove typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 209 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Locust Grove?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Locust Grove sees about 209 frost-free days — roughly Apr 6 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 27 to Oct 18, about 174 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Locust Grove?
The federal record around Locust Grove is a meaningful one — 152 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (115), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Locust Grove?
From about Oct 2 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Locust Grove's scale — its 7a band and its 209-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Locust Grove'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 Locust Grove’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Locust Grove's own scale — its own ~209-day season between 28°F freezes, the 343 acres it covers and 152 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Locust Grove's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Locust Grove's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 6 and Nov 1 and the ~209-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 152 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Locust Grove, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Locust Grove's boundary and the 343 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~209-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Locust Grove's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Locust Grovelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Locust Grove's 343 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shenandoah County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shenandoah 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 Shenandoah County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Locust Grove's 343 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Locust Grove you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 343 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Locust Grove-wide figureread your own land →