Meadows of Dan, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Meadows of Dan, 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 Meadows of Dan 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 Meadows of Dan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Meadows of Dan — the short answer
Meadows of Dan, Virginia: USDA zone 7a, about 215 days between hard freezes, across 765 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 3
- 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
- ~215
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 765 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 Meadows of Dan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Meadows of Dan's 215-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Meadows of Dan
Each reading below is measured for Meadows of Dan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMeadows of Dan runs about 215 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
MeasuredMeadows of Dan 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 Meadows of Dan is in
Meadows of Dan sits in the Blue Ridge — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Meadows of Dan's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Patrick County is mostly Piedmont. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Meadows of Dan
Every plant below cleared Meadows of Dan's own zone 7a and its 215-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Meadows of Dan?
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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 3 (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 Meadows of Dan
Spotted lanternfly documented 20 miles from Meadows of Dan, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Meadows of Dan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Meadows of Dan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Meadows Of Dan Elementary SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Meadows of Dan Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Poor Farmers MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Parkway ExxonUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 27B 1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- MEADOWS OF DAN FARM SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- PRIMLAND, LTDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- LEONARD HYLTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- BRADY ROBERT AUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- VDOT - Vesta Area HeadquartersUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Buffalo Mountain Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- Vesta SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Meadows of Dan'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 Meadows of Dan.
Total Sites
110
within ~10 miles of Meadows of Dan
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Meadows of Dan
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Meadows of Dan
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Meadows of Dan, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Meadows of Dan — Mining (19 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (68 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Meadows of Dan
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 Meadows of Dan average
Your land is one point inside Meadows of Dan
Everything above resolves to Meadows of Dan as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 765 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 Meadows of Dan Average
Meadows of Dan Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Meadows of Dan
- ●One soil character for all of Meadows of Dan
- ●Frost dates read at Meadows of Dan's scale: Apr 3 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Meadows of Dan's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Meadows of Dan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Meadows of Dan, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Meadows of Dan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Meadows of Dan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meadows of Dan average
How we know this about Meadows of Dan
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 Meadows of Dan’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 Meadows of Dan
When does frost risk typically end in Meadows of Dan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Meadows of Dan typically lands around Apr 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Meadows of Dan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Meadows of Dan 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 215 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Meadows of Dan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Meadows of Dan sees about 215 frost-free days — roughly Apr 3 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 24 to Oct 21, about 180 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Meadows of Dan?
The federal record around Meadows of Dan shows 110 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (68), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Meadows of Dan?
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 Meadows of Dan's scale — its 7a band and its 215-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Meadows of Dan'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 Meadows of Dan’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Meadows of Dan's own scale — its own ~215-day season between 28°F freezes, the 765 acres it covers and 110 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Meadows of Dan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Meadows of Dan's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 3 and Nov 4 and the ~215-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 110 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Meadows of Dan, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Meadows of Dan's boundary and the 765 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~215-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Meadows of Dan sits in the Blue Ridge — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Meadows of Danlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Meadows of Dan's 765 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Patrick County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Patrick 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 Patrick County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Meadows of Dan's 765 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Meadows of Dan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 765 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Meadows of Dan-wide figureread your own land →
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