Newington Forest, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Newington Forest, 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 Newington Forest 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 Newington Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Newington Forest — the short answer
Newington Forest, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 229 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~229
- 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 Newington Forest's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Newington Forest's 229-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Newington Forest
Each reading below is measured for Newington Forest itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNewington Forest runs about 229 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
MeasuredNewington Forest 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 Newington Forest is in
Newington Forest sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Newington Forest's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fairfax County.
What Grows in Newington Forest
Every plant below cleared Newington Forest's own zone 7b and its 229-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Newington Forest?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 11 — 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 Newington Forest
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Newington Forest, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Newington Forest
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Newington Forest. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Springfield HutUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 53T 59Nitrate · 2400 ft
- GTE - LORTON (#8768.081)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- POHICK FIRE STATION 35Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 7-Eleven Inc 40400Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- EXXON CO USA #25741Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- Exxon R/S 25741Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- MOBIL OIL CORPBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- Sunoco 0970 0329 01Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MOBIL OIL CORP SS# KJWBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- LONG AND FOSTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #2100Brownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Newington Forest'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 Newington Forest.
Total Sites
2,081
within ~10 miles of Newington Forest
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Newington Forest
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Newington Forest
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 Newington Forest
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 Newington Forest average
Your land is one point inside Newington Forest
Everything above resolves to Newington Forest 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 Newington Forest Average
Newington Forest Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Newington Forest
- ●One soil character for all of Newington Forest
- ●Frost dates read at Newington Forest's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Newington Forest's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Newington Forest
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Newington Forest, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Newington Forest averages can't show:
We read public map data around Newington Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Newington Forest average
How we know this about Newington Forest
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 Newington Forest’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 Newington Forest
When does frost risk typically end in Newington Forest?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Newington Forest typically lands around Mar 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Newington Forest?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Newington Forest typically arrives around Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 28, so the watching starts about Oct 12 — about 229 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Newington Forest?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Newington Forest sees about 229 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Oct 28, about 194 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Newington Forest?
The federal record around Newington Forest is a meaningful one — 2,081 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,126), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Newington Forest?
From about Oct 12 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Newington Forest's scale — its 7b band and its 229-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Newington Forest'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 Newington Forest’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Newington Forest's own scale — its own ~229-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,121 acres it covers and 2,081 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Newington Forest's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Newington Forest's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 27 and Nov 11 and the ~229-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2,081 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Newington Forest, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Newington Forest's boundary and the 2,121 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~229-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Newington Forest's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Newington Forestlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Newington Forest's 2,121 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 Newington Forest's 2,121 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Newington Forest you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,121 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 Newington Forest-wide figureread your own land →