Waverly, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waverly, 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 Waverly 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 Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waverly — the short answer
Waverly, Virginia: USDA zone 7b, about 234 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 24
- 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
- ~234
- 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 Waverly's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waverly's 234-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waverly
Each reading below is measured for Waverly itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWaverly runs about 234 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
MeasuredWaverly 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 Waverly is in
Waverly sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waverly's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sussex County.
What Grows in Waverly
Every plant below cleared Waverly's own zone 7b and its 234-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waverly?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 24 (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. 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 Waverly
Spotted lanternfly documented 27 miles from Waverly, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Waverly
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waverly. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WAVERLY TOWN OF 191-007Nitrate · 200 ft
- 54E 1Nitrate · 250 ft
- Town of Waverly Public Works FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- VDF - WAVERLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- NORRIS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- WAVERLY RESCUE SQUADUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Cowling BrothersUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Presson and WarthonUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- SUSSEX FARM EQUIPMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- S.P. ROEDERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- PG/SUSSEX COMMUNICATIONS TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CAVALIER QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waverly'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 Waverly.
Total Sites
129
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waverly, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Waverly — CAFO (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (86 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Waverly
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 Waverly average
Your land is one point inside Waverly
Everything above resolves to Waverly 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 Waverly Average
Waverly Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Waverly
- ●One soil character for all of Waverly
- ●Frost dates read at Waverly's scale: Mar 24 to Nov 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waverly's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waverly
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waverly, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waverly averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waverly average
How we know this about Waverly
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 Waverly’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 Waverly
When does frost risk typically end in Waverly?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waverly typically lands around Mar 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Waverly?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waverly 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 234 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waverly?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waverly sees about 234 frost-free days — roughly Mar 24 through Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 14 to Oct 30, about 199 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waverly?
The federal record around Waverly shows 129 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (86), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Waverly?
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 Waverly's scale — its 7b band and its 234-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waverly'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 Waverly’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Waverly's own scale — its own ~234-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,974 acres it covers and 129 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waverly's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Waverly's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 24 and Nov 13 and the ~234-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 129 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waverly, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waverly's boundary and the 1,974 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~234-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waverly's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Waverlylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waverly's 1,974 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sussex County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sussex 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 Sussex County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waverly's 1,974 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waverly you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,974 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Waverly-wide figureread your own land →
More in Virginia
Wider growing context
What grows across VirginiaWaverly sits outside our named growing regions, so Virginia as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides