Aurora, West Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Aurora, 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 Aurora 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 Aurora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Aurora — the short answer
Aurora, West Virginia: USDA zone 6b, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 6b is Aurora's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Aurora's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Aurora
Each reading below is measured for Aurora itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAurora runs about 191 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAurora sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Aurora is in
Aurora sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Aurora's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Preston County is mostly Central Appalachians. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Aurora
Every plant below cleared Aurora's own zone 6b and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's West Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Aurora?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Aurora
Spotted lanternfly documented 12 miles from Aurora, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Aurora
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Aurora. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BILL REEVESUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- BISHOP CONVIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- STONEY HILL CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- AURORA SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- ORVILLE EVANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Pre-0166Nitrate · 1500 ft
- MARGARET CASEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DANNY ARNETTS FORMERLY GAY LOUGHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AURORA SUB STA 04392Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #17364Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- Pre-0165Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- DEERWOOD SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Aurora'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 Aurora.
Total Sites
130
within ~10 miles of Aurora
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Aurora
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Aurora
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Aurora, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 85 sites within ~10 miles of Aurora. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Aurora
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 Aurora average
Your land is one point inside Aurora
Everything above resolves to Aurora as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Aurora Average
Aurora Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Aurora
- ●One soil character for all of Aurora
- ●Frost dates read at Aurora's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Aurora's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Aurora
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Aurora, West Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Aurora averages can't show:
We read public map data around Aurora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Aurora average
How we know this about Aurora
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 Aurora’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 Aurora
When does frost risk typically end in Aurora?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Aurora typically lands around Apr 20, 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 May 11.
When is the first frost in Aurora?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Aurora typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Aurora?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Aurora sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 14, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Aurora?
The federal record around Aurora shows 130 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (85), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Aurora?
From about Sep 28 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 Oct 28 (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 Oct 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Aurora's scale — its 6b band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Aurora'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 Aurora’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Aurora's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,349 acres it covers and 130 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Aurora's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Aurora's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 28 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 130 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Aurora, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Aurora's boundary and the 1,349 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Aurora sits in the Ridge and Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Auroralydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Aurora's 1,349 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Preston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Preston County
- The growing challenges every West Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom West Virginia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Preston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Aurora's 1,349 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Aurora you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,349 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Aurora-wide figureread your own land →
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