Pendleton County, in West Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Pendleton County lies within the Allegheny Highlands and Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Pendleton County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Pendleton County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Pendleton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Pendleton County — the short answer
Pendleton County, West Virginia: USDA zone 6b, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 445K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 445K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Pendleton County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pendleton County's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Pendleton County
Across a year, Pendleton County accumulates about 2,649 growing degree days above 50°F, about 361 fewer than the middle West Virginia county — ahead of 9 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Pendleton County
Across Pendleton County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Berks, Dekalb, and Blackthorn are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a channery silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.5, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
1%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Pendleton County
The USDA soil survey maps 90% of Pendleton County as well drained — but another 9% drains differently: 4% moderately well drained, 4% somewhat excessively drained.
Berks is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Dekalb (14%) and Blackthorn (9%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Pendleton County
Each reading below is measured for Pendleton County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Pendleton County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Pendleton County runs about pH 5.0–5.5, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredPendleton County runs about 187 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
MeasuredPendleton County 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 Pendleton County is in
Pendleton County sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Pendleton County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Pendleton County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 187-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's West Virginia profile.
Is it too late to plant in Pendleton County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Pendleton County
Spotted lanternfly documented 25 miles from Pendleton County, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle2 documented records
- monarch butterfly1,123 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Pendleton County
USGS estimates 10,964 lb of 2,4-d on Pendleton County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (10,039 lb) and Triclopyr (4,576 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Pendleton County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Pendleton County — 125 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Pendleton County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Pendleton County
Closest first, across Pendleton County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FRANKLIN OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- VR-04Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- PAR MAR #29Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- BASAGIC FUNERAL HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- HUFFMAN AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- SIMPSONS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- HEVENER EQUIPMENT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- FORMER HEAVENER FARM EQUIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- FRANKLIN IGAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- WVDOH - FRANKLINBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- NAVAL RADIO STATION SUGAR GROVE #1Superfund · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pendleton County'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 Pendleton County.
Total Sites
125
across Pendleton County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Pendleton County
Severity Distribution
across Pendleton County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pendleton County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites across Pendleton County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Pendleton County
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 Pendleton County average
Your land is one point inside Pendleton County
Everything above resolves to Pendleton County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 445K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Pendleton County Average
Pendleton County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Pendleton County
- ●One soil character for all of Pendleton County
- ●Frost dates read at Pendleton County's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pendleton County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Pendleton County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pendleton County, West Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pendleton County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pendleton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pendleton County average
How we know this about Pendleton County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Pendleton County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Pendleton County
When does frost risk typically end in Pendleton County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pendleton County typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
How long is the growing season in Pendleton County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pendleton County sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 9, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pendleton County?
The federal record around Pendleton County is a meaningful one — 125 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (72), 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.
Everything above is measured at Pendleton County's scale — its 6b band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pendleton County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads West Virginia's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Pendleton County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Pendleton County's own scale — its own ~187-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 125 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pendleton County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pendleton County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Pendleton CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 125 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Pendleton County's boundary and the 445,471 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Pendleton County sitting wholly inside the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Pendleton County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Pendleton County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every West Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom West Virginia
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Pendleton County — the ~187 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pendleton County's 445,471 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 125 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Pendleton Countyread your own land →