Norton, West Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Norton, 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 Norton 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 Norton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Norton — the short answer
Norton, West Virginia: USDA zone 6a, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 371 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 371 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 6a is Norton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Norton's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Norton
Each reading below is measured for Norton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorton runs about 181 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
MeasuredNorton sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Norton is in
Norton sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Norton's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Randolph County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Norton
Every plant below cleared Norton's own zone 6a and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's West Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Norton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Norton
Spotted lanternfly documented 30 miles from Norton, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Norton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Norton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- R W YEAGER TRUCKING CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ALLEGHENY WOOD PRODUCTS INC MILL 3Toxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- Ran-0157Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- Ran-0156Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- PAR MAR STORE #140 - MOUNTAINEER MARTBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- MOUNTAINEER MART #17Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ROSS TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CHARLES J GIRARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DON'S PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- COALTON SUB STA 08422Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- ALAMOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- NELLIE A ZIRKLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Norton'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 Norton.
Total Sites
244
within ~10 miles of Norton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Norton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Norton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Norton, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Norton. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Norton
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 Norton average
Your land is one point inside Norton
Everything above resolves to Norton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 371 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 Norton Average
Norton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Norton
- ●One soil character for all of Norton
- ●Frost dates read at Norton's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Norton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Norton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Norton, West Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Norton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Norton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Norton average
How we know this about Norton
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 Norton’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 Norton
When does frost risk typically end in Norton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Norton typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Norton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Norton typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Norton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Norton sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 7, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Norton?
The federal record around Norton is a meaningful one — 244 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (147), 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 Norton?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Norton's scale — its 6a band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Norton'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 Norton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Norton's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 371 acres it covers and 244 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Norton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Norton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 21 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 244 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Norton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Norton's boundary and the 371 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Norton sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Nortonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Norton's 371 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Randolph County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Randolph 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 Randolph County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Norton's 371 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Norton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 371 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 Norton-wide figureread your own land →