Philippi, West Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Philippi, 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 Philippi 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 Philippi — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Philippi — the short answer
Philippi, West Virginia: USDA zone 6b, about 204 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~204
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 6b is Philippi's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Philippi's 204-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Philippi
Each reading below is measured for Philippi itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPhilippi runs about 204 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
MeasuredPhilippi 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 Philippi is in
Philippi sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Philippi's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Barbour County is mostly Central Appalachians. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Philippi
Every plant below cleared Philippi's own zone 6b and its 204-day season. Each card opens that plant's West Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Philippi?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Philippi
Spotted lanternfly documented 16 miles from Philippi, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Philippi
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Philippi. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF PHILIPPIUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BAUGHMAN TOWERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MOUNTAINEER MART #20Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- PANTRY STORE #13Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SHEETZ INC STORE #171RUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PHILIPPI ASHLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- EXXON S/S LOC #25292Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- K-L-T KORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PHILIP BARBOUR HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BARBOUR COUNTY HQ 07011Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TENNEY'S SUNOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Philippi'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 Philippi.
Total Sites
95
within ~10 miles of Philippi
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Philippi
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Philippi
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Philippi, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 59 sites within ~10 miles of Philippi. 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 Philippi
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 Philippi average
Your land is one point inside Philippi
Everything above resolves to Philippi 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 city 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 Philippi Average
Philippi Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Philippi
- ●One soil character for all of Philippi
- ●Frost dates read at Philippi's scale: Apr 11 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Philippi's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Philippi
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Philippi, West Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Philippi averages can't show:
We read public map data around Philippi — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Philippi average
How we know this about Philippi
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Philippi’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Philippi
When does frost risk typically end in Philippi?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Philippi typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Philippi?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Philippi typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 204 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Philippi?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Philippi sees about 204 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 18, about 169 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Philippi?
The federal record around Philippi is a meaningful one — 95 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (59), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Philippi?
From about Oct 2 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Philippi's scale — its 6b band and its 204-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Philippi'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 Philippi’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Philippi's own scale — its own ~204-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,809 acres it covers and 95 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Philippi's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Philippi's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Nov 1 and the ~204-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 95 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Philippi, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Philippi's boundary and the 1,809 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~204-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Philippi sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Philippilydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Philippi's 1,809 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Barbour County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Barbour 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 Barbour County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Philippi's 1,809 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Philippi you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,809 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Philippi-wide figureread your own land →
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