Richwood, West Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Richwood, 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 Richwood 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 Richwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Richwood — the short answer
Richwood, West Virginia: USDA zone 6b, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 Richwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Richwood's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Richwood
Each reading below is measured for Richwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRichwood runs about 193 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
MeasuredRichwood 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 Richwood is in
Richwood sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Richwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Nicholas County.
What Grows in Richwood
Every plant below cleared Richwood's own zone 6b and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's West Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Richwood?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Richwood
Survey cells within 31 miles of Richwood checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 67 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Richwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Richwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HYPAR MACHINE COMPANY, RICHWOODSuperfund · 950 ft
- HYPAR MACHINE COMPANY, RICHWOODBrownfields · 950 ft
- RUBBER CRAFTERS INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 950 ft
- B F GOODRICHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CAMDEN ON GAULEY MEDICAL CENTER INC DBA CAMDEN FAMILY HEALTHBrownfields · 1400 ft
- DREXEL'S SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MOUNTAIN MART # 32Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GO-MART # 009Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LOUIE'S AUTO CENTERBrownfields · 1800 ft
- JOEY'S AUTO CAREBrownfields · 2000 ft
- RICHWOOD SCHOOL BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SIMONS-COLEMAN FUNERAL HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Richwood'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 Richwood.
Total Sites
165
within ~10 miles of Richwood
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Richwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Richwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Richwood, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 78 sites within ~10 miles of Richwood. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Richwood
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 Richwood average
Your land is one point inside Richwood
Everything above resolves to Richwood 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 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 Richwood Average
Richwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Richwood
- ●One soil character for all of Richwood
- ●Frost dates read at Richwood's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Richwood's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Richwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Richwood, West Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Richwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Richwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Richwood average
How we know this about Richwood
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 Richwood’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 Richwood
When does frost risk typically end in Richwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Richwood typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Richwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Richwood typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Richwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Richwood sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 13, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Richwood?
The federal record around Richwood is a meaningful one — 165 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (78), the nearest Superfund record about 0.2 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 Richwood?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Richwood's scale — its 6b band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Richwood'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 Richwood’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Richwood's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,030 acres it covers and 165 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Richwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Richwood's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 27 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 165 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Richwood, the closest Superfund record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Richwood's boundary and the 1,030 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Richwood's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Richwood checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Richwood's 1,030 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Nicholas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Nicholas 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 Nicholas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Richwood's 1,030 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Richwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,030 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 0.2 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 Richwood-wide figureread your own land →