Beatrice, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Beatrice, 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 Beatrice 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 Beatrice — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Beatrice — the short answer
Beatrice, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 866 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 866 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Monroe County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Beatrice's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Beatrice's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Beatrice
Each reading below is measured for Beatrice itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBeatrice runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Monroe County, the closest normal to Beatrice) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBeatrice sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Beatrice is in
Beatrice sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Beatrice's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monroe County.
What Grows in Beatrice
Every plant below cleared Beatrice's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Beatrice?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Beatrice
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Beatrice. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BEATRICE KWICK MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- GILBERT'S COUNTRY MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Well J-5 TOWN OF BEATRICE Monroe County AlNitrate · 1300 ft
- SCOTCH PLYWOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- J F SHIELDS HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BEATRICE ELEM SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MAPR LLC DBA BEATRICE SERVICE STATIOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BEATRICE AUTO SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ECON #16Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- BEATRICE TIMBERYARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SCOTCH PLYWOOD COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 2.1 mi
- STALLWORTH TIMBER COSuperfund · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Beatrice'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 Beatrice.
Total Sites
21
within ~10 miles of Beatrice
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Beatrice
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Beatrice
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Beatrice
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 Beatrice average
Your land is one point inside Beatrice
Everything above resolves to Beatrice as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 866 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Monroe County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 Beatrice Average
Beatrice Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Beatrice
- ●One soil character for all of Beatrice
- ●Frost dates read at Beatrice's scale: Feb 20 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Beatrice's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Beatrice
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Beatrice, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Beatrice averages can't show:
We read public map data around Beatrice — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Beatrice average
How we know this about Beatrice
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 Monroe County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 Beatrice
When does frost risk typically end in Beatrice?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Beatrice typically lands around Feb 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 Mar 13.
When is the first frost in Beatrice?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Beatrice typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Beatrice?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Beatrice sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 17, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Beatrice?
The federal record around Beatrice is a meaningful one — 21 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Beatrice?
From about Nov 1 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 Dec 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 Dec 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Beatrice's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Beatrice'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 Beatrice’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Beatrice's own scale — the 866 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Beatrice's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Beatrice, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Beatrice's boundary and the 866 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Beatrice's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Beatrice has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Monroe County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Beatrice's 866 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monroe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monroe County
- The growing challenges every Alabama grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alabama
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Monroe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Beatrice's 866 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Beatrice you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 866 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Beatrice-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaBeatrice sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides