Cullman, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cullman, 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 Cullman 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 Cullman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cullman — the short answer
Cullman, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 236 days between hard freezes, across 15K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~236
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 15K 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 8a is Cullman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cullman's 236-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cullman
Each reading below is measured for Cullman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCullman runs about 236 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
MeasuredCullman sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Cullman is in
Cullman sits in the Southwestern Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cullman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cullman County.
What Grows in Cullman
Every plant below cleared Cullman's own zone 8a and its 236-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cullman?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Cullman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cullman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EAST SIDE SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BP OASISUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- RACEWAY #0912Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- CULLMAN BANANA SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- COOKS PEST CONTROLUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CULLMAN ONE HOUR CLEANERSBrownfields · 750 ft
- RATLIFF GROCERY COUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- CULLMAN MAIN - 11713Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CITY OF CULLMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- BRUSHY POND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- DILLARDS GROCERY @ DAMASCUS COMM.Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 278 ROCK INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cullman'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 Cullman.
Total Sites
355
within ~10 miles of Cullman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cullman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cullman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cullman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cullman — CAFO (30 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (28 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Cullman
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 Cullman average
Your land is one point inside Cullman
Everything above resolves to Cullman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 15K 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 Cullman Average
Cullman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Cullman
- ●One soil character for all of Cullman
- ●Frost dates read at Cullman's scale: Mar 21 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cullman's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cullman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cullman, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cullman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cullman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cullman average
How we know this about Cullman
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 Cullman’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 Cullman
When does frost risk typically end in Cullman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cullman typically lands around Mar 21, 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 Apr 11.
When is the first frost in Cullman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cullman typically arrives around Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 29, so the watching starts about Oct 13 — about 236 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cullman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cullman sees about 236 frost-free days — roughly Mar 21 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 11 to Oct 29, about 201 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cullman?
The federal record around Cullman is a meaningful one — 355 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (231), 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 Cullman?
From about Oct 13 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cullman's scale — its 8a band and its 236-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cullman'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 Cullman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cullman's own scale — its own ~236-day season between 28°F freezes, the 14,609 acres it covers and 355 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cullman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cullman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 21 and Nov 12 and the ~236-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 355 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cullman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cullman's boundary and the 14,609 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~236-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cullman's own centroid, the Southwestern AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cullman's 14,609 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cullman County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cullman 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 Cullman County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cullman's 14,609 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cullman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 14,609 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 Cullman-wide figureread your own land →
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