Daphne, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Daphne, 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 Daphne 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 Daphne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Daphne — the short answer
Daphne, Alabama: USDA zone 9a, about 297 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~297
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 13K 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 Baldwin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Daphne's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Daphne's 297-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Daphne
Each reading below is measured for Daphne itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDaphne runs about 297 days between hard freezes (read from Baldwin County, the closest normal to Daphne) — 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
MeasuredDaphne sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Daphne is in
Daphne sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Daphne's own centroid rather than borrowed from Baldwin County.
What Grows in Daphne
Every plant below cleared Daphne's own zone 9a and its 297-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Daphne?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Daphne
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Daphne. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHORT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- RIVIERA UTILITIES DAPHNEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DAPHNE (UTILITIES BOARD OF THE CITY OF)PFAS · 1.3 mi
- KEMKOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- FRIESE HAULING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- FRIESE HAULING INCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- CALIBER COLLISION CENTERS - DAPHNE 2370Brownfields · 1.9 mi
- PEPCO MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SHELL MERRI MART #317Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- READY MIX USA, LLC - DAPHNE FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
- CHEVRON AT VETERANS POINTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- GASTON FORD LINCOLN AND MERCURYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Daphne'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 Daphne.
Total Sites
282
within ~10 miles of Daphne
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Daphne
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Daphne
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Daphne, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 6 sites within ~10 miles of Daphne. 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 Daphne
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 Daphne average
Your land is one point inside Daphne
Everything above resolves to Daphne as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 13K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Baldwin County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 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 Daphne Average
Daphne Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Daphne
- ●One soil character for all of Daphne
- ●Frost dates read at Daphne's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Daphne's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Daphne
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Daphne, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Daphne averages can't show:
We read public map data around Daphne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Daphne average
How we know this about Daphne
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 Baldwin 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 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 Daphne
When does frost risk typically end in Daphne?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Daphne typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Daphne?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Daphne typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 297 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Daphne?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Daphne sees about 297 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 22, about 262 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Daphne?
The federal record around Daphne is a meaningful one — 282 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (140), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Daphne?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Daphne's scale — its 9a band and its 297-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Daphne'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 Daphne’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Daphne's own scale — the 12,967 acres it covers and 282 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Daphne's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 282 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Daphne, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Daphne's boundary and the 12,967 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~297-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Daphne's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Daphne has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Baldwin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Daphne's 12,967 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Baldwin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Baldwin 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 Baldwin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Daphne's 12,967 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Daphne you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,967 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Daphne-wide figureread your own land →
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