Edgewater, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Edgewater, 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 Edgewater 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 Edgewater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Edgewater — the short answer
Edgewater, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 742 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 2
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 742 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 Jefferson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Edgewater's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Edgewater's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Edgewater
Each reading below is measured for Edgewater itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEdgewater runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Jefferson County, the closest normal to Edgewater) — 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
MeasuredEdgewater 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 Edgewater is in
Edgewater sits in the Southwestern Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Edgewater's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Edgewater
Every plant below cleared Edgewater's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Edgewater?
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 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Edgewater
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Edgewater. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MULGA WATER WORKS AND GAS DEPARTMENTPFAS · 2500 ft
- BUILDING 40'S PARKING LOT INVERNESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JERRYS PITTSTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ECHOLS UNION 76Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ARCO/LYONDELL PETROCHEMICALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- BIRMINGHAM TERMINAL RAILWAY, LLC (WYLAM YARD)Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- QUICK SHACKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- MULGA CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CLYDE DRUMMONDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- VULCAN MATERIALS WYLAM PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- BESSEMER BIRMINGPORT - 11512Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- WYLAN CONV STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Edgewater'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 Edgewater.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Edgewater
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Edgewater
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Edgewater, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Edgewater — Superfund (33 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (117 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Edgewater
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 Edgewater average
Your land is one point inside Edgewater
Everything above resolves to Edgewater as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 742 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jefferson 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 Edgewater Average
Edgewater Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Edgewater
- ●One soil character for all of Edgewater
- ●Frost dates read at Edgewater's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Edgewater's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Edgewater
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Edgewater, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Edgewater averages can't show:
We read public map data around Edgewater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Edgewater average
How we know this about Edgewater
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 Jefferson 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 Edgewater
When does frost risk typically end in Edgewater?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Edgewater typically lands around Mar 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Edgewater?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Edgewater typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Edgewater?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Edgewater sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Mar 2 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 23 to Nov 13, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Edgewater?
The federal record around Edgewater is a meaningful one — 1,679 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,031), the nearest PFAS 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 Edgewater?
From about Oct 28 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 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 Nov 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Edgewater's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Edgewater'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 Edgewater’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Edgewater's own scale — the 742 acres it covers and 1,679 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Edgewater's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,679 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Edgewater, the closest PFAS record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Edgewater's boundary and the 742 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~270-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Edgewater's own centroid, the Southwestern AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Edgewater has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jefferson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Edgewater's 742 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Edgewater's 742 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Edgewater you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 742 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS 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 Edgewater-wide figureread your own land →
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