Emerald Mountain, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Emerald Mountain, 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 Emerald Mountain 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 Emerald Mountain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Emerald Mountain — the short answer
Emerald Mountain, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 271 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Elmore County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Elmore County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~271
- Elmore County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 10K 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 Elmore County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Emerald Mountain's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Emerald Mountain's 271-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Emerald Mountain
Each reading below is measured for Emerald Mountain itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEmerald Mountain runs about 271 days between hard freezes (read from Elmore County, the closest normal to Emerald Mountain) — 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
MeasuredEmerald Mountain 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 Emerald Mountain is in
Emerald Mountain sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Emerald Mountain's own centroid rather than borrowed from Elmore County.
What Grows in Emerald Mountain
Every plant below cleared Emerald Mountain's own zone 8b and its 271-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Emerald Mountain?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Emerald Mountain
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Emerald Mountain. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MITCHELL CREEK GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- DAVIS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- EMERALD MOUNTAIN MARKET (MARATHON)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Well U 17 322510086080401 Elmore County AlNitrate · 2.2 mi
- Well I 1 322419086062601 Montgomery Cnty ALNitrate · 3.0 mi
- AL HOLMES TAXIDERMY STUDIO AND WILDLIFE MUSEUMBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- READY MIX USA LLCToxics Release Inventory · 3.5 mi
- KNOX KERSHAW INCBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- CHICO'S PAINT AND BODY INC.Brownfields · 3.6 mi
- SHUTTER SHOP THEBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- COOKS STATION QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- WARES FERRY LANDFILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Emerald Mountain'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 Emerald Mountain.
Total Sites
468
within ~10 miles of Emerald Mountain
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Emerald Mountain
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Emerald Mountain
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Emerald Mountain, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 124 sites within ~10 miles of Emerald Mountain. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Emerald Mountain
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 Emerald Mountain average
Your land is one point inside Emerald Mountain
Everything above resolves to Emerald Mountain as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Elmore 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 Emerald Mountain Average
Emerald Mountain Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Emerald Mountain
- ●One soil character for all of Emerald Mountain
- ●Frost dates read at Emerald Mountain's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Emerald Mountain's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Emerald Mountain
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Emerald Mountain, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Emerald Mountain averages can't show:
We read public map data around Emerald Mountain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Emerald Mountain average
How we know this about Emerald Mountain
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 Elmore 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 Emerald Mountain
When does frost risk typically end in Emerald Mountain?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Emerald Mountain typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Emerald Mountain?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Emerald Mountain typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 271 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Emerald Mountain?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Emerald Mountain sees about 271 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 12, about 236 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Emerald Mountain?
The federal record around Emerald Mountain is a meaningful one — 468 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (211), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.7 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 Emerald Mountain?
From about Oct 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 Nov 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Emerald Mountain's scale — its 8b band and its 271-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Emerald Mountain'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 Emerald Mountain’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Emerald Mountain's own scale — the 10,298 acres it covers and 468 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Emerald Mountain's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 468 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Emerald Mountain, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Emerald Mountain's boundary and the 10,298 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~271-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Emerald Mountain's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Emerald Mountain has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Elmore County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Emerald Mountain's 10,298 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Elmore County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Elmore 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 Elmore County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Emerald Mountain's 10,298 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Emerald Mountain you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,298 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.7 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 Emerald Mountain-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaEmerald Mountain sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides