Ethelsville, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ethelsville, 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 Ethelsville 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 Ethelsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ethelsville — the short answer
Ethelsville, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 363 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 2
- Pickens County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Pickens County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Pickens County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 363 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 Pickens County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Ethelsville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ethelsville's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ethelsville
Each reading below is measured for Ethelsville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEthelsville runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Pickens County, the closest normal to Ethelsville) — 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
MeasuredEthelsville 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 Ethelsville is in
Ethelsville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ethelsville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pickens County.
What Grows in Ethelsville
Every plant below cleared Ethelsville's own zone 8a and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ethelsville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 21 — 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 Ethelsville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ethelsville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J&J QUIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- W E HUDSON (HUDCO 2)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SMITH BROS GROCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SMITH'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Well NAWQA FLH 10 Pickens County AlNitrate · 3.0 mi
- WRIGHT FARMSCAFO · 3.9 mi
- MELROSE GROCERY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- L T SCHULTZUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- Well H-8 T.B. WOODARD Pickens Cnty ALNitrate · 5.1 mi
- RONALD TILLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- MCSHAN LUMBER CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- Mitchell GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ethelsville'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 Ethelsville.
Total Sites
50
within ~10 miles of Ethelsville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ethelsville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ethelsville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ethelsville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 14 sites within ~10 miles of Ethelsville. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Ethelsville
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 Ethelsville average
Your land is one point inside Ethelsville
Everything above resolves to Ethelsville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 363 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pickens 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 Ethelsville Average
Ethelsville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Ethelsville
- ●One soil character for all of Ethelsville
- ●Frost dates read at Ethelsville's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ethelsville's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ethelsville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ethelsville, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ethelsville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ethelsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ethelsville average
How we know this about Ethelsville
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 Pickens 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 Ethelsville
When does frost risk typically end in Ethelsville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ethelsville 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 Ethelsville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ethelsville typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ethelsville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ethelsville sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 2 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 23 to Nov 7, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ethelsville?
The federal record around Ethelsville is a meaningful one — 50 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (27), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Ethelsville?
From about Oct 22 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ethelsville's scale — its 8a band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ethelsville'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 Ethelsville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ethelsville's own scale — the 363 acres it covers and 50 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ethelsville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 50 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ethelsville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ethelsville's boundary and the 363 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ethelsville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ethelsville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pickens County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ethelsville's 363 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pickens County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pickens 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 Pickens County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ethelsville's 363 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ethelsville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 363 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Ethelsville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaEthelsville sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides