Fitzpatrick, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fitzpatrick, 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 Fitzpatrick 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 Fitzpatrick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fitzpatrick — the short answer
Fitzpatrick, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 259 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 7
- Bullock County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Bullock County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~259
- Bullock County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Bullock County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Fitzpatrick's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fitzpatrick's 259-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fitzpatrick
Each reading below is measured for Fitzpatrick itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFitzpatrick runs about 259 days between hard freezes (read from Bullock County, the closest normal to Fitzpatrick) — 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
MeasuredFitzpatrick 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 Fitzpatrick is in
Fitzpatrick sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fitzpatrick's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bullock County.
What Grows in Fitzpatrick
Every plant below cleared Fitzpatrick's own zone 8b and its 259-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fitzpatrick?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 7 (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. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Fitzpatrick
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fitzpatrick. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- QUALITY SEED & FERTILIZER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- REYNOLDS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Well B 6 321405085551601 Bullock County AlNitrate · 4.0 mi
- Well B 2 321509085544801 Bullock Cnty ALNitrate · 4.2 mi
- FRANKLIN FIELD AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- MAYS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- Well M 2 320724085515101 Bullock County AlNitrate · 6.0 mi
- CUBAHATCHEE CREEK DRUM JOBSuperfund · 7.7 mi
- PUCK'S PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- MRS ELMER SMITHUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- PERRYS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- J L DAVIS GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fitzpatrick'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 Fitzpatrick.
Total Sites
19
within ~10 miles of Fitzpatrick
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fitzpatrick
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fitzpatrick
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Fitzpatrick
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 Fitzpatrick average
Your land is one point inside Fitzpatrick
Everything above resolves to Fitzpatrick as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bullock 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 Fitzpatrick Average
Fitzpatrick Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Fitzpatrick
- ●One soil character for all of Fitzpatrick
- ●Frost dates read at Fitzpatrick's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fitzpatrick's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fitzpatrick
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fitzpatrick, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fitzpatrick averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fitzpatrick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fitzpatrick average
How we know this about Fitzpatrick
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 Bullock 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 Fitzpatrick
When does frost risk typically end in Fitzpatrick?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fitzpatrick typically lands around Mar 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Fitzpatrick?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fitzpatrick 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 259 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fitzpatrick?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fitzpatrick sees about 259 frost-free days — roughly Mar 7 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 28 to Nov 7, about 224 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fitzpatrick?
The federal record around Fitzpatrick is a meaningful one — 19 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Fitzpatrick?
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 Fitzpatrick's scale — its 8b band and its 259-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fitzpatrick'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 Fitzpatrick’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fitzpatrick's own scale — the 2,664 acres it covers and 19 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fitzpatrick's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 19 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fitzpatrick, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fitzpatrick's boundary and the 2,664 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~259-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fitzpatrick's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fitzpatrick has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bullock County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fitzpatrick's 2,664 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bullock County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bullock 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 Bullock County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fitzpatrick's 2,664 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fitzpatrick you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,664 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Fitzpatrick-wide figureread your own land →
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