Franklin, 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 Franklin, 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 Franklin 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 Franklin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Franklin — the short answer
Franklin, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Macon County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Macon County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- Macon 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 Macon County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Franklin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Franklin's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Franklin
Each reading below is measured for Franklin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFranklin runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Macon County, the closest normal to Franklin) — 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
MeasuredFranklin 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 Franklin is in
Franklin sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Franklin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Macon County.
What Grows in Franklin
Every plant below cleared Franklin's own zone 8b and its 266-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Franklin?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Franklin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Franklin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Well NAWQA FLH 24 Macon County AlNitrate · 2200 ft
- FRANKLIN AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SHARPE FIELD PUMPING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- WALKERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- HORNSBY STRIPING CO INCBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- RIGHT SPOT GROCERY #2Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- TUSKEGEE UNI. EQUIPMENT SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- LAFARGE BUILDING MATERIALSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- POLLARDS EXXON SERVICE (TT&T)Underground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- STEPS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- JOHN WILSON GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- NORTH WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Franklin'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 Franklin.
Total Sites
174
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Franklin, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Franklin — Superfund (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (119 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Franklin
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 Franklin average
Your land is one point inside Franklin
Everything above resolves to Franklin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Macon 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 Franklin Average
Franklin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Franklin
- ●One soil character for all of Franklin
- ●Frost dates read at Franklin's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Franklin's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Franklin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Franklin, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Franklin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Franklin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Franklin average
How we know this about Franklin
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 Macon 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 Franklin
When does frost risk typically end in Franklin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Franklin typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Franklin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Franklin typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Franklin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Franklin sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 10, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Franklin?
The federal record around Franklin is a meaningful one — 174 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (119), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Franklin?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Franklin's scale — its 8b band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Franklin'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 Franklin’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Franklin's own scale — the 9,648 acres it covers and 174 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Franklin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 174 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Franklin, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Franklin's boundary and the 9,648 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Franklin's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Franklin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Macon County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Franklin's 9,648 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Macon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Macon 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 Macon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Franklin's 9,648 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Franklin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,648 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Franklin-wide figureread your own land →
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