Highland Lakes, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Highland Lakes, 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 Highland Lakes 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 Highland Lakes — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Highland Lakes — the short answer
Highland Lakes, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Shelby County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Highland Lakes's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Highland Lakes's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Highland Lakes
Each reading below is measured for Highland Lakes itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHighland Lakes runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Shelby County, the closest normal to Highland Lakes) — 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
MeasuredHighland Lakes 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 Highland Lakes is in
Highland Lakes sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Highland Lakes's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shelby County.
What Grows in Highland Lakes
Every plant below cleared Highland Lakes's own zone 8b and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Highland Lakes?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Highland Lakes
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Highland Lakes. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GREYSTONE CLEANERSBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- EDWARDS CHEVROLET 280Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- COWBOYS 280Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BIG 10 TIRE STORES INC STORE #129Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- RIVER HILLS CLEANERSBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- WALGREENS #7791Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #882Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- GREYSTONE MARATHONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1687Brownfields · 1.9 mi
- GREYSTONE SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- GUARDIAN-IPCO INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.9 mi
- GREYSTONE CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Highland Lakes'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 Highland Lakes.
Total Sites
458
within ~10 miles of Highland Lakes
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Highland Lakes
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Highland Lakes
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Highland Lakes, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Highland Lakes. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Highland Lakes
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 Highland Lakes average
Your land is one point inside Highland Lakes
Everything above resolves to Highland Lakes as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Shelby 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 Highland Lakes Average
Highland Lakes Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Highland Lakes
- ●One soil character for all of Highland Lakes
- ●Frost dates read at Highland Lakes's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Highland Lakes's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Highland Lakes
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Highland Lakes, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Highland Lakes averages can't show:
We read public map data around Highland Lakes — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Highland Lakes average
How we know this about Highland Lakes
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 Shelby 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 Highland Lakes
When does frost risk typically end in Highland Lakes?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Highland Lakes typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Highland Lakes?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Highland Lakes typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Highland Lakes?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Highland Lakes sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 17, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Highland Lakes?
The federal record around Highland Lakes is a meaningful one — 458 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (263), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.1 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 Highland Lakes?
From about Nov 1 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 Dec 1 (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 Dec 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Highland Lakes's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Highland Lakes'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 Highland Lakes’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Highland Lakes's own scale — the 2,402 acres it covers and 458 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Highland Lakes's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 458 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Highland Lakes, the closest Brownfields record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Highland Lakes's boundary and the 2,402 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Highland Lakes's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Highland Lakes has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Shelby County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Highland Lakes's 2,402 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shelby County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shelby 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 Shelby County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Highland Lakes's 2,402 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Highland Lakes you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,402 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.1 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 Highland Lakes-wide figureread your own land →
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