Jemison, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Jemison, 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 Jemison 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 Jemison — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Jemison — the short answer
Jemison, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Chilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Chilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Chilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Chilton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Jemison's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jemison's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jemison
Each reading below is measured for Jemison itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJemison runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Chilton County, the closest normal to Jemison) — 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
MeasuredJemison 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 Jemison is in
Jemison sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Jemison's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chilton County.
What Grows in Jemison
Every plant below cleared Jemison's own zone 8b and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jemison?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Jemison
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jemison. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JEMISON WATER WORKSPFAS · 0.5 mi
- JEMISON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Well F 10 325740086432401 Chilton County AlNitrate · 0.9 mi
- DISTRICT 1 SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- JEMISON CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FOOD PAK #3 (CHEVRON)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MOORES SUPREMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- JEMISON HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SUPERIOR PRODUCTS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SUNSHINE FOOD MART 3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TOWN AND COUNTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- JEMISON SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jemison'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 Jemison.
Total Sites
139
within ~10 miles of Jemison
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
12 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jemison
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jemison
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jemison, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Jemison — PFAS (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (12 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Jemison
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 Jemison average
Your land is one point inside Jemison
Everything above resolves to Jemison as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Chilton County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Jemison Average
Jemison Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Jemison
- ●One soil character for all of Jemison
- ●Frost dates read at Jemison's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jemison's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jemison
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jemison, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jemison averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jemison — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jemison average
How we know this about Jemison
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Chilton 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Jemison
When does frost risk typically end in Jemison?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jemison typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Jemison?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jemison typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jemison?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jemison sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 11, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jemison?
The federal record around Jemison shows 139 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (92), the nearest PFAS record about 0.5 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Jemison?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Jemison's scale — its 8b band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jemison'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 Jemison’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Jemison's own scale — the 7,261 acres it covers and 139 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jemison's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 139 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jemison, the closest PFAS record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jemison's boundary and the 7,261 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Jemison's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Jemison has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Chilton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jemison's 7,261 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chilton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chilton 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 Chilton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jemison's 7,261 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jemison you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,261 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record about 0.5 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 Jemison-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaJemison sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides