Loachapoka, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Loachapoka, 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 Loachapoka 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 Loachapoka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Loachapoka — the short answer
Loachapoka, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 728 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 2
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~272
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 728 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 Lee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Loachapoka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Loachapoka's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Loachapoka
Each reading below is measured for Loachapoka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLoachapoka runs about 272 days between hard freezes (read from Lee County, the closest normal to Loachapoka) — 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
MeasuredLoachapoka 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 Loachapoka is in
Loachapoka sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Loachapoka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lee County.
What Grows in Loachapoka
Every plant below cleared Loachapoka's own zone 8b and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Loachapoka?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 29 — 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 Loachapoka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Loachapoka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LOACHAPOKA TRACKBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- ENNIS GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- T & WUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- MILLERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- LOACHAPOKA HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- AUBURN WATER WORKSPFAS · 1.9 mi
- HIGHWAY 14 GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- CITY OF AUBURN - NORTHSIDE WPCFToxics Release Inventory · 3.4 mi
- NORTHSIDE POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- D & J ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- MASTERBRAND CABINETS INCToxics Release Inventory · 4.4 mi
- NOTASULGA HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Loachapoka'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 Loachapoka.
Total Sites
232
within ~10 miles of Loachapoka
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Loachapoka
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Loachapoka
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Loachapoka, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Loachapoka — PFAS (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (15 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 Loachapoka
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 Loachapoka average
Your land is one point inside Loachapoka
Everything above resolves to Loachapoka as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 728 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lee 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 Loachapoka Average
Loachapoka Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Loachapoka
- ●One soil character for all of Loachapoka
- ●Frost dates read at Loachapoka's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Loachapoka's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Loachapoka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Loachapoka, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Loachapoka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Loachapoka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Loachapoka average
How we know this about Loachapoka
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 Lee 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 Loachapoka
When does frost risk typically end in Loachapoka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Loachapoka 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 Loachapoka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Loachapoka typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 272 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Loachapoka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Loachapoka sees about 272 frost-free days — roughly Mar 2 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 23 to Nov 15, about 237 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Loachapoka?
The federal record around Loachapoka is a meaningful one — 232 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (150), the nearest Brownfields 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 Loachapoka?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Loachapoka's scale — its 8b band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Loachapoka'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 Loachapoka’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Loachapoka's own scale — the 728 acres it covers and 232 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Loachapoka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 232 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Loachapoka, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Loachapoka's boundary and the 728 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Loachapoka's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Loachapoka has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Loachapoka's 728 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lee 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 Lee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Loachapoka's 728 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Loachapoka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 728 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Loachapoka-wide figureread your own land →
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