Marbury, 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.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Marbury, 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 Marbury 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 Marbury — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Marbury — the short answer
Marbury, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 15K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Autauga County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Autauga County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Autauga County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 15K 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 Autauga County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Marbury's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Marbury's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Marbury
Each reading below is measured for Marbury itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMarbury runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Autauga County, the closest normal to Marbury) — 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
MeasuredMarbury 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 Marbury is in
Marbury sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Marbury's own centroid rather than borrowed from Autauga County.
What Grows in Marbury
Every plant below cleared Marbury's own zone 8b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Marbury?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Marbury
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Marbury. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SRN 09, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MARBURY WATER SYSTEM, INC.PFAS · 1.3 mi
- MARBURY TD-2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- MT TOP PACKAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- MARBURY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- D & D ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- D & D GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- JUNCTION STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- POWELL'S AUTO BODY REPAIRBrownfields · 3.7 mi
- TRI-STATE FABRICATORS LLCBrownfields · 3.7 mi
- AUTAUGA COUNTY COMMISSION DIST 4Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Well U 3 324346086301801 Chilton County AlNitrate · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Marbury'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 Marbury.
Total Sites
82
within ~10 miles of Marbury
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Marbury
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Marbury
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Marbury, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Marbury — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (53 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Marbury
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 Marbury average
Your land is one point inside Marbury
Everything above resolves to Marbury as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 15K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Autauga 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 Marbury Average
Marbury Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Marbury
- ●One soil character for all of Marbury
- ●Frost dates read at Marbury's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Marbury's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Marbury
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Marbury, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Marbury averages can't show:
We read public map data around Marbury — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Marbury average
How we know this about Marbury
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 Autauga 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 Marbury
When does frost risk typically end in Marbury?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Marbury 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 Marbury?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Marbury typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Marbury?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Marbury sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 14, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Marbury?
The federal record around Marbury is a meaningful one — 82 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (53), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Marbury?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Marbury's scale — its 8b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Marbury'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 Marbury’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Marbury's own scale — the 14,818 acres it covers and 82 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Marbury's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 82 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Marbury, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Marbury's boundary and the 14,818 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Marbury's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Marbury has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Autauga County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Marbury's 14,818 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Autauga County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Autauga 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 Autauga County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Marbury's 14,818 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Marbury you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 14,818 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Marbury-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaMarbury sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides