Montgomery, 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 Montgomery, 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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Montgomery — the short answer
Montgomery, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 102K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 102K 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 Montgomery County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Montgomery's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Montgomery's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Montgomery
Each reading below is measured for Montgomery itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMontgomery runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Montgomery County, the closest normal to Montgomery) — 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
MeasuredMontgomery 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 Montgomery is in
Montgomery sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Montgomery's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montgomery County.
What Grows in Montgomery
Every plant below cleared Montgomery's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Montgomery?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Montgomery
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Montgomery. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MAJIK MARKET 09421Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WALGREENS #9456Brownfields · 1700 ft
- POPULAR PACKAGE STORES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CARTER HILL CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SUPER-LUBE 10-MINUTE OIL CHANGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- LIONS PRIDE #3Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #4856Brownfields · 2100 ft
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1027Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- MONTGOMERY COUNTRY CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MCMURTREY'S SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GAY MEADOWS LIBERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MONTGOMERY CREW HDQTRSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Montgomery'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 Montgomery.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Montgomery
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Montgomery
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Montgomery, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Montgomery. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Montgomery
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 Montgomery average
Your land is one point inside Montgomery
Everything above resolves to Montgomery as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 102K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Montgomery 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 Montgomery Average
Montgomery Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Montgomery
- ●One soil character for all of Montgomery
- ●Frost dates read at Montgomery's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Montgomery's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Montgomery
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Montgomery, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Montgomery averages can't show:
We read public map data around Montgomery — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Montgomery average
How we know this about Montgomery
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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery
When does frost risk typically end in Montgomery?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Montgomery typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Montgomery?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Montgomery typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Montgomery?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Montgomery sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 12, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Montgomery?
The federal record around Montgomery is a meaningful one — 1,220 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (657), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Montgomery?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Montgomery's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Montgomery'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 Montgomery’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Montgomery's own scale — the 102,307 acres it covers and 1,220 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Montgomery's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,220 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Montgomery, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Montgomery's boundary and the 102,307 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Montgomery's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Montgomery has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Montgomery County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Montgomery's 102,307 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montgomery County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montgomery 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 Montgomery County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Montgomery's 102,307 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Montgomery you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 102,307 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Montgomery-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Growing region
Nearby growing guides