Myrtlewood, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Myrtlewood, 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 Myrtlewood 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 Myrtlewood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Myrtlewood — the short answer
Myrtlewood, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Marengo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Marengo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Marengo 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 Marengo County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Myrtlewood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Myrtlewood's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Myrtlewood
Each reading below is measured for Myrtlewood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMyrtlewood runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Marengo County, the closest normal to Myrtlewood) — 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
MeasuredMyrtlewood 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 Myrtlewood is in
Myrtlewood sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Myrtlewood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marengo County.
What Grows in Myrtlewood
Every plant below cleared Myrtlewood's own zone 8b and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Myrtlewood?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (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. 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 Myrtlewood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Myrtlewood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TGPL STATION 0090Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MYRTLEWOOD CONVIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- ELK FOOD CENTERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TRANSCO STATION 90Brownfields · 3.4 mi
- W G RENTZ (FARM TANKS)Underground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC NAHEOLA LLCBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC NAHEOLA LLCToxics Release Inventory · 4.7 mi
- JAMES RIVER CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- TRANSCO COMPRESSOR STATION 90Brownfields · 6.0 mi
- MCATEER'S GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- READY MIX USA -PENNINGTON FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 6.4 mi
- FAIRCLOTH GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Myrtlewood'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 Myrtlewood.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Myrtlewood
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Myrtlewood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Myrtlewood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Myrtlewood, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Myrtlewood. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Myrtlewood
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 Myrtlewood average
Your land is one point inside Myrtlewood
Everything above resolves to Myrtlewood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Marengo 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 Myrtlewood Average
Myrtlewood Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Myrtlewood
- ●One soil character for all of Myrtlewood
- ●Frost dates read at Myrtlewood's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Myrtlewood's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Myrtlewood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Myrtlewood, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Myrtlewood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Myrtlewood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Myrtlewood average
How we know this about Myrtlewood
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 Marengo 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 Myrtlewood
When does frost risk typically end in Myrtlewood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Myrtlewood typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Myrtlewood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Myrtlewood 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 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Myrtlewood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Myrtlewood sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 12, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Myrtlewood?
The federal record around Myrtlewood is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Myrtlewood?
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 Myrtlewood's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Myrtlewood'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 Myrtlewood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Myrtlewood's own scale — the 1,661 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Myrtlewood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Myrtlewood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Myrtlewood's boundary and the 1,661 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~274-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Myrtlewood's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Myrtlewood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Marengo County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Myrtlewood's 1,661 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marengo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marengo 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 Marengo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Myrtlewood's 1,661 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Myrtlewood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,661 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Myrtlewood-wide figureread your own land →
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