Oak Hill, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Oak Hill, 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 Oak Hill 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 Oak Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oak Hill — the short answer
Oak Hill, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 358 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 358 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 Wilcox County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Oak Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oak Hill's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oak Hill
Each reading below is measured for Oak Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOak Hill runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Wilcox County, the closest normal to Oak Hill) — 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
MeasuredOak Hill 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 Oak Hill is in
Oak Hill sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Oak Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wilcox County.
What Grows in Oak Hill
Every plant below cleared Oak Hill's own zone 8b and its 276-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oak Hill?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Oak Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oak Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OAK HILL TD-2Underground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- OAK HILL GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Well U-17 Wilcox County AlNitrate · 800 ft
- SESSIONS CONTRACTORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- YOUNGBLOODS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- DRISCOLL GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- A & O TRADING POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Well T 23 Wilcox County AlNitrate · 4.9 mi
- BUTLER COUNTY WATER AUTHORITYPFAS · 4.9 mi
- STONE POULTRY FARMCAFO · 5.1 mi
- ALVIN STONE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- Well P-6 R.E. LAMBERT AND SONS Wilcox Cnty ALNitrate · 5.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oak Hill'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 Oak Hill.
Total Sites
23
within ~10 miles of Oak Hill
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oak Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oak Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Oak Hill
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 Oak Hill average
Your land is one point inside Oak Hill
Everything above resolves to Oak Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 358 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wilcox 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 Oak Hill Average
Oak Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Oak Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Oak Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Oak Hill's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oak Hill's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oak Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oak Hill, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oak Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oak Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oak Hill average
How we know this about Oak Hill
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 Wilcox 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 Oak Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Oak Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Hill 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 Oak Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Hill 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 276 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oak Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oak Hill sees about 276 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 12, about 241 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oak Hill?
The federal record around Oak Hill shows 23 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Oak Hill?
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 Oak Hill's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oak Hill'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 Oak Hill’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Oak Hill's own scale — the 358 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oak Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oak Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oak Hill's boundary and the 358 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~276-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oak Hill's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Oak Hill has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wilcox County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oak Hill's 358 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wilcox County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wilcox 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 Wilcox County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oak Hill's 358 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oak Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 358 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Oak Hill-wide figureread your own land →
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