Orrville, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Orrville, 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 Orrville 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 Orrville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Orrville — the short answer
Orrville, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 664 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 664 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 Dallas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Orrville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Orrville's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Orrville
Each reading below is measured for Orrville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOrrville runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Dallas County, the closest normal to Orrville) — 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
MeasuredOrrville 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 Orrville is in
Orrville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Orrville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dallas County.
What Grows in Orrville
Every plant below cleared Orrville's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Orrville?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (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 Orrville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Orrville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ORRVILLE SUPER SAVERUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- ORRVILLE TD-2Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- CONTINENTAL TELEPHONE OF THE SOUTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SAFFORD TD-2Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SANFORD AND SANFORD FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- FARM AIR INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- STEP & FETCH IT GROCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- D & LUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Well U 5 KIETH HIGH SCH. 321730087142701Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- KEITH HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- FREDDIE CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- MILLER'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Orrville'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 Orrville.
Total Sites
37
within ~10 miles of Orrville
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Orrville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Orrville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Orrville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Orrville. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Orrville
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 Orrville average
Your land is one point inside Orrville
Everything above resolves to Orrville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 664 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dallas 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 Orrville Average
Orrville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Orrville
- ●One soil character for all of Orrville
- ●Frost dates read at Orrville's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Orrville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Orrville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Orrville, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Orrville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Orrville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Orrville average
How we know this about Orrville
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 Dallas 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 Orrville
When does frost risk typically end in Orrville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Orrville typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Orrville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Orrville 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 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Orrville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Orrville sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 15, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Orrville?
The federal record around Orrville is light — 37 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (18), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Orrville?
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 Orrville's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Orrville'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 Orrville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Orrville's own scale — the 664 acres it covers and 37 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Orrville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 37 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Orrville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Orrville's boundary and the 664 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Orrville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Orrville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dallas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Orrville's 664 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dallas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dallas 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 Dallas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Orrville's 664 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Orrville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 664 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 Orrville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Growing region
Nearby growing guides