Pike Road, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pike Road, 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 Pike Road 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 Pike Road — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Pike Road — the short answer
Pike Road, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 22K 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
- 22K 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 Pike Road's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pike Road's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pike Road
Each reading below is measured for Pike Road itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPike Road runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Montgomery County, the closest normal to Pike Road) — 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
MeasuredPike Road 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 Pike Road is in
Pike Road sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Pike Road's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montgomery County.
What Grows in Pike Road
Every plant below cleared Pike Road'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 Pike Road?
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 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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Pike Road
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pike Road. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DISTRICT 2 HDQTRSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Well P 1 321818086065201 Montgomery Cnty ALNitrate · 2.2 mi
- SOFI PETROLEUM INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Well P 12 DAVIS SCHOOL 321637086102301Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- SHOWTIME PAINT & BODYBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- KIRKSEY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- TROY HIGHWAY CHEVRON FOODMARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- STOP N GO #35Underground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- PLANTATION DEPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Well P21 Montgomery County AlNitrate · 3.9 mi
- GULF SERVICE STATION #307777Underground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- CARMICHAEL ROAD USED OILSuperfund · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pike Road'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 Pike Road.
Total Sites
376
within ~10 miles of Pike Road
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pike Road
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pike Road
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pike Road, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 104 sites within ~10 miles of Pike Road. 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 Pike Road
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 Pike Road average
Your land is one point inside Pike Road
Everything above resolves to Pike Road as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 22K 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 Pike Road Average
Pike Road Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Pike Road
- ●One soil character for all of Pike Road
- ●Frost dates read at Pike Road's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pike Road's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pike Road
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pike Road, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pike Road averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pike Road — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pike Road average
How we know this about Pike Road
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 Pike Road
When does frost risk typically end in Pike Road?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pike Road 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 Pike Road?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pike Road 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 Pike Road?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pike Road 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 Pike Road?
The federal record around Pike Road is a meaningful one — 376 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (169), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Pike Road?
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 Pike Road's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pike Road'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 Pike Road’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pike Road's own scale — the 21,772 acres it covers and 376 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pike Road's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 376 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pike Road, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pike Road's boundary and the 21,772 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 Pike Road's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pike Road 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 Pike Road's 21,772 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 Pike Road's 21,772 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pike Road you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 21,772 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Pike Road-wide figureread your own land →
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