Point Clear, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Point Clear, 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 Point Clear 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 Point Clear — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Point Clear — the short answer
Point Clear, Alabama: USDA zone 9a, about 297 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~297
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Baldwin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Point Clear's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Point Clear's 297-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Point Clear
Each reading below is measured for Point Clear itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPoint Clear runs about 297 days between hard freezes (read from Baldwin County, the closest normal to Point Clear) — 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
MeasuredPoint Clear sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Point Clear is in
Point Clear sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Point Clear's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Baldwin County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Point Clear
Every plant below cleared Point Clear's own zone 9a and its 297-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Point Clear?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Point Clear
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Point Clear. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAIRHOPE MUNICIPAL AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BATTLES WHARF MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- GULF FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MARRIOTT'S GRAND HOTEL GOLF COURSE MAINTBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- MARRIOTT'S GRAND HOTELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Well MM 2 302806087530501 Baldwin County AlNitrate · 1.4 mi
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1809Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- JUBILEE MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- CITY OF FAIRHOPEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- JERRY'S KOUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- CEFCO #402Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Well WW 8 302817087530901 Baldwin Cnty ALNitrate · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Point Clear'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 Point Clear.
Total Sites
184
within ~10 miles of Point Clear
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Point Clear
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Point Clear
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Point Clear
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 Point Clear average
Your land is one point inside Point Clear
Everything above resolves to Point Clear as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Baldwin 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 Point Clear Average
Point Clear Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Point Clear
- ●One soil character for all of Point Clear
- ●Frost dates read at Point Clear's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Point Clear's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Point Clear
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Point Clear, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Point Clear averages can't show:
We read public map data around Point Clear — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Point Clear average
How we know this about Point Clear
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 Baldwin 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 Point Clear
When does frost risk typically end in Point Clear?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Point Clear typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Point Clear?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Point Clear typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 297 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Point Clear?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Point Clear sees about 297 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 22, about 262 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Point Clear?
The federal record around Point Clear shows 184 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles 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 Point Clear?
From about Nov 6 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 Dec 6 (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 Dec 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Point Clear's scale — its 9a band and its 297-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Point Clear'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 Point Clear’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Point Clear's own scale — the 2,920 acres it covers and 184 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Point Clear's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 184 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Point Clear, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Point Clear's boundary and the 2,920 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~297-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Point Clear sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Point Clear has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Baldwin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Point Clear's 2,920 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Baldwin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Baldwin 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 Baldwin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Point Clear's 2,920 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Point Clear you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,920 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 Point Clear-wide figureread your own land →
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