River Falls, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 River Falls, 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 River Falls 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 River Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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River Falls — the short answer
River Falls, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Covington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is River Falls's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against River Falls's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in River Falls
Each reading below is measured for River Falls itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRiver Falls runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Covington County, the closest normal to River Falls) — 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
MeasuredRiver Falls 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 River Falls is in
River Falls sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at River Falls's own centroid rather than borrowed from Covington County.
What Grows in River Falls
Every plant below cleared River Falls's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in River Falls?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 River Falls
Closest first, within ~10 miles of River Falls. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ANDALUSIA TIMBERYARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 CO #040648Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- RIVER FALLS CASH STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- INLAND #612Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- GITTY UP N GO #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- ARCLIN USA LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- ARCLIN USA LLCBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- Well N 1 312032086312001 Covington County AlNitrate · 1.5 mi
- HUGGHINS SOD FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- JEFF PALMER'S COLLISION CENTERBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION 7TH DIVISIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- PETERSONS FURNITURE SHOPBrownfields · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from River Falls'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 River Falls.
Total Sites
167
within ~10 miles of River Falls
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of River Falls
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of River Falls
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around River Falls, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of River Falls — CAFO (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (120 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in River Falls
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 River Falls average
Your land is one point inside River Falls
Everything above resolves to River Falls as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Covington 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 River Falls Average
River Falls Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across River Falls
- ●One soil character for all of River Falls
- ●Frost dates read at River Falls's scale: Feb 19 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not River Falls's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in River Falls
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in River Falls, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that River Falls averages can't show:
We read public map data around River Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the River Falls average
How we know this about River Falls
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 Covington 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 River Falls
When does frost risk typically end in River Falls?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in River Falls typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
When is the first frost in River Falls?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in River Falls typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in River Falls?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, River Falls sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 19, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in River Falls?
The federal record around River Falls shows 167 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (120), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 River Falls?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at River Falls's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of River Falls'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 River Falls’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at River Falls's own scale — the 4,374 acres it covers and 167 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- River Falls's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 167 documented contamination sites on the federal record near River Falls, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- River Falls's boundary and the 4,374 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at River Falls's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — River Falls has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Covington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so River Falls's 4,374 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Covington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Covington 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 Covington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among River Falls's 4,374 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of River Falls you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,374 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 River Falls-wide figureread your own land →
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