Sims Chapel, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Sims Chapel, 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 Sims Chapel 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 Sims Chapel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sims Chapel — the short answer
Sims Chapel, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Washington 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 Washington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Sims Chapel's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sims Chapel's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sims Chapel
Each reading below is measured for Sims Chapel itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSims Chapel runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Washington County, the closest normal to Sims Chapel) — 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
MeasuredSims Chapel 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 Sims Chapel is in
Sims Chapel sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sims Chapel's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Sims Chapel
Every plant below cleared Sims Chapel's own zone 8b and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sims Chapel?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Sims Chapel
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sims Chapel. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCINTOSH WATER & FIRE PRO AUTHORITYPFAS · 3.2 mi
- CITRONELLE R R TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- WEAVERS SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- RIVERS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- HUNTSMAN CORPORATION - MCINTOSH SITEToxics Release Inventory · 5.7 mi
- CLARENCE BROWN RD DRUMSuperfund · 6.5 mi
- MCINTOSHUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.7 mi
- ENVIROVAC HYDROVAC HOLDINGS, LLCBrownfields · 6.7 mi
- CITY OF MUSCLE SHOALS FUELINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.7 mi
- POWER SOUTHBrownfields · 6.7 mi
- SIMS CHAPEL WOOD TREATERSuperfund · 6.7 mi
- MCINTOSH RADIO RELAY TOWER - 16227Underground Storage Tanks · 6.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sims Chapel'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 Sims Chapel.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sims Chapel
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sims Chapel
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sims Chapel, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sims Chapel — Superfund (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Sims Chapel
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 Sims Chapel average
Your land is one point inside Sims Chapel
Everything above resolves to Sims Chapel as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Washington 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 Sims Chapel Average
Sims Chapel Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Sims Chapel
- ●One soil character for all of Sims Chapel
- ●Frost dates read at Sims Chapel's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sims Chapel's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sims Chapel
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sims Chapel, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sims Chapel averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sims Chapel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sims Chapel average
How we know this about Sims Chapel
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 Washington 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 Sims Chapel
When does frost risk typically end in Sims Chapel?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sims Chapel typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Sims Chapel?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sims Chapel typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sims Chapel?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sims Chapel sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 13, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sims Chapel?
The federal record around Sims Chapel is a meaningful one — 49 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (22), the nearest PFAS record about 3.2 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 Sims Chapel?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sims Chapel's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sims Chapel'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 Sims Chapel’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sims Chapel's own scale — the 3,650 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sims Chapel's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sims Chapel, the closest PFAS record about 3.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sims Chapel's boundary and the 3,650 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~274-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sims Chapel's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sims Chapel has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Washington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sims Chapel's 3,650 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sims Chapel's 3,650 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sims Chapel you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,650 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record about 3.2 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 Sims Chapel-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaSims Chapel sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.