Smiths Station, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Smiths Station, 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 Smiths Station 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 Smiths Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Smiths Station — the short answer
Smiths Station, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 2
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~272
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Lee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Smiths Station's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Smiths Station's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Smiths Station
Each reading below is measured for Smiths Station itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSmiths Station runs about 272 days between hard freezes (read from Lee County, the closest normal to Smiths Station) — 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
MeasuredSmiths Station 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 Smiths Station is in
Smiths Station sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Smiths Station's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Lee County is mostly Piedmont. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Smiths Station
Every plant below cleared Smiths Station's own zone 8b and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Smiths Station?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 2 (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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Smiths Station
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Smiths Station. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SMITHS INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- PANTHER QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- COUNTRY MART 430Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- PIGGLY WIGGLY 414Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MARATHON #110Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- OIL SOUTH # 9Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- SAXON OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- WESTERN AUTO STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- HANK'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- HORNE PEST CONTROL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- TERRY'S GET N GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- SPEED ZONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Smiths Station'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 Smiths Station.
Total Sites
646
within ~10 miles of Smiths Station
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Smiths Station
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Smiths Station
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Smiths Station, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 474 sites within ~10 miles of Smiths Station. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Smiths Station
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 Smiths Station average
Your land is one point inside Smiths Station
Everything above resolves to Smiths Station as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lee 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 Smiths Station Average
Smiths Station Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Smiths Station
- ●One soil character for all of Smiths Station
- ●Frost dates read at Smiths Station's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Smiths Station's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Smiths Station
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Smiths Station, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Smiths Station averages can't show:
We read public map data around Smiths Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Smiths Station average
How we know this about Smiths Station
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 Lee 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 Smiths Station
When does frost risk typically end in Smiths Station?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Smiths Station typically lands around Mar 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Smiths Station?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Smiths Station 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 272 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Smiths Station?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Smiths Station sees about 272 frost-free days — roughly Mar 2 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 23 to Nov 15, about 237 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Smiths Station?
The federal record around Smiths Station is a meaningful one — 646 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (474), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Smiths Station?
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 Smiths Station's scale — its 8b band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Smiths Station'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 Smiths Station’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Smiths Station's own scale — the 5,233 acres it covers and 646 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Smiths Station's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 646 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Smiths Station, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Smiths Station's boundary and the 5,233 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Smiths Station sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Smiths Station has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Smiths Station's 5,233 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lee 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 Lee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Smiths Station's 5,233 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Smiths Station you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,233 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Smiths Station-wide figureread your own land →
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