Troy, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Troy, 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 Troy 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 Troy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Troy — the short answer
Troy, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 283 days between hard freezes, across 18K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Pike County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Pike County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~283
- Pike County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 18K 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 Pike County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Troy's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Troy's 283-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Troy
Each reading below is measured for Troy itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTroy runs about 283 days between hard freezes (read from Pike County, the closest normal to Troy) — 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
MeasuredTroy 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 Troy is in
Troy sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Troy's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pike County.
What Grows in Troy
Every plant below cleared Troy's own zone 8b and its 283-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Troy?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 Dec 2 — 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 Troy
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Troy. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BROWN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- FIRESTONE STORE # 0535 / 017582Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- ZIPPY MART AL 612Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MADISON STREETUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- TROY MAIN GLC-12768Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- THE FILLING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- STOP N GO #9Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FORMER BILLUPS STATION LOC #7890Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BEELINE STORE #614Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- WHALEY CONSTRUCTION CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MURPHY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Troy'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 Troy.
Total Sites
202
within ~10 miles of Troy
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Troy
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Troy
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Troy, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Troy — CAFO (19 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (14 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Troy
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 Troy average
Your land is one point inside Troy
Everything above resolves to Troy as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 18K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pike 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 Troy Average
Troy Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Troy
- ●One soil character for all of Troy
- ●Frost dates read at Troy's scale: Feb 22 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Troy's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Troy
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Troy, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Troy averages can't show:
We read public map data around Troy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Troy average
How we know this about Troy
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 Pike 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 Troy
When does frost risk typically end in Troy?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Troy 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 Troy?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Troy typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 283 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Troy?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Troy sees about 283 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 18, about 248 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Troy?
The federal record around Troy is a meaningful one — 202 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (124), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Troy?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Troy's scale — its 8b band and its 283-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Troy'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 Troy’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Troy's own scale — the 18,140 acres it covers and 202 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Troy's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 202 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Troy, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Troy's boundary and the 18,140 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~283-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Troy's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Troy has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pike County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Troy's 18,140 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pike County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pike 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 Pike County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Troy's 18,140 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Troy you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 18,140 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Troy-wide figureread your own land →