Waverly, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waverly, 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 Waverly 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 Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waverly — the short answer
Waverly, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- 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
- Town area
- 2K 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 8a is Waverly's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waverly's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waverly
Each reading below is measured for Waverly itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWaverly runs about 272 days between hard freezes (read from Lee County, the closest normal to Waverly) — 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
MeasuredWaverly sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Waverly is in
Waverly sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waverly's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lee County.
What Grows in Waverly
Every plant below cleared Waverly's own zone 8a and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waverly?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Waverly
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waverly. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WAVERLY STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MANAGRAMS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- GEORGIA KRAFT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- WAVERLY RCLRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- LOACHAPOKA WATER AUTHORITYPFAS · 1.5 mi
- W FRED PARKER ENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- PANORAMA TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- COUNTY SHOP DISTRICT #4Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- J H GRAVES LBR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- DISTRICT #3Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- PRATHER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- LAKE MARTIN STORE 72Underground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waverly'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 Waverly.
Total Sites
115
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waverly, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 86 sites within ~10 miles of Waverly. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Waverly
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 Waverly average
Your land is one point inside Waverly
Everything above resolves to Waverly as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lee 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 Waverly Average
Waverly Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Waverly
- ●One soil character for all of Waverly
- ●Frost dates read at Waverly's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waverly's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waverly
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waverly, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waverly averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waverly average
How we know this about Waverly
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 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 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 Waverly
When does frost risk typically end in Waverly?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waverly 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 Waverly?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waverly 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 Waverly?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waverly 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 Waverly?
The federal record around Waverly is a meaningful one — 115 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (86), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Waverly?
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 Waverly's scale — its 8a band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waverly'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 Waverly’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Waverly's own scale — the 1,772 acres it covers and 115 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waverly's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 115 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waverly, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waverly's boundary and the 1,772 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waverly's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Waverly 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 Waverly's 1,772 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 Waverly's 1,772 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waverly you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,772 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 Waverly-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Growing region
Nearby growing guides