Whatley, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Whatley, 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 Whatley 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 Whatley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Whatley — the short answer
Whatley, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 283 days between hard freezes, across 826 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Clarke County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Clarke County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~283
- Clarke County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 826 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 Clarke County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Whatley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whatley's 283-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whatley
Each reading below is measured for Whatley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWhatley runs about 283 days between hard freezes (read from Clarke County, the closest normal to Whatley) — 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
MeasuredWhatley 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 Whatley is in
Whatley sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Whatley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clarke County.
What Grows in Whatley
Every plant below cleared Whatley'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 Whatley?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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 Whatley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whatley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GARRICKS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MOBILE ASPHALT CO LLCBrownfields · 2500 ft
- HOSEA O WEAVER & SONS - WHATLEYBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- GOSPORT CASH STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- PADGETT'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- PINEBELT FUELS - GROVE HILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- GOSPORT GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- JOE N DAY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- MFT COMPANY, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- ADAMS & WHITTINGTON LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- B & F FARM SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- DISTRICT SHOP 1Underground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whatley'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 Whatley.
Total Sites
67
within ~10 miles of Whatley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Whatley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whatley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whatley, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 48 sites within ~10 miles of Whatley. 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 Whatley
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 Whatley average
Your land is one point inside Whatley
Everything above resolves to Whatley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 826 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clarke 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 Whatley Average
Whatley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Whatley
- ●One soil character for all of Whatley
- ●Frost dates read at Whatley's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whatley's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whatley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whatley, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whatley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whatley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whatley average
How we know this about Whatley
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 Clarke 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 Whatley
When does frost risk typically end in Whatley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whatley typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Whatley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whatley typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 283 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whatley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whatley sees about 283 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 16, about 248 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whatley?
The federal record around Whatley is a meaningful one — 67 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (48), 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 Whatley?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Whatley's scale — its 8b band and its 283-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whatley'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 Whatley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Whatley's own scale — the 826 acres it covers and 67 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whatley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 67 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whatley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whatley's boundary and the 826 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 Whatley's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Whatley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clarke County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Whatley's 826 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clarke County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clarke 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 Clarke County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whatley's 826 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whatley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 826 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 Whatley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaWhatley sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides