North Carolina spans USDA hardiness zones 6a-9a, with a growing season of about 245 frost-free days — long enough to run two plantings of many vegetables and still ripen the heat-lovers.
The raw materials of the growing year here: 40-60 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 4,537 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 1,688 winter chill hours for tree fruit. On the soil map, red clay (Piedmont), sandy loam (Coastal), mountain loam, and alluvial dominate — and drainage is the trait that separates an easy bed from a project. Zoom in and North Carolina resolves into Appalachia, Piedmont, and Tidewater & Chesapeake — distinct growing regions with distinct frost calendars. These conditions suit sweet potato, blueberry, muscadine grape, and dogwood — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•Chill hours (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
North Carolina spans zones 6a-9a, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 North Carolina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Distinct growing regions within North Carolina — each has its own zones, soils, and signature crops.
North Carolina: USDA zones 6a-9a, 178–303 frost-free days depending on the county, 100 counties.
The middle half of this state’s counties. Tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks past the last hard freeze. The shortest-season figure is North Carolina's own county record — Swain County's measured 28°F normal, not a modeled floor.
North Carolina does not have one growing season. Across the 520 of its 776 towns that carry their own 30-year record, the shortest measured season is Banner Elk's at 186 days and the longest is Jamesville's at 265 — a 79-day spread inside one state.
Neither end is a lone reading — another 23 towns measure within 10 days of Banner Elk and 71 sit within 10 days of Jamesville. These are real pockets, so the number to plant against is your own town's, not the state average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record
Zone 6a-9a is North Carolina's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Carolina's 245-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One answer for North Carolina averages 100 counties whose growing seasons are 125 days apart — from 178 frost-free days in Swain County to 303 in Dare County. That is the same state, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your county sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 100 counties runs 230–257 days, with a median of 245 days — a 125-day span end to end.
Measured across 100 counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. A county with no record of its own is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the state. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
The middle half of North Carolina runs 230–257 frost-free days, and 46 of its 100 counties sit outside that — 22 on the short side, 24 on the long. A statewide planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 230 frost-free days
22 counties
3 of 22 shown
The end of the state that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
230–257 frost-free days
54 counties
0 of 54 shown
The middle half of the state, and the part a single statewide date describes well.
Over 257 frost-free days
24 counties
3 of 24 shown
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its own 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a yard within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
The soil types that dominate North Carolina — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it. Each photo is a representative profile of that soil type; the named series is where it was documented, which is often another state.
Drainage
Slow. Red clay seals under pounding rain and sheds water across the surface, then holds tight to what soaks in.
What thrives
Okra, southern peas, sweet potatoes, and muscadines are traditional red-clay performers, and many fruit trees root deep into it once through the first year. Azaleas and blueberries appreciate its typical acidity.
Drainage
Fast. The sand fraction opens the soil up, so water moves through the root zone quickly and the surface rarely stays soggy. The trade is that nutrients ride out with the water.
What thrives
Root crops love it — carrots, potatoes, radishes, and onions size up cleanly in ground they can push through. Melons, sweet potatoes, asparagus, and most herbs appreciate the warmth and the drainage.
Loam formed on mountain slopes and valleys — usually shallower than lowland soils, mixed with rock weathered from the peaks above, and highly variable from one bench to the next.
Drainage
Usually good to fast, because slopes shed water and the rock fraction keeps the profile open. South-facing ground dries markedly faster than north-facing.
What thrives
Cool-season vegetables, berries, and hardy perennials suited to the elevation. Short seasons matter more than the soil here — choose varieties bred for quick maturity.
Drainage
Usually good: rivers sort their loads, and most alluvial soils have enough sand and silt to move water while holding plenty for roots. Low-lying pockets can run wet.
What thrives
Nearly everything — vegetables, orchards, vines, and berries all prosper on alluvium. Its depth lets roots go as far down as they care to.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to North Carolina's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Across North Carolina, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Mar 17, with the middle half of counties between Mar 11 and Mar 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 10 and Nov 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
The plants North Carolina put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Cornus florida
Designated 1941. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Pine
Pinus
Designated 1963.
Designated 2001. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Scuppernong grape
Designated 2001.
Designated 1995. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in North Carolina — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Ordered by how closely each plant’s published hardiness range matches North Carolina’s zones 6a-9a, so this is a shortlist by climate fit, not a ranking of which plants matter most here. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps North Carolina’s USDA zones 6a-9a but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Red Piedmont clay is hard to work and drains poorly
Red clay rewards patience — compost opens it over seasons, and a raised bed gets you harvesting in the meantime.
Humidity drives significant disease pressure
Airflow, morning base-watering, and resistant varieties — the humid-South trio your extension's lists are built around.
Hurricane risk on the coastal plain
On the coastal plain, favor wind-tough perennials and stake young trees well ahead of storm season.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to North Carolina, the NC State Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across North Carolina — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across North Carolina — 45,236 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 464 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
North Carolina carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across North Carolina
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Carolina, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 28,735 sites across North Carolina. 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.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Everything above resolves to North Carolina as a whole — a state whose own counties record seasons 125 days apart, and hardiness across zones 6a-9a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 state 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 statewide average.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,086 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your lot that North Carolina averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Carolina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Carolina average
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read per county and aggregated to the state band; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each county’s own record; rainfall from NOAA Climate Normals; soils from USDA NRCS SSURGO; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above. Where a county carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
North Carolina spans USDA hardiness zones 6a-9a — which is to say winter's coldest night runs from about −10°F to 25°F depending where in North Carolina you are, averaged over 1991–2020 (USDA PHZM 2023).
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Across North Carolina, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Mar 17, with the middle half of counties between Mar 11 and Mar 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 10 and Nov 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Across North Carolina, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Mar 11 and Mar 24, with a county median near Mar 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). 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 Apr 7.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across North Carolina's counties mostly run about 232 to 257 days, with a county median near 245 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender crops get a somewhat shorter practical window, since lighter frosts reach a few weeks past the hard-freeze dates on both ends.
North Carolina's zones 6a-9a support a wide range — strong performers include Sweet Potato, Blueberry, Muscadine Grape, Dogwood, and Tomato. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, North Carolina spans USDA zones 6a-9a (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,086 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across North Carolina runs heavier than most — 45,236 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (28,735) — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Start with three facts. North Carolina spans USDA zones 6a-9a, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Mar 11 to Mar 24 across its counties (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and 45,236 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything above is measured at North Carolina's scale — its 6a-9a band and its 245-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Carolina's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
6 of the readings below were taken at North Carolina's own scale — the full zone 6a-9a span inside its borders, the 4 soil types that dominate its ground and 45,236 documented sites on its federal record; anything it cannot resolve at this scale is named below.
Measured here
What this page can’t tell you
Explore growing conditions by county — each has its own zone range and land area.
Explore growing conditions by city or town in North Carolina.
North Carolina shares its dominant growing region with these states — a useful comparison if you're weighing where a crop will behave the same way.
