Brunswick, North Carolina, 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.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Brunswick, 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 Brunswick 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 Brunswick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Brunswick — the short answer
Brunswick, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 447 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- Columbus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Columbus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Columbus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 447 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 Columbus County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Brunswick's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brunswick's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brunswick
Each reading below is measured for Brunswick itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBrunswick runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Columbus County, the closest normal to Brunswick) — 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
MeasuredBrunswick 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 Brunswick is in
Brunswick sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Brunswick's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Columbus County is mostly Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Brunswick
Every plant below cleared Brunswick's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brunswick?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
Documented around Brunswick
Survey cells within 31 miles of Brunswick checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 48 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Brunswick
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brunswick. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NC DOT - WHITEVILLE/COLUMBUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- COLUMBUS COUNTY AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CO-033 PRISON CAMP 062Nitrate · 1600 ft
- CO-034Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- ONE STOP - GAS AND TOBACCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- TIME SAVER 6Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MINUTEMAN FOOD MART #46Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- NATIONAL SPINNING COMPANY - WHITEVILLEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- D & F PAINT & BODY SHOP INCBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- FOUR C'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- QUALITY MOTOR CO., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- METAL RECYCLING SERVICES - WHITEVILLEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brunswick'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 Brunswick.
Total Sites
216
within ~10 miles of Brunswick
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brunswick
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brunswick
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Brunswick, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Brunswick — Superfund (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (153 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Brunswick
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 Brunswick average
Your land is one point inside Brunswick
Everything above resolves to Brunswick as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 447 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Columbus 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 Brunswick Average
Brunswick Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Brunswick
- ●One soil character for all of Brunswick
- ●Frost dates read at Brunswick's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brunswick's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brunswick
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brunswick, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brunswick averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brunswick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brunswick average
How we know this about Brunswick
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 Columbus 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 Brunswick
When does frost risk typically end in Brunswick?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brunswick typically lands around Mar 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Brunswick?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brunswick 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 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brunswick?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brunswick sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 16, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brunswick?
The federal record around Brunswick is a meaningful one — 216 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (153), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Brunswick?
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 Brunswick's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brunswick'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 Brunswick’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Brunswick's own scale — the 447 acres it covers and 216 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brunswick's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 216 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brunswick, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brunswick's boundary and the 447 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~270-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Brunswick sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Brunswick checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Brunswick has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Columbus County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brunswick's 447 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbus County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbus County
- The growing challenges every North Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Carolina
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Columbus County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brunswick's 447 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brunswick you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 447 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Brunswick-wide figureread your own land →
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