Rockingham County, in North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Rockingham County lies within the Piedmont — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Rockingham County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Rockingham County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Rockingham County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rockingham County — the short answer
Rockingham County, North Carolina: USDA zone 7b, about 234 days between hard freezes, across 362K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~234
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 362K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 7b is Rockingham County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rockingham County's 234-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Rockingham County
Across a year, Rockingham County accumulates about 4,038 growing degree days above 50°F, about 352 fewer than the middle North Carolina county — ahead of 24 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 1,981 hours below 45°F, 218 more than the North Carolina middle of 1,763. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Rockingham County
Across Rockingham County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Clifford, Poplar Forest, and Fairview are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a sandy clay loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3–6.3, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
39%
Hydric soils
2%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Rockingham County
The USDA soil survey maps 91% of Rockingham County as well drained — but another 7% drains differently: 4% somewhat poorly drained, 2% poorly drained.
Clifford is the most extensive named soil at 24% of mapped acres, then Poplar Forest (19%) and Fairview (12%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Rockingham County
Each reading below is measured for Rockingham County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Rockingham County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Rockingham County runs about pH 5.3–6.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredRockingham County runs about 234 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRockingham County sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Rockingham County is in
Rockingham County sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Rockingham County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Rockingham County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 234-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile.
Is it too late to plant in Rockingham County?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Rockingham County
Spotted lanternfly documented 21 miles from Rockingham County, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly2 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Rockingham County
USGS estimates 4,905 lb of 2,4-d on Rockingham County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (3,755 lb) and Dicamba (1,724 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Rockingham County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Rockingham County — 626 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Rockingham County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Rockingham County
Closest first, across Rockingham County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROCKINGHAM COMMUNITY COLLEGEBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- ROCKINGHAM COMM COLL. MAINT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- HINSON'S GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- TGPL REIDSVILLE DISTRICT 0160Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- J MART #4Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- SCHOOL BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- ROCKINGHAM COUNTY COURTHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- NC DOT - REIDSVILLE (DIV SEVEN)Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- FAST TIMESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- J.W. MORRICK EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- ROCKINGHAM COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATIONBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- D B & J'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rockingham County'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 Rockingham County.
Total Sites
626
across Rockingham County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Rockingham County
Severity Distribution
across Rockingham County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rockingham County, two things run higher than the national average across Rockingham County — Underground Storage Tanks (448 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (40 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Rockingham County
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 Rockingham County average
Your land is one point inside Rockingham County
Everything above resolves to Rockingham County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 362K acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Rockingham County Average
Rockingham County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Rockingham County
- ●One soil character for all of Rockingham County
- ●Frost dates read at Rockingham County's scale: Mar 22 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rockingham County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Rockingham County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rockingham County, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rockingham County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rockingham County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rockingham County average
How we know this about Rockingham County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Rockingham County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Rockingham County
When does frost risk typically end in Rockingham County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rockingham County typically lands around Mar 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 Apr 12.
How long is the growing season in Rockingham County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rockingham County sees about 234 frost-free days — roughly Mar 22 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 12 to Oct 28, about 199 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rockingham County?
The federal record around Rockingham County is a meaningful one — 626 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (448), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.1 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.
Everything above is measured at Rockingham County's scale — its 7b band and its 234-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rockingham County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads North Carolina's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Rockingham County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Rockingham County's own scale — its own ~234-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 626 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rockingham County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rockingham County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~234-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Rockingham CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 626 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 1.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Rockingham County's boundary and the 362,011 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~234-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Rockingham County sitting wholly inside the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Rockingham County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Rockingham County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every North Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Carolina
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Rockingham County — the ~234 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rockingham County's 362,011 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 626 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Rockingham Countyread your own land →