Scotland County, in North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — 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.
Scotland County lies within the Carolina Sandhills — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Scotland County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Scotland 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 Scotland County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Scotland County — the short answer
Scotland County, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 256 days between hard freezes, across 204K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~256
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 204K 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 8a is Scotland County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Scotland County's 256-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Scotland County
Across a year, Scotland County accumulates about 4,953 growing degree days above 50°F, about 563 more than the middle North Carolina county — ahead of 87 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 1,510 hours below 45°F, 253 fewer 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 Scotland County
Across Scotland County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Wakulla, Autryville, and Wagram are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loamy sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.8–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
17%
Hydric soils
27%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Scotland County
The USDA soil survey maps 38% of Scotland County as well drained — but another 61% drains differently: 18% somewhat excessively drained, 14% moderately well drained.
Wakulla is the most extensive named soil at 9% of mapped acres, then Autryville (9%) and Wagram (9%).
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 Scotland County
Each reading below is measured for Scotland 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 Scotland County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — 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 Scotland County runs about pH 4.8–5.3, 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
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 27% of Scotland County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredScotland County runs about 256 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
The kind of country Scotland County is in
Scotland County sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Scotland County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Scotland County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 256-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 Scotland County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Scotland County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Scotland County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 82 miles off. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Scotland County
USGS estimates 29,336 lb of Glyphosate on Scotland County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (9,931 lb) and Atrazine (9,363 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 Scotland County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Scotland County — 242 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 22 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
There's a meaningful federal record across Scotland 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 Scotland County
Closest first, across Scotland County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOASTMASTER INC TIME PRODUCTS DIVBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- REA MAGNET WIRE CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- J-MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- FORMER JOSEPH WARWICK JR PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SNEADS'S GROVE CONVENIENT STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- SCOTLAND CO. TRANSPORTATION DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- HYER MOTOR CARSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- BREEDEN'S 66Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- PHELPS DODGE MAGNET WIRE COToxics Release Inventory · 2.6 mi
- PHELPS DODGE MAGNET WIRE COBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- RYDER TRUCK RENTAL 0633Underground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- NIC'S PIC KWIK 1Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Scotland 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 Scotland County.
Total Sites
242
across Scotland County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
22 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Scotland County
Severity Distribution
across Scotland County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Scotland County, two things run higher than the national average across Scotland County — Toxics Release Inventory (22 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (167 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Scotland 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 Scotland County average
Your land is one point inside Scotland County
Everything above resolves to Scotland County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 204K 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 Scotland County Average
Scotland County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Scotland County
- ●One soil character for all of Scotland County
- ●Frost dates read at Scotland County's scale: Mar 11 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Scotland County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Scotland County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Scotland County, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Scotland County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Scotland County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Scotland County average
How we know this about Scotland 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 Scotland County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Scotland County
When does frost risk typically end in Scotland County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Scotland County typically lands around Mar 11, 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 1.
How long is the growing season in Scotland County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Scotland County sees about 256 frost-free days — roughly Mar 11 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 1 to Nov 8, about 221 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Scotland County?
The federal record around Scotland County is a meaningful one — 242 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (167), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Scotland County's scale — its 8a band and its 256-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Scotland 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 Scotland County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Scotland County's own scale — its own ~256-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 242 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Scotland County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Scotland County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~256-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Scotland CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 242 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Scotland County's boundary and the 204,250 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~256-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Scotland County sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Scotland County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Scotland 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 Scotland County — the ~256 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 Scotland County's 204,250 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 242 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 Scotland Countyread your own land →