Denton, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Denton, 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 Denton 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 Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Denton — the short answer
Denton, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 238 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~238
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 Denton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Denton's 238-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Denton
Each reading below is measured for Denton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDenton runs about 238 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
MeasuredDenton sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Denton is in
Denton sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Denton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Davidson County.
What Grows in Denton
Every plant below cleared Denton's own zone 8a and its 238-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Denton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Denton
Spotted lanternfly documented 22 miles from Denton, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Denton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Denton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- YADKIN VALLEY CHEVROLET CO., INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- THERMO PRODUCTS, LLC.Brownfields · 1200 ft
- DENTON TRADING POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- NORTH JONES STREET PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- DENTON MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- COUNCILL BUSINESS FURNITUREToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- DENTON EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CARROLL OIL CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MORRIS' MINI MART 1Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #7328Brownfields · 2500 ft
- QUIK CHEK 4Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SOUTH MAIN GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Denton'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 Denton.
Total Sites
125
within ~10 miles of Denton
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Denton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Denton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Denton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Denton — Mining (19 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (82 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Denton
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 Denton average
Your land is one point inside Denton
Everything above resolves to Denton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 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 Denton Average
Denton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Denton
- ●One soil character for all of Denton
- ●Frost dates read at Denton's scale: Mar 19 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Denton's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Denton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Denton, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Denton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Denton average
How we know this about Denton
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 Denton’s own record; 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 Denton
When does frost risk typically end in Denton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Denton typically lands around Mar 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Denton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Denton typically arrives around Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 29, so the watching starts about Oct 13 — about 238 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Denton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Denton sees about 238 frost-free days — roughly Mar 19 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 9 to Oct 29, about 203 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Denton?
The federal record around Denton runs heavier than most — 125 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (82), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Denton?
From about Oct 13 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Denton's scale — its 8a band and its 238-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Denton'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 Denton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Denton's own scale — its own ~238-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,346 acres it covers and 125 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Denton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Denton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 19 and Nov 12 and the ~238-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 125 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Denton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Denton's boundary and the 1,346 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~238-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Denton's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Dentonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Denton's 1,346 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Davidson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Davidson 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 Davidson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Denton's 1,346 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Denton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,346 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Denton-wide figureread your own land →
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