Duck, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Duck, 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 Duck 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 Duck — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Duck — the short answer
Duck, North Carolina: USDA zone 9a, about 303 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~303
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Dare County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Duck's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Duck's 303-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Duck
Each reading below is measured for Duck itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDuck runs about 303 days between hard freezes (read from Dare County, the closest normal to Duck) — 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
MeasuredDuck sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Duck is in
Duck sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Duck's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dare County.
What Grows in Duck
Every plant below cleared Duck's own zone 9a and its 303-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Duck?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Duck
Spotted lanternfly documented 16 miles from Duck, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Duck
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Duck. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COASTAL ENG RESEARCH CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- WEE WINKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- HAN-DEE HUGOS 22Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- GET THE PICTURE ?Brownfields · 1.7 mi
- WALTER R DAVISUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- OUTER BANKS RECREATION ASSN. INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- NELL & NILESUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- CROSSROADS FUEL SERVICE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- POWELLS POINT REST SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- DOWDY FARM MARKET(CAROLYN HALL)Underground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- NORTH RIVER FARMS SELF SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- DOROTHY S HODGESUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Duck'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 Duck.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Duck
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Duck, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of Duck. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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.
Check your specific parcel in Duck
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 Duck average
Your land is one point inside Duck
Everything above resolves to Duck as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dare 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 Duck Average
Duck Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Duck
- ●One soil character for all of Duck
- ●Frost dates read at Duck's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Duck's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Duck
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Duck, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Duck averages can't show:
We read public map data around Duck — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Duck average
How we know this about Duck
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 Dare 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 Duck
When does frost risk typically end in Duck?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Duck typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Duck?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Duck typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 303 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Duck?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Duck sees about 303 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Dec 4, about 268 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Duck?
The federal record around Duck shows 65 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Duck?
From about Nov 18 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 Dec 18 (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 Dec 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Duck's scale — its 9a band and its 303-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Duck'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 Duck’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Duck's own scale — the 1,547 acres it covers and 65 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Duck's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 65 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Duck, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Duck's boundary and the 1,547 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~303-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Duck's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Ducklydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Duck has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dare County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Duck's 1,547 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dare County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dare 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 Dare County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Duck's 1,547 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Duck you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,547 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Duck-wide figureread your own land →