East Arcadia, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in East Arcadia, 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 East Arcadia 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 East Arcadia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
East Arcadia — the short answer
East Arcadia, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 263 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Bladen County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Bladen County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~263
- Bladen County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Bladen County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is East Arcadia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against East Arcadia's 263-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in East Arcadia
Each reading below is measured for East Arcadia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEast Arcadia runs about 263 days between hard freezes (read from Bladen County, the closest normal to East Arcadia) — 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
MeasuredEast Arcadia 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 East Arcadia is in
East Arcadia sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at East Arcadia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bladen County.
What Grows in East Arcadia
Every plant below cleared East Arcadia's own zone 8b and its 263-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in East Arcadia?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around East Arcadia
Spotted lanternfly documented 27 miles from East Arcadia, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near East Arcadia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of East Arcadia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EAST ARCADIATRAIN DERAILMENTSuperfund · 1.1 mi
- WILLIAM DIXON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- KEATON & JACOBSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- EAST ARCADIA SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- SOUTHERN BELL-GLC 21801Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- EAST ARCADIA SHOPPERETTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- OLD STARFLITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- BLADEN CO WTR DIST-WEST BLADENPFAS · 2.1 mi
- KINGS BLUFF PUMPING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- LCP CHEMICALS - N.C., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- GRACE BLANKS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- SWEENEY WATER PLANT-KING'S BLUFFUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from East Arcadia'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 East Arcadia.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of East Arcadia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of East Arcadia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around East Arcadia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of East Arcadia — Superfund (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in East Arcadia
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 East Arcadia average
Your land is one point inside East Arcadia
Everything above resolves to East Arcadia as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bladen 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 East Arcadia Average
East Arcadia Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across East Arcadia
- ●One soil character for all of East Arcadia
- ●Frost dates read at East Arcadia's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not East Arcadia's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in East Arcadia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in East Arcadia, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that East Arcadia averages can't show:
We read public map data around East Arcadia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the East Arcadia average
How we know this about East Arcadia
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 Bladen 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 East Arcadia
When does frost risk typically end in East Arcadia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in East Arcadia typically lands around Mar 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in East Arcadia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in East Arcadia typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 263 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in East Arcadia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, East Arcadia sees about 263 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 13, about 228 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in East Arcadia?
The federal record around East Arcadia is a meaningful one — 84 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), the nearest Superfund 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in East Arcadia?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at East Arcadia's scale — its 8b band and its 263-day season. Your yard writes its own version of East Arcadia'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 East Arcadia’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at East Arcadia's own scale — the 1,409 acres it covers and 84 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- East Arcadia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 84 documented contamination sites on the federal record near East Arcadia, the closest Superfund record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- East Arcadia's boundary and the 1,409 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~263-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at East Arcadia's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of East Arcadialydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — East Arcadia has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bladen County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so East Arcadia's 1,409 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bladen County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bladen 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 Bladen County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among East Arcadia's 1,409 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of East Arcadia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,409 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 1.1 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 East Arcadia-wide figureread your own land →