Falcon, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Falcon, 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 Falcon 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 Falcon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Falcon — the short answer
Falcon, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 901 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 10
- Cumberland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Cumberland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- Cumberland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 901 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 Cumberland County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Falcon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Falcon's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Falcon
Each reading below is measured for Falcon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFalcon runs about 261 days between hard freezes (read from Cumberland County, the closest normal to Falcon) — 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
MeasuredFalcon 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 Falcon is in
Falcon sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Falcon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cumberland County.
What Grows in Falcon
Every plant below cleared Falcon's own zone 8a and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Falcon?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Falcon
Survey cells within 31 miles of Falcon checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 46 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Falcon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Falcon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CU-007 PENTECOSTAL CHURCNitrate · 650 ft
- DUNN, CITY OFPFAS · 0.6 mi
- SAM'S MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GODWIN FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GODWIN COMMUNITY GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- CARROL'S SUPERMARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- A & S VARIETYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- LARRY'S GROCERY INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- MCKINTYRE'S EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- MARTIN'S ABATTOIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- WEEKS FARM INC.CAFO · 3.4 mi
- SOUTH RIVER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Falcon'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 Falcon.
Total Sites
223
within ~10 miles of Falcon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Falcon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Falcon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Falcon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Falcon — Underground Storage Tanks (165 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Falcon
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 Falcon average
Your land is one point inside Falcon
Everything above resolves to Falcon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 901 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Cumberland 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 Falcon Average
Falcon Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Falcon
- ●One soil character for all of Falcon
- ●Frost dates read at Falcon's scale: Mar 10 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Falcon's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Falcon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Falcon, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Falcon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Falcon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Falcon average
How we know this about Falcon
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 Cumberland 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 Falcon
When does frost risk typically end in Falcon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Falcon typically lands around Mar 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Falcon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Falcon typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Falcon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Falcon sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 10 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 31 to Nov 12, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Falcon?
The federal record around Falcon is a meaningful one — 223 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (165), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Falcon?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Falcon's scale — its 8a band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Falcon'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 Falcon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Falcon's own scale — the 901 acres it covers and 223 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Falcon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 223 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Falcon, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Falcon's boundary and the 901 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Falcon's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Falcon checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Falcon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Cumberland County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Falcon's 901 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cumberland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cumberland 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 Cumberland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Falcon's 901 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Falcon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 901 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Falcon-wide figureread your own land →
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