Frisco, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Frisco, 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 Frisco 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 Frisco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Frisco — the short answer
Frisco, North Carolina: USDA zone 9a, about 303 days between hard freezes, across 3K 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
- 3K 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 Frisco's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Frisco's 303-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Frisco
Each reading below is measured for Frisco itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFrisco runs about 303 days between hard freezes (read from Dare County, the closest normal to Frisco) — 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
MeasuredFrisco 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 Frisco is in
Frisco sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Frisco's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dare County.
What Grows in Frisco
Every plant below cleared Frisco'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 Frisco?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Frisco
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Frisco. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DA-199 FRISCO 4Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- DA-211 NPS FRISCONitrate · 0.8 mi
- FRISCO WOODS CAMPGROUND LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- FRISCO SHOPPING CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- DA-161 CAPE POINTNitrate · 2.5 mi
- DA-162 NC-006 BUXTON CAPE POINT NPS, INSIDENitrate · 2.9 mi
- DA-164 CAPE POINTNitrate · 3.2 mi
- DA-454 BUXTON MAINT NO.2Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- DA-452 BUXTON STATION 2Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- DA-453 BUXTON MAINT NO.1Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- DA-163 CAPE POINTNitrate · 3.4 mi
- CRUM CONSTRUCTIONSuperfund · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Frisco'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 Frisco.
Total Sites
56
within ~10 miles of Frisco
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Frisco
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Frisco
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Frisco, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Frisco. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Frisco
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 Frisco average
Your land is one point inside Frisco
Everything above resolves to Frisco as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K 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 Frisco Average
Frisco Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Frisco
- ●One soil character for all of Frisco
- ●Frost dates read at Frisco's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Frisco's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Frisco
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Frisco, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Frisco averages can't show:
We read public map data around Frisco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Frisco average
How we know this about Frisco
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 Frisco
When does frost risk typically end in Frisco?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Frisco 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 Frisco?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Frisco 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 Frisco?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Frisco 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 Frisco?
The federal record around Frisco is a meaningful one — 56 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (29), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Frisco?
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 Frisco's scale — its 9a band and its 303-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Frisco'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 Frisco’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Frisco's own scale — the 3,100 acres it covers and 56 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Frisco's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 56 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Frisco, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Frisco's boundary and the 3,100 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 Frisco's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Frisco 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 Frisco's 3,100 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 Frisco's 3,100 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Frisco you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,100 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Frisco-wide figureread your own land →