Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Fuquay-Varina, 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 Fuquay-Varina 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 Fuquay-Varina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fuquay-Varina — the short answer
Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 251 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~251
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 12K 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 Fuquay-Varina's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fuquay-Varina's 251-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fuquay-Varina
Each reading below is measured for Fuquay-Varina itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFuquay-Varina runs about 251 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
MeasuredFuquay-Varina 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 Fuquay-Varina is in
Fuquay-Varina sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fuquay-Varina's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Wake County is mostly Piedmont. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Fuquay-Varina
Every plant below cleared Fuquay-Varina's own zone 8a and its 251-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fuquay-Varina?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Fuquay-Varina
Spotted lanternfly documented 21 miles from Fuquay-Varina, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Fuquay-Varina
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fuquay-Varina. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HARRIS TEETER 498 FUELUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- HARRIS TEETER 498Brownfields · 350 ft
- SALLY BEAUTY SUPPLY #2871Brownfields · 450 ft
- MURPHY EXPRESS 8644Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- HAN-DEE HUGO'S 78Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #2836Brownfields · 1100 ft
- TRACTOR SUPPLY #1152Brownfields · 1200 ft
- WALGREENS #7170Brownfields · 1200 ft
- FAST FARE NC 741Brownfields · 1200 ft
- PANTRY 3793 DBA KANGAROOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GOODWIN GLAN-O-RAMABrownfields · 1500 ft
- OLD CASTLE INFRASTRUCTUREToxics Release Inventory · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fuquay-Varina'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 Fuquay-Varina.
Total Sites
358
within ~10 miles of Fuquay-Varina
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fuquay-Varina
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fuquay-Varina
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fuquay-Varina, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fuquay-Varina — PFAS (5 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (26 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Fuquay-Varina
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 Fuquay-Varina average
Your land is one point inside Fuquay-Varina
Everything above resolves to Fuquay-Varina as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 12K 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 Fuquay-Varina Average
Fuquay-Varina Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Fuquay-Varina
- ●One soil character for all of Fuquay-Varina
- ●Frost dates read at Fuquay-Varina's scale: Mar 15 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fuquay-Varina's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fuquay-Varina
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fuquay-Varina averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fuquay-Varina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fuquay-Varina average
How we know this about Fuquay-Varina
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 Fuquay-Varina’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 Fuquay-Varina
When does frost risk typically end in Fuquay-Varina?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fuquay-Varina typically lands around Mar 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Fuquay-Varina?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fuquay-Varina typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 251 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fuquay-Varina?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fuquay-Varina sees about 251 frost-free days — roughly Mar 15 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 5 to Nov 7, about 216 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fuquay-Varina?
The federal record around Fuquay-Varina is a meaningful one — 358 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (205), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Fuquay-Varina?
From about Oct 22 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fuquay-Varina's scale — its 8a band and its 251-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fuquay-Varina'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 Fuquay-Varina’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Fuquay-Varina's own scale — its own ~251-day season between 28°F freezes, the 12,425 acres it covers and 358 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fuquay-Varina's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fuquay-Varina's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 15 and Nov 21 and the ~251-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 358 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fuquay-Varina, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fuquay-Varina's boundary and the 12,425 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~251-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Fuquay-Varina sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Fuquay-Varinalydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fuquay-Varina's 12,425 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wake 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 Wake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fuquay-Varina's 12,425 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fuquay-Varina you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,425 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Fuquay-Varina-wide figureread your own land →
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