Grandy, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Grandy, 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 Grandy 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 Grandy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Grandy — the short answer
Grandy, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Currituck County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Currituck County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Currituck County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Currituck County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Grandy's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Grandy's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Grandy
Each reading below is measured for Grandy itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGrandy runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Currituck County, the closest normal to Grandy) — 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
MeasuredGrandy 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 Grandy is in
Grandy sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Grandy's own centroid rather than borrowed from Currituck County.
What Grows in Grandy
Every plant below cleared Grandy's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Grandy?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — 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 Grandy
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Grandy, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Grandy
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Grandy. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DUCK THRU FOOD STORE 36Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GRANDY 76Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SERVICE OIL CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HAN-DEE HUGOS 17Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- 7-ELEVEN 20160Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FLIPPERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DUCK THRU FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- RADIO SHACK (OLD E & S GROCERY)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LOWER CURRITUCK VFD INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- HOP IN CITGO (NEPTUNE'S SOLO)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CK-100 JARVISBURG CHURCH OF CHRISTNitrate · 2.7 mi
- CK-089Nitrate · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Grandy'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 Grandy.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Grandy
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Grandy
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Grandy, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 41 sites within ~10 miles of Grandy. 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 Grandy
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 Grandy average
Your land is one point inside Grandy
Everything above resolves to Grandy as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Currituck 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 Grandy Average
Grandy Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Grandy
- ●One soil character for all of Grandy
- ●Frost dates read at Grandy's scale: Feb 27 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Grandy's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Grandy
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Grandy, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Grandy averages can't show:
We read public map data around Grandy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Grandy average
How we know this about Grandy
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 Currituck 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 Grandy
When does frost risk typically end in Grandy?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Grandy typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Grandy?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Grandy typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Grandy?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Grandy sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 27, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Grandy?
The federal record around Grandy shows 52 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (41), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Grandy?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Grandy's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Grandy'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 Grandy’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Grandy's own scale — the 4,335 acres it covers and 52 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Grandy's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 52 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Grandy, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Grandy's boundary and the 4,335 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Grandy's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Grandylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Grandy has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Currituck County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Grandy's 4,335 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Currituck County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Currituck 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 Currituck County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Grandy's 4,335 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Grandy you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,335 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Grandy-wide figureread your own land →