Laurel Hill, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Laurel Hill, 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 Laurel Hill 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 Laurel Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Laurel Hill — the short answer
Laurel Hill, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 256 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 11
- Scotland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Scotland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~256
- Scotland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Scotland County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Laurel Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Laurel Hill's 256-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Laurel Hill
Each reading below is measured for Laurel Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLaurel Hill runs about 256 days between hard freezes (read from Scotland County, the closest normal to Laurel Hill) — 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
MeasuredLaurel Hill 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 Laurel Hill is in
Laurel Hill sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Laurel Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Scotland County.
What Grows in Laurel Hill
Every plant below cleared Laurel Hill's own zone 8a and its 256-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Laurel Hill?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Laurel Hill
Survey cells within 31 miles of Laurel Hill checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 83 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Laurel Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Laurel Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LAUREL HILL SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- LAUREL HILL FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- SAMS GAS & GROC. 3Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- SCOTLAND OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FIELD CREST CARPET MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- SISTER'S PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- LAUREL HILL CARPET MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- VILLAGE FAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- OLD WIRE ROAD CONVENIENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LITTLE JOHNS 7-11Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LAUREL HILL CARPET MILLToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- KORDSA INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Laurel Hill'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 Laurel Hill.
Total Sites
233
within ~10 miles of Laurel Hill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Laurel Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Laurel Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Laurel Hill, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Laurel Hill — Underground Storage Tanks (169 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (16 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Laurel Hill
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 Laurel Hill average
Your land is one point inside Laurel Hill
Everything above resolves to Laurel Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Scotland 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 Laurel Hill Average
Laurel Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Laurel Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Laurel Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Laurel Hill's scale: Mar 11 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Laurel Hill's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Laurel Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Laurel Hill, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Laurel Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Laurel Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Laurel Hill average
How we know this about Laurel Hill
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 Scotland 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 Laurel Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Laurel Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Laurel Hill typically lands around Mar 11, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Laurel Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Laurel Hill typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 256 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Laurel Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Laurel Hill sees about 256 frost-free days — roughly Mar 11 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 1 to Nov 8, about 221 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Laurel Hill?
The federal record around Laurel Hill is a meaningful one — 233 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (169), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Laurel Hill?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Laurel Hill's scale — its 8a band and its 256-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Laurel Hill'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 Laurel Hill’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Laurel Hill's own scale — the 1,534 acres it covers and 233 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Laurel Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 233 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Laurel Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Laurel Hill's boundary and the 1,534 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~256-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Laurel Hill's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Laurel Hill checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Laurel Hill has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Scotland County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Laurel Hill's 1,534 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Scotland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Scotland 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 Scotland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Laurel Hill's 1,534 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Laurel Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,534 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Laurel Hill-wide figureread your own land →