Lumberton, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lumberton, 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 Lumberton 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 Lumberton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lumberton — the short answer
Lumberton, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 7
- Robeson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Robeson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Robeson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 12K 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 Robeson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lumberton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lumberton's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lumberton
Each reading below is measured for Lumberton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLumberton runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Robeson County, the closest normal to Lumberton) — 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
MeasuredLumberton 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 Lumberton is in
Lumberton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lumberton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Robeson County.
What Grows in Lumberton
Every plant below cleared Lumberton's own zone 8b and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lumberton?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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.
Documented around Lumberton
Survey cells within 31 miles of Lumberton checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 70 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Lumberton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lumberton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARMY RESERVE XVIII AIRBORNE CORPSSuperfund · 550 ft
- SUN DO - CARTHAGE RDUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- RB-056 LUMBERTON MUNNitrate · 1000 ft
- RB-055Nitrate · 1000 ft
- TRAVELERS BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- INTERSTATE CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- CARTHAGE RD PROPERTIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SE GENERAL HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- MORGANS TUNE AND BRAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CIRCLE B #8Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SOUTHEASTERN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTERBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- SOUTHEASTERN REGNL MED CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lumberton'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 Lumberton.
Total Sites
307
within ~10 miles of Lumberton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lumberton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lumberton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lumberton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lumberton — Toxics Release Inventory (23 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (227 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Lumberton
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 Lumberton average
Your land is one point inside Lumberton
Everything above resolves to Lumberton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 12K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Robeson County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Lumberton Average
Lumberton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lumberton
- ●One soil character for all of Lumberton
- ●Frost dates read at Lumberton's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lumberton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lumberton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lumberton, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lumberton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lumberton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lumberton average
How we know this about Lumberton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Robeson 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Lumberton
When does frost risk typically end in Lumberton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lumberton typically lands around Mar 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Lumberton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lumberton typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lumberton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lumberton sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 7 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 28 to Nov 10, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lumberton?
The federal record around Lumberton is a meaningful one — 307 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (227), the nearest Superfund 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 Lumberton?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lumberton's scale — its 8b band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lumberton'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 Lumberton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lumberton's own scale — the 11,657 acres it covers and 307 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lumberton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 307 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lumberton, the closest Superfund record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lumberton's boundary and the 11,657 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lumberton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Lumberton checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lumberton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Robeson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lumberton's 11,657 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Robeson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Robeson 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 Robeson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lumberton's 11,657 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lumberton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,657 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund 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 Lumberton-wide figureread your own land →