Manns Harbor, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, sweet potato, tomato, muscadine grape, and dogwood all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Manns Harbor, 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 Manns Harbor 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 Manns Harbor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Manns Harbor — the short answer
Manns Harbor, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 303 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- 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 8b is Manns Harbor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Manns Harbor's 303-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Manns Harbor
Each reading below is measured for Manns Harbor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsManns Harbor runs about 303 days between hard freezes (read from Dare County, the closest normal to Manns Harbor) — 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
MeasuredManns Harbor 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 Manns Harbor is in
Manns Harbor sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Manns Harbor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dare County.
What Grows in Manns Harbor
Plants matched to Manns Harbor's USDA zones 8b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Manns Harbor?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Manns Harbor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Manns Harbor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MANNS HARBOR GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- ALIGATOR TIMBERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- DA-484 H MANNNitrate · 0.6 mi
- WHITES SHOPPING CTR-A PARTNERSHIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- GATEWAY EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- FRANKLIN BAKING CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- MANNS HARBOR MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- DOT-NC STATE SHIPYARDBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- MANNS HARBOR MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- DARE LANDFILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- DA-059 NPS FT RALEIGHNitrate · 4.5 mi
- NC ACQUARIUM - ROANOKE ISLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Manns Harbor'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 Manns Harbor.
Total Sites
108
within ~10 miles of Manns Harbor
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Manns Harbor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Manns Harbor
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Manns Harbor
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 Manns Harbor average
Your land is one point inside Manns Harbor
Everything above resolves to Manns Harbor 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 Manns Harbor Average
Manns Harbor Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Manns Harbor
- ●One soil character for all of Manns Harbor
- ●Frost dates read at Manns Harbor's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Manns Harbor's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Manns Harbor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Manns Harbor, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Manns Harbor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Manns Harbor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Manns Harbor average
How we know this about Manns Harbor
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 Manns Harbor
When does frost risk typically end in Manns Harbor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Manns Harbor 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 Manns Harbor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Manns Harbor 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 Manns Harbor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Manns Harbor 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 Manns Harbor?
The federal record around Manns Harbor is a meaningful one — 108 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Manns Harbor?
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 Manns Harbor's scale — its 8b band and its 303-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Manns Harbor'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 Manns Harbor’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Manns Harbor's own scale — the 2,555 acres it covers and 108 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Manns Harbor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 108 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Manns Harbor, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Manns Harbor's boundary and the 2,555 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Manns Harbor's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Manns Harbor 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 Manns Harbor's 2,555 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dare County
- The candidate plant list — North Carolina's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom North Carolina
- 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 Manns Harbor's 2,555 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Manns Harbor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,555 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Manns Harbor-wide figureread your own land →