Maxton, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — 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 Maxton, 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 Maxton 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 Maxton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Maxton — the short answer
Maxton, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- 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
- 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 Robeson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Maxton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Maxton's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Maxton
Each reading below is measured for Maxton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMaxton runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Robeson County, the closest normal to Maxton) — 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
MeasuredMaxton 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 Maxton is in
Maxton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Maxton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Robeson County.
What Grows in Maxton
Every plant below cleared Maxton's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Maxton?
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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Maxton
Survey cells within 31 miles of Maxton checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 89 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Maxton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Maxton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MONARCH OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- PAT'S PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- COLLINS & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- BRITTS SERVIC CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- LEE L. WOODARD, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- MULTI PRODUCTS OF SCOTLAND CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- WESLEY & MARY REAGANUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- THE CORNER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- BUD'S GROCERY, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- BRYANTS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- C D LOCKLEAR FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- JOHNSON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Maxton'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 Maxton.
Total Sites
278
within ~10 miles of Maxton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
21 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Maxton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Maxton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Maxton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Maxton — Toxics Release Inventory (21 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (201 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 Maxton
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 Maxton average
Your land is one point inside Maxton
Everything above resolves to Maxton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Robeson 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 Maxton Average
Maxton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Maxton
- ●One soil character for all of Maxton
- ●Frost dates read at Maxton's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Maxton's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Maxton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Maxton, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Maxton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Maxton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Maxton average
How we know this about Maxton
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 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 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 Maxton
When does frost risk typically end in Maxton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Maxton 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 Maxton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Maxton 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 Maxton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Maxton 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 Maxton?
The federal record around Maxton is a meaningful one — 278 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (201), 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 Maxton?
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 Maxton's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Maxton'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 Maxton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Maxton's own scale — the 1,727 acres it covers and 278 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Maxton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 278 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Maxton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Maxton's boundary and the 1,727 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Maxton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Maxton checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Maxton 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 Maxton's 1,727 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 Maxton's 1,727 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Maxton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,727 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 Maxton-wide figureread your own land →